Hey, i was just wondering what you guys think. What different payment methods should a hosting company offer? and if you are a host, what do you offer?
I think that the bare minimum you can offer is PayPal. It can do credit card processing as well as PayPal accounts.
What i offer is PayPal, AlertPay and Credit Card processing via 2Checkout. I'm also looking at opening a PO Box so people can pay via Cash + Check in the mail.

We accept PayPal and 2CheckOut mainly, but in some cases Cheque and Liberty Reserve too.

I think PayPal is a must for any business now days. We accept AlerPay, PayPal and Moneybookers for bank transfers only.

PayPal + Credit Card is probably the minimum you would want to offer. Stay away from e-gold.

I am offering PayPal, 2CO and offline Checks.

I personally like using Paypal and 2Checkout but i've considered maybe using a different merchant besides 2co.

2CO applies a 5.5% commission on each transaction, plus a $0.45 charge per transaction.
Isn't that a little steep?

I take sex, drugs, and cash.... please don't get into business if you can't answer this question for yourself.. as it depends on your customer base

Yeah, 2co is a little expensive. We use google checkout and paypal and so far no complaints. Though we're looking at finding another merchant for direct cc pay, but with paypal, you can do cc without being a paypal member, so I'm not sure it's necessary at this stage of the game. At least for us.

Wire transfer, thats not normal in USA ?
I take sex, drugs, and cash.... please don't get into business if you can't answer this question for yourself.. as it depends on your customer base
Your the rock band hoster ;)

The more the merrier :)
We accept PayPal, AlertPay, MoneyBookers, LibertyReserve, offline cash/cheque payments, & also used to accept E-gold until it crashed. It is a problem converting all of them though.
Ishan

Paypal and 2CheckOut are good to get started. Down the road, perhaps Paypal and your own merchant account.
Good luck!
-mike

What's the consensus on Google Checkout? Does anyone use it?

We use it and we have a few loyal customers who choose to use it. It's cheaper than paypal and google is more trusted than paypal/ebay. It usually takes 2 days to receive funds into your bank account. The only thing is they are not setup for non-tangible items, so you have to go and "send" them out even though there's nothing to mail out. If you don't take that next step, you never get paid.

Hmmm interesting, thanks for the reply.

We use it and we have a few loyal customers who choose to use it. It's cheaper than paypal and google is more trusted than paypal/ebay. It usually takes 2 days to receive funds into your bank account. The only thing is they are not setup for non-tangible items, so you have to go and "send" them out even though there's nothing to mail out. If you don't take that next step, you never get paid.
We also use Google Checkout with WHMCS; it automatically pays to our bank account after 2-3 days without having to take any action in the Google Checkout account management page. So, I don't know why you have to keep telling it that you've shipped it, we don't need to.
My only gripe with Google Checkout is that you cannot set up subscriptions. Other than that, it's pretty good.

What's the consensus on Google Checkout? Does anyone use it?
Ya i was wondering about Google Checkout to, its one of the payment methods we are considering adding.
It doesn't seem like it has really taken off online, or has it?

Master Card, VISA and PayPal are a must

I offer PayPal and GoogleCheckout, with preference for the latter..... it is cheaper and you can tell it to do partial refunds, etc.... (really friendly when it comes to the "seller")
Chris

I would suggest Paypal, Worldpay, 2checkout... but till d end..depends on your customer also... :)

We accept Paypal & Western Unioun :)
Paypal should be accepted as its the most used Payment Processor :)

As everyone has said, it's kind of dumb NOT to have paypal as at least an option. I'd suggest getting a cc gateway as well though, as some customer's aren't huge fans of leaving your page to pay (it seems silly, but sadly does matter to a lot of people). Last I checked, cdgcommerce has a 100% free gateway for cc that works with whmcs, so I'd say grab that and paypal, and you should be good to go. =)

Paypal + 2CO combination seems to be industry's standart. 2CO accept Paypal - so it can be the only solution - especially if you live in one of those 150 unlucky countries there you cannot accept Paypal payments.
+ now 2CO has multi-language payment gateway

Many clients indeed have PayPal accounts and would be a natural choice 1 for them to pay by PayPal. Also we offer Google Checkout, Credit Card and AlertPay, but as far as we see in orders, people go for PayPal (80%) and Credit card (15%). Only the remaining 5% are asking us for possibility to mail a check or alternative methods such as Alertpay or Google Checkout.
As for 2Co goes, we have used them for like 2 years but we no longer with them, too late payments, complicated communication issues etc :(

Many hosts use paypal, 2checkout, moneybookers, worldpay for payments.

Many hosts use paypal, 2checkout, moneybookers, worldpay for payments.
Meaning? :)