I use a PP merchant account, here's why. I have a side business that makes a little electronic gadget for an obscure hobby. For the most part, my customers are

I use a PP merchant account, here's why. I have a side business that makes a little electronic gadget for an obscure hobby. For the most part, my customers are not techies. PP is the only [0] payment processing system that does not require me to maintain my own custom web server, either physically or in the cloud. All of the other services work like this: "Just put this code on your server, to accept payments through our service." But much as I love programming, I don't trust myself to make my own server work with 100% uptime, no surprise fees, or gaping security holes. With PP, I can use a totally static web page for my business, with a "button" that calls PP's server. Or somebody can even just send the money to me with a note about what they're ordering. Some customers get really confused and I can kind of hand hold them through the purchasing process. Perhaps a second benefit is the whole buyer/seller protection racket. I have had zero problems with buyers, but I think the buyer-friendly approach lets people be a little bit more confident about sending their money to some unknown person on the web. The fee is X percent, so I know that I need to sell Y more units to make up for it, but I think the reputation of PP on the buyer side probably generates those sales for me. Of course I've read some of the horror stories on the seller side, but they seem to be mostly related to selling digital or intangible goods (for lack of a better term). Also, I figure that someone who's already selling a digital service has got the whole web server thing figured out. [0] I occasionally go out there and look for an alternative, and if my claim is outdated, I'd love to know.