Paypal Express Checkout

Does anyone use Paypal Express Checkout?

Advantages? Disadvantages?

We currently use Paypal Website Payment Standard, but Paypal is offering lower fees if we switch to Express Checkout. I'm tempted, but worried about how it will affect our user experience in regards to things such as Order History and Status, etc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hmmm....must look into that. I was thinking it would just be an "alternate" checkout where people could pay with Paypal just as they do on our site now utilizing Website Payment Standard. Currently paying 2.9%...they're offering 1.9% if I switch, but if that would somehow be on top of our regular merchant account fees (this whole thing is starting to make my head spin) then obviously it would be a no go.

PayPal Express is not a middle man. It's an alternative checkout process, just like Google Checkout, although there are many technical differences between the two.

Of course, you may elect to have a different payment gateway active on the store at the same time (e.g. Authorize.net + PayPal Express Checkout). In fact, other payment methods from PayPal itself (Standard, Website Payments Pro, or even PayFlow Pro) can be the alternative payment option to PayPal Express Checkout.

But the cost of a PayPal Express transaction remains the same: whether or not you have other payment gateways active does not affect the cost of using PayPal Express. It does affect the overall cost of doing business, of course, as having multiple payment gateways active may cost you some additional monthly fees. The cost of the individual transaction does not change.

About a year ago I wrote an article on PayPal which remains largely valid, and covers the different offerings that they have. See:
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/469/Analysis-The-New-PayPal/

Overall, consider the following about using PayPal (Express, Standard or Website Payments Pro), Google Checkout, vs. a payment gateway that requires a separate Internet Merchant Account:

- If you have to setup an Internet Merchant Account -> lower transaction cost, higher setup costs, longer setup time
- If you don't have to setup an Internet Merchant Account (PayPal Standard, PayPal Express Checkout, PayPal Website Payments Pro, Google Checkout) -> higher transaction cost, lower setup costs (typically none), lower setup time

I hope this helps navigate through the payment options maze :-)

It is indeed - still - a confusing part of the e-commerce world.

Cheers,

massimo

We already have a merchant account with a competitive rate.

I wasn't aware that switching to Express would somehow tie into our existing merchant account. Paypal Website Payment Standard certainly doesn't do that.

We have never heard of that. If you have a PayPal Business Account, you can enable Express Checkout and you certainly don't need to have any other relationship with a payment gateway, nor an Internet Merchant Account with your bank.