90% of all Internet payments are made by credit card, you should get yourself set up with an online payment processing option as quickly as possible. Online businesses can increase sales by as much as 400% right after they gave their buyers this convenient way to pay.

You have two options to accept credit card payments:

• Acquire your own Merchant Account
• Use a third party credit card processor

Instead of waiting for replies, paying setup fees, transaction fees, statement fees, discount fees and the like, you can simply sign up for a third party credit card processor and pay a percentage of the sale price of each product.

These services are very popular with small online businesses, especially those just starting out. The transaction fees are usually higher than owning a merchant account, but there is no minimum monthly charge and no hefty deposit requirement so you are only charged on sales you have made.

Also, third party processors often provide some extras such as check payments option, free affiliate programs, etc.

Some webmasters just want to do it in the simplest way: sign up with a third party processor, insert several lines of HTML code, and that's it! The service provider will take care of the rest.

The third party credit card processor handles payment by credit card, and sends the vendor a monthly (typically) check, minus various processing fees, which vary from service to service.

You may need some extra features sometimes such as download facilities or sending registration codes. If you ask around, many webmasters will suggest ClickBank which is a good service with large and free affiliates base.

• You sell a limited number of products
• Your product/service or credit history are not qualified for a merchant account
• You live outside of US
• You have little cash on hand
• You want to get it done with little effort