Talking higher price sought after spares if I was looking to buy the spares he is selling I would not want to use paypal, but my own credit card through a decent system.
All comments much appreciated though, AFAI am concerned paypal for me is simply cheap purchases mainly on EBAY. In fact I don't think outside of ukgser and ebay I have ever used it elsewhere
It has advantages......some people prefer it to using a credit card because they feel safer not giving you (an unknown person) all their numbers PLUS the security number from the back......using paypal, you (the vendor) never get to see the CC details, which you can use as a selling point on the shop site to generate and keep trust.
Paypal
feels like it's putting another layer inbetween the vendor and the buyer...It also has some nice touches like being able to invoice someone through Paypal, which you can make look 'corporate' if you want......and you can do all of a transaction on THEIR site behind their green (secure) URL or on your own using their system but embedded in your own page with its own feel and layout, so it doesn't even seem that the customer has left your pages.
For some online businesses, it provides a very easy to use system, well incorporated with many proprietary back ends, and it's very cost effective as well, until you get into the much higher volumes of transactions where other systems become viable.
Its also extremely useful for TESTING your online cart system, as you can make and refund many small payments without incurring any fees, see what the whole 'experience' looks like from both ends (IE from the backend of the shop system and stock management system AND from the customer's point of view)
'Verified by Visa' and MasterCard's 'SecureCode' are two alternative systems to use, but it's YOU who have to suck up the fees, and when I looked at it about 18 months ago, there was also a yearly charge regardless of useage- not ideal for a startup.
I obviously know nothing about your new site, but also look into affiliate schemes........You can make a healthy income from an information based site without actually selling a damn thing, if you get your affiliate number cookie involved.....(5% commission in some cases with Amazon sales......you review the item on your trusted site, Amazon auto populates adverts for that exact item and your affiliate tracker gets you the money
)
EDIT AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT.....Richie, be REALLY careful using any commerce system plugins, even paid for ones.
I tried out several on a virtual server before ending up wusing Avactis, and MOST had their own affiliate codes deeply inbedded in the system....IE if a punter who had at any time used your site with their system installed on it then gone on to buy a product through Ebay or Amazon or one of the other big online places, the people who wrote the plugin code get all the commission.
It's not too hard to root out if you use Firebug and so on, but absolutely infuriated me when I discovered it lurking in there without having been told up front.....I only realised because I tested my own affiliate number out by using my portal to buy something from Amazon :mad
