Which payment processor to use?
Here we go with my opinions again, but hey, it’s my blog – whaddya expect.
There are only 3 payment process I personally would consider using:
Now, they all offer recurring billing but we really need to take a brief look at each one to see which are suitable, the advantages and any disadvantages.
PayPal
The biggest advantage to using PayPal is that you’re paid instantly – funds are direct in to your account which you can use right away or withdraw to your bank account.
It’s also difficult for subscribers to cancel as you have to dig around in PayPal History, find the subscription and then cancel it from within PayPal. You could say this is a disadvantage, but if people want to leave and are having trouble – why not let them figure it out, and if they can’t, throw an extra month of subscription your way automatically.
PayPal fee’s are low when compared to other payment processors and they only skim off 1.4 to 3.4% off each transaction received.
The disadvantage to using PayPal is the many horror stories lurking around the Internet. Personally I have used PayPal for years and never experienced any problem, but then so have others and that didn’t stop their accounts going under suspicion. Accounts can be suspended for months and funds frozen if your account is under suspicion for any number of reasons.
Using PayPal for day to day sending and receiving payments is fine and if your membership site is only going to run for a few months, but I believe if you’re going to run a proper business that needs to stand the test of time, PayPal isn’t an option here.
2Checkout
2Checkout take 5.5% + $0.45 off each transaction and costs $49 to set-up – but it’s the credibility and safe-guard which makes me sway toward using 2Checkout. There are no horror stories and are well established. They pay every 2 weeks or every week and those in America, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom can have payments sent direct to our bank accounts at no cost. Other countries are supported for wire transfers.
I can’t actually think of a disadvantage – they may take a fair amount off each transaction but that’s a small price to pay.
CCBill
The choice for adult webmasters and those wanting to peddle smut with their membership websites. PayPal and 2Checkout don’t allow adult sites, and CCBill has been the favorite in the adult industry for subscription billing for years. CCBill takes 14.5% off each transaction, which comes down if you’re doing a lot of volume – but the lowest percentage is still 11.5% for up to 50,000 transactions per month.
In this case, the advantage (peddling smut) is also the disadvantage on payment. But this is one of few companies which has a solid reputation and the one I would chose if I were to enter the ‘adult industry’.
Choosing a good host with back-up facilities
If you have a few thousand of even a few hundred paying members, the last thing you want is for them all to lose their usernames/passwords and be unable to access the site, as they will head off straight to the payment processor and cancel their subscription.
Website’s, servers.. they all crash. They all fuck-up sooner or later, therfore it’s crucial to chose a host that offers daily back-up facilities. You can back-up your entire website every day, or hour if you wish. Definately don’t skimp on hosting. You will also require hosting that supports the full requirements of Amember. They recommend 3 hosting companies but Hostgater or another solid host will be just fine.
I mentioned in the previous entry on membership sites that I would talk about making sales on the back-end, but I’ll save that for another article – this one is long enough with plenty to chew on. If you didn’t catch the first entry, read it here.
From: gadood.com
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