Sell Your Self Published Book with An Easy Payment Process

Have you finished your self-published book and ready to sell? Or if you are like me and other non-techies you wanted to get the payment system worked out before writing your book. You may consider this the hard part. If you are thinking that way keep reading you'll find out it's not.

It's true plastic money is what turns the wheels of ecommerce or to put it another way the gas that burns in the engine of ecommerce. Therefore, you must be able to receive payments online so that your money-making ability is not hindered.

One of my clients with a resume service told me about the horrors she had with collecting payment using the regular check system. She told of how she got burned quite a few times. So along with her new business website including a career help and resume section, she wanted to receive payment online.

A friend of hers had described receiving payment over the internet and how fast and easy it could be. She was thinking she wasn't ready for a merchant account but still wanted the ability to accept payment online.

Of course, being the good web developer that I am; I gave her several options to choose from just like I am about to give you. She chose Paypal to begin her selling experience online. Last time, I checked with her she was very pleased and had done numerous resumes and received full payment online.

Setting up your payment system is a necessary function of selling your book (information product) online. But it doesn't have to be as hard as it may sound. In fact, it can be as easy as a one time setup with very little ongoing maintenance.

Free enterprise has advanced. It used to be very expensive to get a merchant account. There are now many professional companies on the Internet which are ready to help you get setup. If you are not ready for a merchant account there are also numerous 3rd party companies that will process your orders for you. All you need do is link your web site to their secure servers.

Merchant Accounts

If you decide to get a merchant account, you need access to a secure server and a shopping cart system. A secure server will protect your customers' information. Many companies that provide shopping cart systems require that you purchase a secure server license commonly called SSL. The shopping cart system will provide your customers with a total of what they have ordered, tax, shipping and the total cost.

The following website can provide you with a merchant account:

Total Merchant Services (TMS)

The TMS Merchant account, for Internet transactions, will enable you to accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. They offer two merchant processing software packages to choose from. The first package is the TotalPay powered by Authorize.net Virtual Terminal. This package will enable you to authorize, process, and manage credit card transactions from any computer with an Internet connection and a Web browser.

Shoe String Budget Tip: If you are ready to invest in your own merchant account, be sure to shop around. At the time of this writing, the market was competitive with several companies offering Free Merchant Account Setup if you purchased their service. (waiving the steep setup price usually associated with merchant accounts)

Third Party Credit Card Processors

Third party credit card processors are an affordable option for budget-conscious business owners and those just starting online. Each company provides you with an easy set of instructions to help you get setup to accept credit cards. Most newbies and budget-minded businesses enjoy the hassle free operations. You have to bother with processing your credit card payments or charge backs. It is all handled for you on their secure server.

The third party credit card processors will process your credit card orders for you. There are normally no monthly fees. But they do charge a "per transaction" fee. They send an instant, bi-monthly or monthly payment for all of the orders processed, minus their fee and a reserve fee. A reserve fee is held back to cover any charge backs you may have. If you have no charge backs within a set period of time, your reserve will be refunded to you. Each company has different guidelines governing how often they pay and regarding reserves.

Here's a short list of websites that process credit card orders for you:

iBill, PayPal, ClickBank, Revecom, 2Checkout.com
The list above is by no means a comprehensive list. If you need a short review of these companies, google them for reviews of each service.

In order to profitably sell your books or other information products on the Internet, you must accept credit cards. Additionally, to sell effectively, you must make the ordering process as simple as possible for your customers. With the advance of technology and free commerce, even the smallest home business can now accept credit cards almost instantly. Choose one of the web sites listed above and get your book selling website up today. Best wishes for your wildly successful book.

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