Now that PayPal offers payments without having to register an account, is it really worth getting a merchant account?

If you do not think you would have much volume, probably not. If you have alot of volume it might be worth considering as most merchant accounts have lower fees than paypal does.

I agree with Galaxy-Hosts. The main benefit is when you have enough volume to cover the additional costs of a merchant account.

With a merchant account, you don't have deal with PayPal's policies. But you need to be high volume to cover the costs...

I don't really see as a merchant account and PayPal directly competing products...

The only reason I like using paypal is the interface... Other than that 2checkout is the way to go...

it is better open an account...and run your payment getaway..

I honestly believe it depends on the size of your host and your order volume.

Thanks

To give more leverage to clients for making payment it's always good to give them few more option for payment.

I think that paypal is good, because you receive payment quickly and so on.... But I don't like it fraud system
For example for web hosting company it's better to use 2checkout, it has great fraud system

But to be honest all this payment have their feedbacks

Also Authorized.net is a good thing

ya is good but there is a problem of chargeback

The cost was higher compare with other merchant..

I personally think that anything that gets you away from Paypal is a good thing. There are many problems with paypal, but then I'm not entirely sure that anything else totally overcomes those problems.

We need a new system, that's what we need.

Getting a merchant account can still be cost effective, depending on who you sign up with. There are plans out there that are pretty competitive for a new merchant. However if you do plan on only doing low volume, then this is probably more then that is needed. A PayPal account or alternative should work fine in that case.

I think the best of both worlds is to offer more then just one payment option giving your customers more payment options is always good. We offer for example credit/debit payments through our merchant account as well as PayPal, Google CheckOut and MoneyBookers.

What works for some may not work for some others. I tend to think like many others that you should weigh the sides good and bad before making any hard choices. Sometimes though paypal can be pretty flaky.

No its not in my opinion, and I'l tell you why I think this way, from the viewpoint of a buyer of hosting products.
I recently had my Paypal account frozen by an unscrupulous buyer saying they didnt recieve an item I sent.
When your paypal account is frozen it means you cant send or recieve payments. It also means you cant use any of their other paypal services, i.e Paypal credit card payment gateways that dont require you to log in.
This has caused huge problems from some of the hosting accounts I have & the repercussins have been immense. Ive lost 2 customers within a week & have money frozen in my paypal account.

Also, from the viewpoint of a seller who uses paypal to recieve payments. They can freeze your account at any time, holding your money for an unlimited ammount of time. If the money you will be recieving is your sole income I think you should take a look at this site before deciding to channel your payments through Paypal only http://www.paypalwarning.com/