Best Web Hosting Services to Collect Payment Using PayPal
Luckily, there are many ways to accept payment through PayPal, and you usually have at least a few options on a web host plan.
Other than building your own site from scratch, most hosts offer 1 or 2 main ways to add e-commerce functionality to your site and accept payments from customers with PayPal.
PayPal with E-Commerce Carts and Website Builders
The most popular option is to allow you to install an open source e-commerce shopping cart. This is usually done through a cPanel control panel that includes an installation script that allows you to pick the one you’d like.
The other option for hosts is to offer a site builder, which allows you to create a simple website through a drag and drop interface. This isn’t as common, but some hosts offer it as an option. Usually, they come with a PayPal payment gateway, although it varies between hosts.
Customer Advantages of Using PayPal for Purchases
Additionally, getting a PayPal friendly host isn’t only for yourself. Customers do have key incentives to use online shops with PayPal support. Should you cater to them, your business’ trust factor is bound to improve.
Other than trust an convenience, businesses who fail to support PayPal should be prepared to lose customers. Here are a few customer 6 benefits of using PayPal:
- Flexibility
- Ease of Transfer
- Card and Data Security
- Discounts
- Costs
- User-Friendly Applications
Flexibility
Customers can have multiple bank accounts tied to a PayPal account. This way, they are free to choose from multiple payment methods, with just one account. PayPal also safely stores payment data, saving them time.
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Ease of Transfer
Customers could be struggling for funds. PayPal makes it quick and simple to transfer funds from one account to another. Users are simply required to enter the recipient’s e-mail address, and the funds are through!
Card and Data Security
PayPal securely stores credit card and account data. This eliminates the hassle of customers having to re-enter details during every purchase. Checkout times are often under 1 minute.
Discounts
Many PayPal users are incentivized by PayPal’s sponsorship schemes. Since they’re often eligible for vouchers and discounts, PayPal has become a primary source of payment.
Costs
It’s free! Need I say more? Your customers can use PayPal to purchase from your site, at no extra cost.
User-Friendly Applications
There are official mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices. PayPal is, therefore, multi-platform compatible and easy to access from anywhere.
The Most Popular E-Commerce Software Options for PayPal Hosting
You have quite a few options for an e-commerce website that needs to accept debit card or credit card payment through PayPal.
Many of these integrate PayPal Payment Pro (formerly called ” website payment pro “) which lets your customers pay without even leaving your site.
Here are the 5 most popular ones to date:
- Magento
- PrestaShop
- OpenCart
- Zen Cart
- Shopify
When you sign up for most hosting plans, you will get access to a control panel. The most popular control panel by far is cPanel.
Magento
One of the most powerful e-commerce platforms. It has quite a learning curve, but can be configured for just about any online store. PayPal is a major partner and simple to integrate into your site.
PrestaShop
A modern, simple way to build an online store. Your store will be mobile-friendly automatically, and you can accept payment from customers around the world. PayPal can be integrated with a simple addon.
OpenCart
Works and looks a lot like WordPress from the backend (but a completely different piece of software) and comes with several search engine optimization features built-in. You can configure your site through themes and extensions. Enabling PayPal is simple.
Zen Cart
Not quite as modern as the other options, but can be added to custom built sites to enable shopping cart functionality. A solid option that’s been around for years, and supports PayPal.
Shopify
PayPal is a much sought for payment option for Shopify. As an easy to use a website builder with PayPal support and a crisp user-interface, it’s a recommended choice.
Installing Your Chosen Software
In cPanel, your host has likely set-up an auto script installer like Softaculous. These installers let you search and choose from hundreds of open source software products.
The specific options depend on the specific script installer used, but most will support all 5 of the above options.
My 3 Favorite PayPal-friendly Hosting Providers
Liquid Web
For serious online stores, Liquid Web is the host company to beat.
Their plans are all geared towards high performance, which translates into a fast and smooth experience for your customers.
Liquid Web also has a 24/7 support team, where all members have hundreds of hours of training.
With Liquid Web plans, you get access to a fully stocked cPanel, which will let you install all the popular open source e-commerce solutions that integrate with PayPal.
In addition, their managed WordPress plans are perfect if you’re trying to create a high-performance WooCommerce store.
Yahoo Hosting
On the other end of the spectrum, Yahoo’s small business hosting is perfect for a small or beginning e-commerce business.
There are only a few simple, cheap, shared hosting plans to choose from.
All of them support WordPress but also come with a custom online site builder.
If you use the site builder, it only takes a few clicks to enable PayPal payments with no coding.
All of Yahoo’s plans come with 24/7 support, and a solid knowledge base.
Finally, you get free advertising credits, a free domain name, and a free SSL certificate.
Bluehost
BlueHost is another option if you’re looking for cheap hosting for multiple sites, but it offers more scalability with the option to upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting>.
Bluehost offers a hosting plan tailored specifically for WooCommerce, but all other plans come with cPanel and a script installer for other e-commerce software.
There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee on all Bluehost plans if you’d like to try it out.
Important Web Hosting Features for Online Business Owners
A PayPal shopping cart to accept payment is an important part of running a successful e-commerce website, but there’s more to scout for when choosing a hosting package.
Here are the other most important things to look for in a web host:
- Domain name cost – Some web hosts offer a free domain name to customers. Some hosts conveniently offer domain registration, while others don’t.
- Control panel – Does your account come with cPanel? If it’s a lesser known control panel, it may not have many PayPal-friendly options.
- SSL certificates – Some hosts charge you a lot for an SSL certificate, which is a necessity for online stores.
- Email address – Do you need to pay extra for an email address? Most hosts will give you a limited number for free.
Finally, keep in mind that some web hosts have strong support teams that will help you if you have trouble integrating PayPal, while others don’t.
Other features in Payments
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PayPal Frequently Asked Questions
- What are PayPal Payments Advanced?
PayPal Payments Advanced is a program available for a small monthly fee that includes extra features for merchants. With PayPal Payments Advanced, you get PayPal’s online invoicing and mobile payment tools, and your customers can check out and process their payments without ever leaving your website. You also receive a free card reader for processing payments in person using your smartphone, and can offer no-interest financing for your customers.
- Why do people use PayPal to accept payments rather than doing it directly?
In order to accept credit or debit card payments, businesses need to set up merchant accounts. Merchant accounts usually charge monthly fees in addition to per-transaction fees, and can be prohibitively expensive for small businesses. One big reason for PayPal’s popularity is that there are no monthly fees to accept payments, just per-transaction fees.
- Are there any drawbacks to using PayPal?
PayPal’s legal status is somewhat complicated. It’s legally classified as a bank in some countries, but not in others.
In the United States, PayPal is not considered to be a bank, but a payment intermediary. As a result, PayPal account balances in the United States do not benefit from FDIC insurance, and only credit card transactions are protected from seller fraud, not debit card or bank transactions.
Some complain that PayPal withholds money or delays transactions, resulting in sellers being unable to withdraw money that they’ve been sent by customers.
- What alternatives are there to PayPal for receiving payments?
Some popular alternatives to PayPal for payment processors and merchant bank accounts include Stripe, Amazon Payments, 2Checkout, and E-Junkie.
- How does PayPal compare to Stripe?
Stripe is a payment processor for businesses based in the US and Canada, with fees comparable to PayPal’s. Stripe is available to integrate with ecommerce services such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, and can be integrated into WordPress sites with plugins.
Unlike PayPal, Stripe’s payment forms are self-hosted and performed all on your website, and they deposit payments into your bank account automatically, whereas PayPal payments end up in your PayPal account balance and must be manually withdrawn. However, Stripe has a waiting period of seven days before you receive your money.
- How does PayPal compare to Amazon Payments?
Amazon Payments is a payment processor and merchant bank account with fees comparable to PayPal. Using Amazon Payments, you can set up simple “buy now” buttons for your website, or create a fully integrated shopping cart using software like CoreCommerce, 3dcart, or ShopSite.
Amazon Payments has a waiting period of 3-5 days for transactions. It automatically deposits your money into your chosen bank account. It does require a bit of technical knowledge to set up the integration, however; and they also hold back a portion of your earnings as a cushion against chargebacks.
- How does PayPal compare to 2Checkout?
2Checkout is a payment processor and merchant bank account available in any country. Its fees in the United States are comparable to PayPal’s, but higher in other countries. Your funds are released to you every Thursday.
2Checkout’s main advantage is that they’re available in many countries where PayPal is not.
- How does PayPal compare to E-Junkie?
E-Junkie is a popular option for selling digital products, since they can automatically send digital goods to the buyer immediately upon their purchase. The download links expire after a few downloads or a set time limit, protecting your digital goods from being pirated or shared with others.
Unlike PayPal, E-Junkie doesn’t charge any transaction fees at all; just a flat monthly fee based on the number of products you’re selling.
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