Payment ProcessingIn order to do business online, you will need a merchant account. While traditional merchant accounts often require pre-approval (and even business credit checks), you can save time and money by simply creating an account with a third-party processor

One of the most commonly known is Paypal.com and the beauty of this service is that it’s affordable, simple and requires no paperwork, credit checks or approval.

It only takes a few minutes to create your account. 

Here’s a quick walk through of how to get started:

Begin by clicking on the “Sign Up” link from Paypal’s main page. You will then need to choose to create a Personal, Premier or Business account.  Now here I’d recommend choosing a Business account if you intend on doing a lot of business – and you do! :-)

Reasoning:  With a business account, customers will see only the business name that you enter rather than your personal name. You will also have no transaction limits or withdrawal limits. 

Next, you will be asked to indicate the type of payment solution you are looking for – Here choose ”Website Payments Standard” and continue.  Next you’ll be asked to create your Paypal merchant profile, which includes entering in your business name, address and email address.

Note that you will not be able to change the first and last name associated with your Paypal account, however you will be able to change the Business name associated with your account later on.

And that’s pretty much it…  Once you have created your merchant profile, Paypal will send a verification email to the email address you included. You will need to click on the link contained within that email in order to complete the sign up process.  You should take some time to explore your Paypal account area, including adding a bank account and credit card to your account so that you are eligible to participate in all of Paypal’s advanced features as well as remove any sending or receiving limits.

Now there’s also another service you should create an account at - 

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