Research shows that companies that accept credit card payments online have higher Internet sales than those that use PayPal and other such services. However, accepting credit cards alone won’t necessarily result in higher sales. Rather, companies that take the pains to accept credit cards do so for one of the following reasons:

• Integrate the inventory management system with the payment system

• Professional appearance (includes having a customized shopping cart rather than PayPal’s generic one)

• Cash flow is tight (need real-time payments that only direct credit card payments provide)

• Full control of the security of the payment process and potential refund issues.

• A complicated inventory (makes outsourcing more painful than gainful)