Hello all, my 2c on this, since I sell 2 boards online.

I use hurricane electric for hosting, he.net, they've been fine, but I 
have zero dynamic content.  You get a linux shell with what looks like 
the standard goodies.

I use paypal only.  I used to also use google checkout, when they had no 
fees, and now their fees are in the 2.5% range.  paypal is in the 3.5% 
range.  At least half my customers already have a paypal account, so it 
is just easier to do that and not fuss with google.

I add 3.5% paypal fee for all paypal sales.  I offer that people can 
send a check (if in USA, of course), or for a significant sale (>$500) 
do a wire transfer with no fee.  So, they get a ding in that they have 
to cover paypal, but there are other options, most of the time anyway. 
I hate the fact that visa/mastercard/etc. as part of their merchant 
contracts force the merchant to not offer a discount for cash, or 
indicate the CC fee in sales, in order to hide the reality of the 
situation from Joe Consumer.  Paypal does no such thing, of course.

The one thing I don't like about paypal is that I can't determine what 
their fee will be ahead of time.  I think it depends if the buyer uses a 
credit card vs. bank account, and if they are overseas, but it remains a 
mystery that they provide *zero* information about.  All I care about is 
getting $100 for a $100 sale, so whatever additional the buyer needs to 
pay to cover paypal, I'd much prefer paypal to just indicate.  But this 
runs completely counter to the philosophy of hiding of transactional 
fees from Joe Consumer so this is not possible to do.

So I add 3.5% to every sale paid for by paypal, and this is sometimes 
over, sometimes under, but approximately right.

I've never had a chargeback, but I think that depends on what you're 
selling and to whom.  The stuff I have is kind of specialized and I 
consult on each sale to make sure it is going to work, so it has never 
come up.  If you're selling t-shirts this might be a problem, but 
anything technical for a narrow audience of people looking specifically 
for it I'd guess it is unlikely to ever happen.  Good customer service = 
happy customers, even if there are technical snafus that are your fault.

Good luck, have fun, and remember that well-run small business really is 
the backbone of capitalism, progress, and rising standards of living.

J




Bob Blick wrote:
> Robert Rolf wrote:
> 
>> I'm leaning toward Godaddy 
> 
> Oh, Godaddy, the slutty one? Good idea! The ladies really go for that!
> 
> Really, any of the other top ten hosts would be a better choice.
> 
> Godaddy's softcore porn approach to marketing is just the tip of a
> really bad iceberg. Do some research on them and maybe you'll move all
> your sites somewhere else.
> 
> As far as PayPal, the problems you might have with them are when there
> are chargebacks and dealing with customer service. But if you have
> decent customers you should be OK.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bob
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