What do you think is the best payment processor for generating the most sales?

Payment processor doesnt really generate sales.. I would say that if you offer major CC's and paypal you should be set.

What aliston said. :)

Anyway, i recommend WorldPay - awesome service provider that's stable and reliable.

work your way towards your own merchant acount.

PayQuake seems nice ( payquake.com ). I have an account with them. Its a merchant acct, payment gateway is done though AuthorizeNet, and some other gateway. But you choose your gateway when you signup. Reasonable monthly or yearly fees (depending on the plan u signup for)

If you're interested in a full merchant account, you might check out the Merchant Account Comparison (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=175347&highlight=cdg+commerce) posted by VanHost.

Cheers,
Daniel

A payment processor can have an affect on sales. I know someone who was with iBill, switched over to using authorize.net and tripled sales (which have continued since then).

But as for one merchant gateway versus the other, they should all be the same.

I am with MerchantPlus and they provide a merchant account and payment gateway through AuthorizeNet.com.

http://www.clickbank.com/ can actually generate as they have their own affiliate and shopping catalogue. I havn't used them though, I recommend 2checkout.

My advice - and answer to your question - is to pick a payment provider that has a reputation for stability, uptime and treating its merchants responsively when they need help... and to ask a couple of key questions to any prospective processor.

Namely, ask them all of the following:

1. Are foreign card transactions allowed? Or are they automatically scrubbed from certain areas? (the latter is true for a number of 3rd party processors and not the case with most true merchant account solutions)

2. What is the uptime on the payment gateway solution in question? (just like uptime is important for a server, the same is true for a gateway)

3. Does the merchant processor include any technologies that could be beneficial with your sales? (i.e. free shopping cart with affiliate tracking & reporting or other value-adds that might help you on the sales side)

4. How are risk management & chargeback issues addressed? Remember - all of the sales in the world won't matter if your funds are unreasonably held back (or never funded) due to a few chargebacks or other related issues.

All of the questions above have a direct impact on the sales that could be generated through the particular processor being interviewed.

However, it is worth re-iterating that a processing service doesn't really "make sales" but rather just "handles them." You still need to go out there and bring in the business in the first place. :)

Originally posted by pjs
http://www.clickbank.com/ can actually generate as they have their own affiliate and shopping catalogue. I havn't used them though, I recommend 2checkout.

Forget clickbank. That is mainly for selling ebooks and other non-tangible items. Also, they give the customer a refund without first consulting you.

As for 2checkout, I would stay away. You should do a search for 2CO and 2checkout on these forums. THere is alot of negativity about them, including some post from me.

Search and ye shall learn plenty. THe search function is your best friend.

I have used 2checkout in the past and had no problems