Alternative Online Processors

By now you should be thinking that there are more options for taking website payments than relying totally on PayPal. And you should be thinking about a backup plan, for good reason.

Here's a list of things that you should be looking for in an online merchant - depending on your situation:

1. Can take online payments via Credit Card automatically
2. Can be used by people in most countries
3. Can take online cheques
4. Can receive money directly to your bank account
5. Can receive money via International Wire
6. Can receive money via International Cheque
7. Can perform mass payments to other people
8. Can use vouchers for the system
9. Can be used on multiple domains
10. Has low fees and conversion charges
11. Is easy to use
12. Has live Customer Support 365/24/7
13. Are not known to make "PayPal Blunders" with customers

Before you run off and join these merchants, it might be a good idea to determine if your affiliate program can handle the payment method.

Recommended Alternative Online Merchants

#1. Clickbank

This is my favorite account as they tend to look after everyone. Clickbank is a very strong presence on the internet, and can also take PayPal payments through their gateway. 

With a Clickbank account you can set up 500 products for sale. In addition, you've now got the option for monthly billing which makes Clickbank even more attractive for online merchants. Oh, and don't mention the Affiliate Army at your fingertips !

Initial Setup cost is $45 per account, and Clickbank can be used with the Fantasos Affiliate system as an alternative gateway payment system.

Payments to your account are via Bank Deposit (if you're in the US), else you will receive a cheque up to twice a month. The down side is that if you need to cash an International Cheque, this could take around 6 weeks until cleared, depending on the country you live in.

#2. 2 Checkout

I've used 2CO for several years and they integrate well into various websites. You can set up monthly recurring payments, or normal "static" links for your websites.

Initial Setup cost is $45 per account, and the fees are slightly higher than most other accounts. But this speaks volumes for their customer service. I've had two personal cals from 2CO staff about products and purchases - and I've never had an account closure email. They seem to be just happy to be there to provide you with a product that they fully support !

2CO can also be used with the Fantasos Affiliate system.

The good thing about 2CO is that you can receive your money once you hit a US $300 minimum balance in your account, and they wire it through via International Wire every Friday. The down side is that you need to reach $300 minimum prior to obtaining your money.

#3. Alert Pay

Send money to anyone with an email address using Alert Pay. All personal and business accounts are FREE to set up.

There's a choice to upgrade your account to a "Secure Account" if your website business is considered "risky" - adult sites, casino and gambling, and the like. Mass pay is also an option using Alert Pay so you can pay multiple accounts with a single click of a button.

#4. Money Bookers

Money bookers can perform mass pay, like PayPal, and are growing in popularity. You can accept payments via email and the charge of 2.9% for basic standard internet payments is a good start, comparable to PayPal fees. Includes FREE Account setup.

If you are using the Fantasos Affiliate system, Moneybookers is one of the options available for use.

Although I am confident with this account, there are a few terms of use that may hinder some people in choosing Money Bookers as an alternative merchant. The main kickers are the limitation on the amount of money you can account over a rolling period of 3 months - which varies depending on the amount of information you give them; else you can't take much more than a few thousand in 3 months.

One service which I've never needed to use is the multi-lingual orientation of this site - so it would be good for international sites, other than English speakers.

#5. Storm Pay

Storm Pay are a great company to deal with. At one stage they were definitely the PayPal alternative as they could take recurring payments easily, integrate well into websites, perform mass payments, and linked in with their own online auction.

Webmasters have been a little hesitant to use them after a debacle in 2006 which closed down Storm Pay activities for a short while. When they re-opened their doors they insisted that Storm Pay be the only option of payment on your website (to stop the fraudulent chargebacks that closed the company for a wee while), and they also put a $1 charge on the account, per month.

#6. E-gold

E-gold is a way of accepting money from people in some of the "non-safe" countries that PayPal doens't like doing business with. I've found the Support Staff helpful, however the system itself seems a bit cumbersome to navigate around.

There was also talk during early 2007 of suspected mismanagement of funds by the company Executive - though I'm not exactly sure if this is true.

I'm not here to advertise ==>