PayPal Shopping Cart Options

While it’s nice to have a Web Host provider that will interface directly to PayPal (and many do given its popularity), some Web Host providers do not offer this option in their lowest cost offerings. In the event that your Web Host provider of choice does not offer a direct interface, don’t worry; PayPal offers a number of shopping cart options that are relatively easy to setup and add to your website.

• PayPal’s Website Payments Pro: Integrated Shopping Carts – With this PayPal add-on option ($29/month) PayPal provides an interface to the following standard storefronts:
  • 1ShoppingCart.com, Able Commerce, Arquan ArCart, ASecureCart.Net, CityMax, ClickCartPro 5.1, CoolCart, digiShop 3.0, Easystorecreator, Ecommerce Plus Templates, eMartCart, Internet Speedway, LexiConn, Mal’s eCommerce, Miva Merchant 4, MonsterCommerce, My eBiz, OSCommerce, pair Networks, PDG, ProductCart, ProStores, ShopSite, StoreFront, X-Cart, and YourHost . If your storefront is not listed, you can contact them for additional info about interface methods.
• PayPal’s Website Payments Standard – Typically if your website is focused around a small number of products or services, then there is no need for the sophistication of a storefront. PayPal’s Website Payments Standard provides a shopping cart that will allow your customers to shop on your website and pay you on PayPal either with their PayPal account or by just entering a credit card number. They don’t even need a PayPal account. And the best news is that it’s absolutely FREE!

I’ve used this option on a fundraiser site a few years back with about 75 products. Admittedly it was a bit cumbersome to set up for a site having that many products, but the price was right, and after all we were trying to raise money, not spend it.