PayPal today announced PayPal Website Payments Pro, a
new product suite for small- and medium-sized
businesses (SMBs). Website Payments Pro features three
new functions: Express Checkout, Direct Payment API
and Virtual Terminal. With these functions, merchants
can offer shoppers more choice in how they pay for
items -- with their PayPal accounts, their credit
cards, or by phone, fax or mail -- all through PayPal,
a single provider.
Express Checkout helps buyers with PayPal accounts pay
for items in just three clicks on a merchant's
website. The buyer initiates and approves PayPal
payment earlier in the checkout process, and shipping
and billing information is sent immediately from
PayPal to the merchant website.
For buyers who don't have PayPal accounts, Direct
Payment API lets merchants accept credit card
transactions just as they would with traditional
merchant accounts. The buyers simply enter their
credit card details directly on the merchant website.
Payments are processed through the PayPal system on
the back end, and PayPal remains invisible to the
buyers.
Website Payments Pro also includes Virtual Terminal, a
new feature that supports phone, fax and mail orders
by providing merchants with an online interface to
manually enter credit card transactions through the
PayPal system.
"The launch of Website Payments Pro is a direct result
of feedback from our customers, who were looking for
more flexibility when integrating PayPal and more
control over the checkout process," said Stephanie
Tilenius, vice president and general manager of
PayPal's merchant services business. "We're excited
about the launch of this product, not only because it
meets the needs of our existing customers, but also
because it helps us extend the benefits of using
PayPal to the SMB market."
Website Payments Pro is PayPal's first non-hosted
payment suite, which meets an important requirement
for SMBs. PayPal customers are directed to the PayPal
site momentarily to log in and confirm payment, and
then are automatically redirected to the merchant
website to complete checkout. As a result, merchants
have more control over the buyer checkout process. For
example, merchants can include their own branding on
every step of the checkout process and direct buyers
back to their websites to continue shopping after
payments are completed.
"With Website Payments Pro, I am able to offer more
payment options to my customers and let them pay in
the way they are most comfortable -- via PayPal, a
credit card payment on my website, or by phone," said
Diana Bostany, owner of designer jewelry website
dianabostany.com, which has already integrated Website
Payments Pro. "I've found that my regular PayPal
customers are actually buying more with Express
Checkout. I think that they appreciate the fact that
the online shopping and checkout process is much
faster using Express Checkout than it was before."
For merchants that do not have their own custom
shopping carts, Website Payments Pro is integrated
with third-party shopping carts including CityMax,
CoolCart Pro, eMartCart, iBuilder, Mal's E-commerce,
My eBiz, 1ShoppingCart and StoreFront by LaGarde.
Pricing for Website Payments Pro includes a low fee of
$20 per month and a per-transaction rate of 2.2 to 2.9
percent plus 30 cents. As an introductory offer,
PayPal will waive the $20 monthly fee until late 2005.
Pricing for all of PayPal's other products remain the
same, at 1.9 to 2.9 percent per transaction, with no
monthly fees.
PayPal also repackaged its current product line into
four distinct product suites -- PayPal Website
Payments Standard, PayPal Website Payments Pro, PayPal
Email Payments, and PayPal as an Additional Payment
Option. The new product bundles, found in the
"Merchant Tools" tab on the PayPal website, make it
easier for merchants to find the right payment
products for their specific businesses needs.
For more information about Website Payments Pro and
PayPal's other business solutions, visit
https://www.paypal.com/merchants or call 866-837-1901.
About PayPal
Founded in 1998, PayPal, an eBay company, enables any
individual or business with an email address to send
and receive payments online securely, easily and
quickly. PayPal's service builds on the existing
financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit
cards and uses one of the world's most advanced
proprietary fraud prevention systems to create a safe,
global, real-time payment solution. PayPal has nearly
72 million accounts and is available to users in 56
markets around the world. More information about the
company can be found at https://www.paypal.com.
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