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It's simple: there's an expectation that some amount of due process has been done before granting you a merchant account. It's harder to setup than a Paypal account. Therefore it's more difficult for crooks/irresponsible people to get a merchant account than a Paypal account, therefore you look more professional with a merchant account.

Barriers to entry can work for or against you.




Does that really go through a consumer's head at the point of purchase? Seems more likely that they'd think things like "ugh, not another site where I have to enter my credit card info - I wonder how trustworthy they are?" or if they're using a third party system like paypal, maybe they'd think "oh cool, I don't have to give out any personal info, I can just use my paypal account".

Just something to think about when setting up a payment system - you might want to grow into needing a merchant account system before you deal with the financial and logistical overhead.


" there's an expectation that some amount of due process has been done before granting you a merchant account."

Hmm. That's never occurred to to me when ordering stuff online. I do make a judgment about the reputation of the seller, but the payment method really doesn't figure into that unless it's something off the wall.




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