Monday, February 1, 2010

Everybody Loves PayPal

Recently we have made several changes to our website. Repeat-visitors may have noticed that the graphics have been updated, but under the hood there have been even greater changes. PayPal has always been a decent eCommerce solution. They are very safe, affordable and reliable.

However, we have never liked having our customers whisked away to some far off mysterious payment page. So about a month ago we decided to change eCommerce services. With all due respect to PayPal, we didn't want our customers feeling like they were buying a pair of used ski bindings on eBay. We wanted something that appeared more professional. Something that would integrate directly into our website, and give customers that secure feeling, "Hey, this seems like a legitimate website to buy from".

The results were a disaster. Overnight our sales dropped drastically. Was this a post-Christmas slump, or a problem with our new service? We gave it a fair trial of two weeks before making the switch back to PayPal. All is normal again.

With all of the online fraud we have to deal with today, buyers are reluctant to trust small, obscure websites. So unless you are somebody big like amazon.com, you should use an eCommerce solution that is seriously brand-name, like PayPal.