As more and more people have PayPal accounts, is it important to accept PayPal as a payment method? Or are the risks and costs not worth it.
A large number of on-line website these days are using PayPal to accept payments, however there are also a large number who don't for a variety of reasons.
These reasons range from the thought of looking unprofessional with a "user" type payment system, or mostly just down the the expensive payment fees and of course the ease at which customers can charge back money fraudulently through PayPal should they choose.
The question is, I suppose how many customers are you likely to lose through not accepting PayPal, versus the amount of extra money it would cost in processing fees by accepting the payment method as existing clients may also choose to use it. Certainly not an easy number to work out accurately by any means.
PayPal are keen to make their system even easier to use and now permit customers to make payments without even leaving the merchants own website which is a great step in the right direction. It is also easier to pay with PayPal, there is no getting up to find where you left your bank card to pay for your shopping.
I have been guilty in the past of ordering from a different website regardless of price just for the ease of using PayPal rather than having to tap in my card numbers, and it is something many people have confirmed they also do.
I personally believe that with the increase in mobile usage and devices it is far easier to checkout with PayPal than it is to enter card details. And perhaps therefore it is sensible to try and accept every possible method of payment, especially on lower cost end user items such as shared web hosting packages.