Copyright 2005 John Stafford

I'm sure you've heard the phrase: "If you don't accept credit card payments you're losing 80% of your potential sales"

Well, I wouldn't go that far but it is true...

If you plan to do any kind of business online you need a reliable service to handle both your credit card and online check payments.

So what do we look for?

Here are the 3 best things to keep in mind when choosing a service for your website:

1. How many products do they let you have?

Does your prospective service let you set up just one product or several? This is something you should find out before you layout the money.

You don't want to be trapped having to pay again and again to add products to your line.

2. How fast do they pay you?

How long will it take you to get your money?

Is it every week or two? A month or longer?

Ideally you want a service that will let you wire your money directly to your account or at least pay you quickly.

3. What's the minimum for a check?

How much do you have to get in sales before they release payment to you? Some places are higher then others.

Make sure this number is low to start out, it's hard to reinvest your profits if you have to wait till your sales catch up.