[theBobMcCormick]

I'm not sure why so many of these guides seem to operate under the assumption that having the transaction happen on someone else's server (ie, traditional Paypal, Google Checkout, Amazon Payments, etc.) is a bad thing. I would think it'd be a good thing. Google and Amazon in particular are well known and trusted brand names that most customers likely already do some amount of business with.

I know that for my own online shopping, I'm much more likely to purchase from a site that uses Google Checkout or Amazon payments than on that wants me to enter my CC information onto their own page. I figure Amazon already has my CC info anyway, and Google is more likely to have sophisticated security measures than joe-random ecommerce site.

[paulhart]

That's true from a rational perspective, but people aren't rational. They have expectations of a nice, consistent experience that doesn't bounce them from one service to another.

I'm working on a business-oriented startup that requires credit card transactions, and part of my desire to have payments on my own site is because of the signal it sends out that you have your stuff together.

[theBobMcCormick]

Honestly to me it sends the opposite signal. Like I said, I see your site and think "what the f* is this joker gonna do with my CC info?". I see Google Checkout or Amazon and thing "big established company who already has my CC info anyway!".

[leftnode]

Precisely it. Everyone knows anyone can throw up a Paypal link, but to have the transaction go through on your site makes it feel more official. Sure, it's not completely rational, but people sometimes like it better (alternatively, some people will only pay through Paypal, but unfortunately I can't sell my merchandise through Paypal/Google/Amazon).

[patio11]

to have the transaction go through on your site makes it feel more official

You tech people keep forgetting that reading a URL bar requires superpowers. I guaranteed you, having suffered many customer support incidents because of this: many people cannot tell the difference between getting redirected to Google/Paypal and the site they were originally on. (For that matter, a huge portion of my customers don't understand that I am not Yahoo or Internet Explorer.)

[pbz]

I agree with noticing the URL change, but what's a lot more noticeable is when the look of your site changes. They're used to your site's look and feel. When you direct them to a different site, even if it sort of looks like the original site, it's a big speed bump in the flow. Makes you stop and think (hey, what's going on?!) and question if you're in the right place (did I click the wrong button?!). You may even get suspicious and leave. You'd probably feel the same if at a supermarket when it's time to take out the card and pay, within seconds the building changes, the cashier is no longer there, the door you came through is gone, the lightning is different, the people who surrounded you disappeared; only the colors sort of look the same...

[detst]

In my experience, some level of similarity (colors) is all that really matters. People have no problem accepting that the shopping cart and check out experience might be a little different.

You may feel different about it but the average person doesn't.

[bergkampf]

Very William S. Burroughs.

[sachinag]

This is true. But it precludes you from doing two-click checkouts on the second transaction (wink wink) and real users really don't have a problem whipping out their credit cards on a new site.

[davepeck]

Having worked with a few sites that offer both direct-entry and PayPal payment options, I'd say PayPal gets far less than 10% of the transactions.

Given that PayPal has more established accounts than Checkout or AMZN, my assumption is that those services would get even less.

I understand business' distaste for co-branded UI; it can be a jarring experience for users and it often feels unprofessional.

[seanharper]

Offsite checkout has a bad reputation for decreasing conversion rate. It would be interesting to have a really scientific a/b test, but the results will also differ between different customer bases.

[ahoyhere]

If your customers pay with PayPal, and it's a subscription, they cannot cancel their subscription from within your app. They will have to log into PayPal and do it directly there.

That's one reason.

Second, anyone who's ever been screwed by PayPal or Google Checkouts (they stole my money without warning) is going to be wary of it.