Using paypal 'buy now' buttons on a simple ecommerce website

Using paypal 'buy now' buttons on a simple...

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As a 'side' venture my wife and I are setting up a greetings card company. She does the designing and I am in charge of the rest.

This is very much a kitchen table business to start off with, so we are really looking to limit costs.

I have set the website up - with photos of the products, and put Paypal 'Add to Cart' buttons next to the pictures.

Clicking the button launches into a Paypal shopping cart - so far so good.

I am really asking whether anyone else has experience of using Paypal buttons and shopping carts. I guess all the fees are calculated at the 'overseas' rates because we are not in the US.

At this very early stage I am really looking to limit the ongoing base costs such as monthly fees for terminals etc. That's also why I did the website.

If it flies, we will re-invest into a commercial website as appropriate,

Thanks.

Replies (8)

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By Howard Marks
09th Jul 2014 19:14

UK Business Forums
Try there.

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By tom123
09th Jul 2014 19:26

Thanks, I'll give that a look

I will have a look around on there.

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Woolpit Gus
By nutwood
09th Jul 2014 19:45

We use paypal shopping cart on our farm website for sales of lamb.  I set it up using code provided on the PayPal website but I think it's much simpler nowadays.

As far as I am aware if you are in the UK and your PayPal account is registered to you in the UK and your customer is also, then standard transaction fees apply.  There would be additional currency exchange and fees for cross border payments if your customer is outside the UK.

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Replying to johnhemming:
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By tom123
09th Jul 2014 20:25

Great

nutwood wrote:

We use paypal shopping cart on our farm website for sales of lamb.  I set it up using code provided on the PayPal website but I think it's much simpler nowadays.

As far as I am aware if you are in the UK and your PayPal account is registered to you in the UK and your customer is also, then standard transaction fees apply.  There would be additional currency exchange and fees for cross border payments if your customer is outside the UK.

Thanks for clarifying that on charges - it get's so confusing with all the companies based outside the UK etc,

 

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By carnmores
09th Jul 2014 20:25

download a paypal calculator to
Your mobile phone hours of endless fun seeing them eat into your profits and its about time the OFT looked into the double charging exacted by ebay and paypal, its a classic rip off, not to mention they are now charging fees on postage as well, and how much of this revenue flows into the exchequer diddly squat

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By tlc_22n
17th Jul 2014 13:03

Paypal Buttons

Work a treat, simple to set up and use but does have limitations compared to fuller ecommerce solutions.

 

It is worth mentioning that you can set up buttons in other currency Eg Dollars if you do sell overseas, this mean the purchaser pays in Dollars with no conversion fee, and you end up with a dollar balance multi currency account, if you spend the dollars as dollars there is no conversion fee, but will be if you trf to a sterling bank account for example

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By Alonicus
17th Jul 2014 13:33

Paypal buttons are a great way to get the ball rolling on an E-Commerce business.  Yes, they will charge you fees, but personally, I think their fees are excellent value compared to those charged by credit card processors.  PayPal fees are all transaction based, while the traditional card processors will generally have fixed fees of £20-£30 a month, complex transaction fees based on the type of card used, £30-£50 PCI-DSS fees per annum, and sometimes an initial set-up fee as well. Most important of all, PayPal doesn't tie you into a 2-3 year contract.

Areas of concern for PayPal are that they tend to tilt things a bit in the buyer's favour if things go wrong (loss / fraud), and their standard checkout is very basic when it comes to setting up postal charges, particularly international ones.

I'd suggest that if things go well (and hopefully they will !), you might look at something like RomanCart after a few months.  It still works with PayPal buttons, but provides lots of help when it comes to the html used for more complex ones (options, colour choices etc).  It also has excellent shipping setup and invoicing capabilities (useful as PayPal never seem to have got their head around the legal requirements of VAT invoices...).  A stand-alone shopping cart is a useful halfway house on the way to a full e-commerce website, but is less complex and less expensive.

Good luck with the new business venture !

 

 

 

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By User deleted
17th Jul 2014 14:10

Have a look at things like ....

https://www.izettle.com/GB

& many others in same vein

Personally having written sites with PPal, WorldPay, PayPointNet etc. - most traffic tended to go through 'proper' providers - but that is just observation

Also, historically, PPal has been terrible with fraud, refunds etc. because they used to police themselves - unlike the main card providers

Finally, if you want to sell at markets then this is a consideration - take mobile payments

 

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