When setting up a retail site, or at the very least a site where some form of online payment is required,. there are many many different payment options available. The cost of installing them all into an online shop format can be quite costly, but do you need to cover all of the angles, or just the main ones?
While some of the main payment methods include PayPal and Google Checkout, there are many more and even the likes of Amazon are set to introduce their own third party system into the market place. A number of factors which online retailers have to consider are :-
Who are you trying to attract? Which market.
Have you done your market research?
Which payment systems offer the best terms, compared to their popularity?
Are their any offers available, e.g. Google Checkout recently offered discounts to merchants.
Do you really want to go all of the way down the payment options chain? Some are more reliable than others.
These are just a few of the questions that you need to ask yourself when setting up your own site. Different payment methods have different charges, different usage penalties and different charge back rates (i.e. when customers cancel). You really need to find a balance between offering the best all round service, not giving your customer too many options (which may confuse them and make your site look untidy) and retaining a quality of service on your site.
While it is great to be able to attract more and more customers, some payment systems have troubled histories and are prone to certain actions by customers. Do you really want to become involved in this end of the market?