Choosing the Right PayPal Payment Solution
- Comparing PayPal's Payment Solutions
- Examining PayPal's Payment Solutions
- Which Solution Is Best for You?
Every merchant is unique, including those selling online. There's really no such thing as a "one size fits all" payment processing solution. That's why PayPal offers a variety of payment solutions[md]different solutions for different types of businesses. There's everything from simple "buy now" buttons to technologically sophisticated systems that integrate with your existing shopping cart and checkout systems.
With all these options available, how do you determine which solutions fit your business? As you might expect, your individual needs dictate which of PayPal's several solutions are best for you.
Comparing PayPal's Payment Solutions
All told, PayPal offers six key payment processing solutions:
- Website Payments Standard
- Website Payments Pro
- Payflow Payment Gateway (consists of Payflow Link Gateway and Payflow Pro Gateway)
- Express Checkout
- Virtual Terminal
- Online Invoicing
These solutions are tailored for different types of businesses, and each comes with its own specific features and fees. We'll look at each of these solutions in more detail, but let's start by comparing what each solution offers[md]and what it costs. The following table shows the basics.
PayPal Payment Solutions
Solution |
Setup Fee |
Monthly Fee |
Transaction Fee |
Features |
Website Payments Standard |
None |
None |
2.2%2.9% + $0.30 |
Easy setup Payment buttons PayPal Shopping Cart Transaction pages hosted on PayPal |
Website Payments Pro |
None |
$30.00 |
2.2%2.9% + $0.30 |
Integrates with existing shopping carts Direct Payment for credit/debit cards Express Checkout for PayPal payments Transaction pages hosted on your website |
Payflow Link Gateway |
$179.00 |
$19.95 |
$0.10 |
Integrates with existing merchant account First 500 transactions free Transaction pages hosted by PayPal |
Payflow Pro Gateway |
$249.00 |
$59.95 |
$0.10 |
Integrates with existing merchant account First 1,000 transactions free Transaction pages hosted on your website |
Express Checkout |
None |
None |
2.2%2.9% + $0.30 |
Adds PayPal payments to existing checkout system |
Virtual Terminal |
None |
$30.00 |
2.4%3.1% + $0.30 |
Enables phone and mail payments No hardware or software required |
Online Invoicing |
None |
None |
2.2%2.9% + $0.30 |
Email customer invoices Add PayPal button to QuickBooks/Quicken invoices |