Deciding how to accept payments online can be confusing? Should I use PayPal? Do you need a shopping cart? How does a merchant account fit into the mix?

If you’re just starting out and aren’t generating a huge volume of income online, I recommend sticking with PayPal. It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and most online shoppers are comfortable with PayPal.

Once you are generating regular income or if you want to offer payment options or collect recurring payments for monthly memberships, then you will want to explore the shopping cart and merchant account options.

There are many options to choose from. I just want to talk about a couple.

PayPal offers a higher level service for a fee that allows for greater flexibility. I have investigated it myself, but it did not meet my particular needs. Let me share with you how I set up my online payment options for clients.

1. Shopping cart: GoldbarOne (another popular option is 1 shopping cart)

These shopping cart services not only provide the product options, but also automatic response and broadcast messaging services. Once you have the ability to create and sell products, you will need a service to process credit and debit card payments for you.

2. Merchant Account – Payment Solution Practices

You have to apply and be approved for a merchant account. A business account allows you to accept credit or debit card payments and serves as an agreement between a retailer, a commercial bank, and a payment processor (such as Authorize.net) for the settlement of credit or debit card payment transactions.

The way these pieces fit together was really confusing for me at first. I was in business for probably 1 year before upgrading from PayPal to Practice Pay Solutions combined with GoldbarOne!