But I want to sell CD’s of my bands music… what are the alternatives? I’d rather have a company take care of the transaction for me, and I don’t mind if they get a small percent (10-15 percent max) of the profit on each CD sold – people have suggested paypal, but I know a lot of folks who have trouble with it, and I’d rather not have people who don’t have a paypal account have to wait two to three days to verify an account just to buy something from me.
Anyone know other options?
And how about shirts? Is there a service better than cafepress that doesn’t take as much money of the sale?
It’s my understanding that it’s no easy task to get a merchant account for processing credit card transactions, and that many merchant accounts have associated fees (monthly and per-transaction) that often put them out of the reach of very small businesses and individuals. Many people use PayPal because it’s nearly as good as a merchant account, many people already have PayPal accounts, and it’s generally less hassle than a full-blown merchant account.
I’ve personally never had any problem with PayPal, but I’m not a seller. I know there are some who have, and the horror stories are impressive, but there are always people who have horror stories about any large business. PayPal is now owned by eBay, too, which I suspect has improved the situation - eBay just wants people to be able to process their transactions smoothly so it’s not in their interests to be screwing over their customers. That may not have been the case when PayPal was an independent company. I have no particular facts with which to back up that assertion, however, so if anyone wants to cite non-anecdotal evidence to the contrary, I’m all for it.
You don’t want a merchant account. Not unless you have a significant volume of sales and can afford the fees.
PayPal is the way to go. You do not have to have a verified account to pay for something, all you need is a credit card. “Verified” just means the person has linked their PayPal account to a bank.
My family started a business and had to go through the process of getting a merchant account with Visa, MC, Novus and boy was that a B. And you thought that buying a house required paperwork . . .
Just as a FYI. . . You can pay a seller through paypal using a credit card w/o needing a actual account to do so. I did this as a buyer for some time on ebay before I finally took the plunge. Very quick and painless.