Does Using PayPal Reduce Conversion Rates?

[gph]

So I have a web site, that is getting around 700 visitors a day. I sell an Ebook on the site, which is pretty well optimized for "buy me now!" value.... Around 4% of visitors to the site click on the "Order Now" button, but only 1 in 30 of THOSE visitors ever actually completes the sale. I am using PayPal to complete the order....

....so my question is why are my numbers so low?! Is it because of the PayPal interface? Has anyone used PayPal and then switched to their own merchnat account - did you get higher conversion rates?

Thanks

gph

 

[Domagon]

I personally avoid buying anything through PayPal.

However, this is one of those rare times (I strongly dislike PayPal) in which I actually recommend PayPal due to high levels of fraud with on-line delivered products (ie. ebooks, software, etc).

With a credit card merchant account, you'd likely get more sales, but would also be far more exposed to fraud ... merchants not only can lose the funds they receive for a fraudulent transaction, but also get hit with the transaction fee (~2.5 to 3%+) and more importantly "fines" - sometimes can run into excess of $100 USD per fruadulent transaction! In short, merchant accounts come with a large number of financial risks; expensive to maintain - not worth it unless you're doing at minimum thousands per month in sales.

Ron