Payment processing for membership sites can be a headache. Every member has a different renewal date, there products to pay for, subscriptions to upgrade, security to consider and of course you want it to be easy for your customers. Here are a few simple solutions to make your life easier and more profitable too!
By far the most common method of paying a membership site subscription is by credit card. To accept and process credit card payments, you need open a particular type of account known as a merchant account. The advantages of having your own merchant account include quick payment processing so you receive funds without delay, and not having to pay any processing fees. However, you may not be able to open your own merchant account for the following reasons;
- Having a poor credit history
- Living in a area where merchant accounts are not issued
- Not having enough transactions initially to justify the account
In any of the above cases you could consider using a third party merchant account processor. These take two forms. Using online billing solutions such as Click Bank and the PayPal shopping cart can be one alternative to opening your own merchant account. A number of hosting services such as BizHosting and Hostway offer free merchant accounts.
However, there will always be a number of people who are worried about the security of paying over the internet, and with high profile cases of credit card fraud recently in the news. For this reason, it may be worth it to offer an alternative method of payment, such as paying by check. You could provide an address for potential members to send a check to, and ask them to include their personal details and an e-mail address. Make your payment process as simple as possible. If your customer has to jump through hurdles to pay you, they may very likely change their mind.