ACCEPTING CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS

     Once you have your product developed and ready to sell you will want to accept credit card payments. This will allow your prospective buyer to purchase your product in the safety of his home and have immediate access to it. This is by far the most effective system ever.

     It is estimated that online shopping will continue to increase and will most likely be the future of trading.

     Remember I told you that trust is everything? Well, to increase trust in your buyers you should not EVER accept credit card details through the internet.

     I've had people sending me email after purchasing an item from me on eBay asking to call them so they can give me their credit card details. That's insane! Don't ever do this!

     If you want to deliver a product to your buyer instantly you must use a third party company to process credit cards. These are usually big companies with a good reputation and that's what you should let your buyers know. You will never see or have access to someone's credit card details which will keep you away from legal complications.

     There are two ways of accepting credit cards payments through the internet.

     One is by getting a merchant account which is extremely costly.

     In fact, the last time I checked it would cost me no less than $590 to get a merchant account AND that would only be the beginning. That doesn't include the cost of setting a credit card processing service. And then there is a monthly fee that is above $200. A nice total of over $700! As such I do not recommend you take this path.

     Instead...

     The most cost effective way of accepting credit card payments online is by hiring the services of a professional company that will process credit cards for you and direct your customers to your products after payment has been successful.

     Usually these companies have a start up fee for when you create your account with them and after that they will keep a small percentage of the sale. Many of these companies are also charging a monthly fee but even so, this is a much cheaper and still professional option for someone starting a business on a small budget.

     If you got your website hosted with Third Sphere Hosting you already have a credit card processing system available to you. (Well, two actually.)

     To process my sales and accept credit cards online I use a company that has a very good reputation online and is trust worthy. I also like working with them as their customer support is one of the best I've worked with.

     And the one thing I like most is how simple and effective the online help is. The company I use is Clickbank.

     It's pretty simple to get started with Clickbank as every step is simple and well described. By signing up you will now be able to accept  payments using Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Eurocard, Bravo, Visa Debit, Mastercard Debit.

     All they ask is $1 plus 7.5% of the sale they make for you. And once you've paid the one-time $49.95 activation fee you're set for as long as you live! One thing you should know is there is no monthly fee and you can use your account to sell 50 different products from your one account. If you need to sell more products you can set up an aditional account.

     The best part is, as soon as you register a product with them it will automatically be submitted to their list of products which means free advertising! The amount of sales you'll be generating from this alone will surprise you.

     And it only takes 7 steps to get everything up and running. You just need to sign up, make a sales page, make a thank-you page where your customers will be taken to download the product after payment, test your links, request pricing approval, pay the activation fee, and you're live after ensuring the selling price for your product or products is set just right!

     Now for another surprise, although you're already listed and making sales Clickbank will also run an affiliate program for you...

Another alternative is PayPal...