PayPal Store
 Create a PayPal Business Account |
The original downside to PayPal was that your customers had to create an account with them, but that has been changed recently so your customers can pay without having or creating a PayPal account.
PayPal is a very affordable way to start accepting credit cards immediately. They charge $.30 + 2.9% per transaction with no monthly or signup fees. They also offer a number of different tools for merchants, including a free shopping cart and gift certificates. Many of the small businesses I work with choose PayPal as one of their payment options or as their sole payment option.
You will need to create a "Business" account and not just a "Personal" account in order to accept credit cards. Create a PayPal Business Account »
Managing your PayPal store
I create online catalogs that integrate with the PayPal shopping cart. I create a database of your products with a title, price, description, and image for each item. Then I create an admin area where you can update any of your products or add new ones. The catalog automatically integrates with PayPal so you have a fully functioning PayPal store without knowing any HTML or doing any coding yourself. I can also create text pages like "About Us" and "Shipping Information" that you can edit yourself as well.You may want to read about creating a Mal's e-commerce store. Mal's e-commerce is similar in ease of use to PayPal but includes a bit more sophisticated shopping cart. However in most cases it makes most sense for customers with their own merchant account.