If you sell products or services and you don’t accept online payments, you’re cutting yourself off from sales. Some potential customers are in front of their computer, shouting “take my money” while shaking their screen and just waiting for you to allow them to pay you online (I’m hardly exaggerating!). Except they won’t wait forever; they will go fairly quickly to the competitor if he accepts online payments.
And that is the crux of the problem. We have reached a time when accepting online payments will not necessarily benefit you and place you above the competition: it has become the norm!
But when you don’t respect this standard, you end up with the consequences: not selling online will quickly squeeze you far
below everyone else and leave you alone and penniless, in a small ball, in a dark corner. to curse the system…
To know why banks refuse to accept online payments click here.
Yes, selling online can seem like a big intimidating bug. But honestly, it’s not that complicated and your fears are probably not justified. To prove it to you, we will start by demolishing a few myths:
MYTH 1: User Fees Are Too High, And Not Worth It
You know that being in business involves costs. We pass our money on all sides: we pay taxes, fees, software, rights of use, licenses… And fees associated with payment platforms. It’s the cost of being in business.
Taxes and taxes, we don’t have much leeway to save ourselves from them and remain legal. For other costs, it’s all about profitability. It’s fine and quite normal to have costs if it allows us to be even more profitable. And this is the case with online payment platforms.
MYTH #2: It’s Too Complicated For Me To Set Up Myself
Then there, it is completely wrong. It may have been true fifteen or even ten years ago, but today there are payment solutions that your five-year-old neighbor would be able to use to sell his pokémon doggies online if the desire seized him.
There’s something for every need and skill level.
MYTH #3: It Will Be Too Complicated To Manage An Online Inventory And A Physical Inventory At The Same Time
Again, wrong! There are what are called POS (point of sale) which allow synchronizing the inventory with the sales made in-store and those made online. This is not the subject of this article, but know that it exists and that there are several very interesting solutions
MYTH #4: It’s Not Worth It, My Customers Aren’t The Type To Pay Online…
First, what allows you to affirm that? Did you survey your customers, who would have answered you unanimously “we don’t want to know anything”? If the answer is no, then these are just guesses that are very likely to be wrong. And even if that were true (and I mean “if”), don’t overlook the fact that accepting online payments would open the door to a whole new customer that could boost your sales.
MYTH #5: I Don’t Even Have A Website, I Can’t Sell Online
First, if you don’t have a website, you should. Make yourself a website, or at least a webpage. Even if you don’t have a website yet, you can still start selling online. Several solutions allow you to integrate your offer into their web application and then give you a link that you can share, or that you can integrate into a capture page (landing page) to sell products and collect on-the-spot payments.
Online Payment Solutions
Good! now that we’ve destroyed these myths, you have no valid reason not to sell online. It remains to find out which solution is ideal for you and take action!
Since there are many tools and platforms that you could use, start by asking yourself these questions to better understand your needs:
What is your budget: can you afford to invest an amount right away, or would you rather have no initial investment but let go of a higher percentage of your sales?
What do you want to sell online: a unique product? Several products that require a shopping cart? A subscription with recurring payments? Services?
What platforms do you already use? Maybe you already have a website built on WooCommerce or just a Facebook page for your business. Either way, the payment platform you choose must be compatible.
Do you want to sell internationally? In this case, the management of taxes and currencies is to be considered when you make your choice.
Do you want to sell online only, or also in person? As mentioned above, a solution compatible with a POS could be considered.
Hope this will help you to know why online payment is essential for your business and also what are the solutions to your online payment problems.
