Paypal is known for handling online transactions through ebay, but it also has a lot of tools for setting up online transactions on your own ecommerce web site. Over the past few weeks I have been adding Paypal's shopping cart system to www.karas101creations.com. Each item can be setup with a button that allows you to select options before you add the item to the shopping cart. There are some limitations to the number of options you can request, but it works fine for most items. The nice thing about it is that you don't have to do any programming to make it work. The buttons for each item are created using a menu system and saved in your PayPal merchant account. All you need to do is copy and paste the code into your web page.
Where it gets a little tricky is when you are listing products on sites other than your own. PayPal allows you to configure a "business" variable in the button code for an alternate email address. This should allow orders from the site to be directed to the proper seller. I believe there is a limit to the number of alternate emails you can have on your account, so this could be a problem down the road. Eventually, if a seller becomes successful, it would make sense for them to have their own account. But this would be a good way for new sellers to get started without having to commit to PayPal. Poetlady's Craft Store is where I had first planned to do this, but no one has asked to have their crafts listed, other than the three that I started with.
I'm also going to start sending invoices to my clients using PayPal. My hope is that this will save them a stamp and me a trip to the bank. PayPal has the ability to save custom invoice templates so the process could be a real time saver. The question of trust always comes up with online payment services. All I can say is that thousands of ebay transactions are processed everyday using PayPal, so there should be no reason to fear. Just try to make sure the sites you visit are the real thing and the lock icon appears in your web browser when sending personal data.
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