The Mistake os Using 3rd Party Payment Services on Your Website

Mistake: Using 3rd Party Services to Sell

Are you using your Outdoor Website to sell products or services? Do you have online shopping with the ability to accept credit cards? Is your store streamlined to do your own card processing and calculate shipping rates in real time?

Many Outdoor Websites make the mistake of trying to take shortcuts in order to establish an online store front. Most notably, they use 3rd party services such as canned shopping carts and PayPal to sell their inventory. In the process, they save a few bucks but lose a lot more in the long run.

Business Websites that incorporate 3rd party services to sell items are generally not simple enough. Having to deal with pop-up windows or clicking back and forth between your Website and a completely different Website is too complicated. Users get confused when they have to leave your Website and checkout at a completely different service. It also seen as cheap and unprofessional.

On top of that, you lose the freedom to customize your store. Some of you may have already experienced this. There are things you want to do on your store but you can't because it is a canned solution. You basically lose the freedom to personalize your store.

When it comes to online transactions, you want to get that payment as fast as you can and you stand a far higher chance of getting it on your Website than redirecting a user to someone else's. If using third party services like this was such a good idea then why don't companies like Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops use them? They could certainly save a bundle by using them right? WRONG!

Many consultants would recommend using 3rd party services when first starting out. When sales increase, move to doing your own card processing. While this is good advice, it also has the following drawbacks:

If 3rd party services are going to cost you business then how will you ever increase sales enough to get to that point?
You basically will be paying twice for this service.
Are you serious about establishing a sound proficient business? Then why not start out with a professional set-up built for the long run.

Do you need to establish an online store front? Want to get it right the first time? Have you become disappointed in your existing 3rd party services? Want to get in a better position? Contact Us to discuss a solution. TConsult offers a shopping cart that we fully customize for each client.

Return to TConsult Outdoors Home