Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

I use PayPal and am happy with their service. However, I am a small business owner and economies of scale are such that I haven't invested much time in searching out other service providers.

I recommend you check out an article on MarketingSherpa.com.
"Lessons From (Possibly) The World's Most Effective Ecommerce Site"
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3099

At the end of the article is a list of service providers and links that you may find to be of use. Good luck!

This advise is worth what you paid for it.

I'm working now with a client who is using paypal and it's been a nightmare. As a test I ordered from the site and it said I wasn't over the minimum (minimum was $0) so it added $65 for USPS.

There's been a lot of phishing lately on paypal and the other issue is you can spend a lot of time educating people that they DON'T NEED a paypal account to pay using paypal.

My client is sticking with it, but thought Id share.

Michael

Well since i dont have a credit card i use paypal, i have never had a problem. If i cant use paypal i will just get a pirate copy of the software. (most of my purchases are software, i bought a tee shirt from engris.om the other day that was great, he used a yahoo store front) - also note that most of the horror stoires are on competing product sites!!!!

I'm amazed to be honest, over the past 8 years we have been producing websites from Mechanics to Government Departments and still clients believe that they can just slap on an e commerce solution and make their life easier.

Don't get me wrong Medicated in Mktng, I'm not having a pop at you, but you have to look at it as you would any other part of your business. A sucessful commerce application can be as effective as a complete sales team, so would you get a sales team that cost you nothing ?. Unlikely isn't it, when you come to purchase your machinery, do you buy the cheapest option at the cost of productivity?

Paypal in the B2C market sector is a great application, it's easy for anyone to join, to use and yes it is safe. But your business is B2B and your clients will expect more from you.

Your website is a showcase, an electronic brochure for your business and reflects your commitment towards your business, adding something that's free to handle financial transactions in a B2B marketplace will undermine your business status, not increase it.

We have a client that sells over 60,000 spare parts, he saw 13 design companies to get a solution that was cost effective, manageable and updatable. Yes it did cost him $12,000 for the commerce solution we produced for him, but compared to a shop, or a new sales team it was by far the cheapest and most cost effective operation to expand his business.

And that's what it is, you want to expand your business, get a solution that will work and don't try it yourself, it's not what you are good at. After all, we can all make things, but we can't all manufacture...

The Bottom Line
Find yourself a good web design company that you are happy with, look for a solution that is effective, safe and secure. If you don't know the solution that you want, and you want independent advice, get a web project manager in to write the specification of what you need. But for god's sake, don't do a half hearted attempt, and remember, there is a difference between price and cost.

Good luck :)