How to Receive Online Payments

For those who do not have merchant accounts, there are several reliable alternatives for you, so you can continue doing your business.

What you should do

First, list down what you need in and how you intend to use your account. Will you be using to it to "buy" or "sell" items, or both? For those who are selling, consider if a simple "buy now" button will suffice or if you will need a more advance feature such as the "shopping cart". Next down your complaints regarding your previous payment processing service. You must first decide on what is really important to you before you pick out an alternative processing service.

Research on possible alternatives and their features. CNN money has come up with its top five alternatives:

http://www.digitalriver.com/
http://www.2checkout.com/
http://www.alertpay.com/
http://www.trialpay.com/
http://www.e-junkie.com/

For those who wish find other alternatives apart from the five CNN money has come up with, make sure to check the company profile and see if if checks out with Better Business Bureau before submitting your personal information. Get the complete and exact business name of the company and see if you can find write-ups and reviews about them from well-known and reliable magazines and other sources. Lastly, check if the company is registered. Use online verification programs like Verisign to confirm.

Once you have your alternative/s verified, you can now compare prices and features (and other options) against your list of important factors that a payment processing payment should have. The company that offers everything closest to your list is your new payment processing service. Now you can accept payments and make purchases online without a merchant account.