How important is it to accept paypal?

[Trigger Happy]

I'm looking to use either Bigcommerce or Squarespace for a new business selling a luxury homeware product.

The main advantage of Bigcommerce is the ability to accept payments through Paypal but Squarespace is slightly cheaper and easier to make a really good looking site.

What would you opt for?

To me paying by Paypal almost seems slightly tacky for a high end product but then again I know I'm personally much more likely to buy from a site offering paypal because it is so much quicker to process the transaction.

 

[Adam H]

I'm looking to use either Bigcommerce or Squarespace for a new business selling a luxury homeware product.

The main advantage of Bigcommerce is the ability to accept payments through Paypal but Squarespace is slightly cheaper and easier to make a really good looking site.

What would you opt for?

To me paying by Paypal almost seems slightly tacky for a high end product but then again I know I'm personally much more likely to buy from a site offering paypal because it is so much quicker to process the transaction.

When it comes to shopping ( something i hate with a passion ) im really lazy, if my wallet is upstairs in another pair of trousers then im more likely to purposely look for a paypal checkout where i can instantly pay rather than having to go get my wallet from upstairs.

If there is nothing with paypal and I cant be bothered to go upstairs ill probably get the product when i go into town or completely forget about it as it was probably an impulse buy which i didnt really need in the first place lol.

I agree there is some kind of stigma that a site that accepts paypal may not be of the same quality but more and more businesses are taking paypal, the way i see it is the more payment methods available to your users the better providing it doesnt cause any issues for the operation of the business.

 

[cc976a]

Personally I'd offer PayPal

There's a reason a lot of high street stores are offering this now as a payment option.

If I go to a site I hadn't seen or used before (I.e. not a household or recognized name), although I'd use my credit card for the card protection, I'd also use PayPal rather than give my card details to a new site.

 

[ian]

PayPal doesn't offer the retailer/seller as much protection as the buyer, so from that stand-point, I leave it well alone. Plus of course their fees are shockingly high comparable to credit/debit cards through a relevant payment gateway/merchant account.

 

[bensd]

Plus of course their fees are shockingly high comparable to credit/debit cards through a relevant payment gateway/merchant account.

It depends on how much business your're doing through them. Also, they allow multiple websites through the same account (most payment processors don't)

 

[ian]

It depends on how much business your're doing through them. Also, they allow multiple websites through the same account (most payment processors don't)

Agreed, it is scaled depending, but even their lowest advertised rate is higher than credit/debit rates.

 

[mojoco]

The ability for a purchaser to make an immediate payment, without having to leave the desk while looking for a credit card and in turn potentially abandon the purchase, outweighs the higher fees.

 

[scottmccloud]

The ability for a purchaser to make an immediate payment, without having to leave the desk while looking for a credit card and in turn potentially abandon the purchase, outweighs the higher fees.

+1

I know their fees are high but like Mojoco said, in terms of conversion it makes sense to accept it.

 

[Trigger Happy]

Thanks for all the comments so far. Generally the comments fit with my instinct that Paypal is pretty much a must have for a new business with no reputation.

 

[ian]

The ability for a purchaser to make an immediate payment, without having to leave the desk while looking for a credit card and in turn potentially abandon the purchase, outweighs the higher fees.

It's the impossible decision of knowing just how many customers will abandon therefore losing profit versus the extra charge. No different than not insuring courier deliveries on the basis that so few require claims, that you may have saved the extra cost for such instances; or whether Adwords campaigns that are not converting should be scrapped versus whether they still bring awareness to a customer that returns directly at a later date. All tough calls made for each business individually.

Similar to domain catching, where you miss out but no idea how close you were in comparison to others, or catching and not having a clue if anyone else was chasing it lol