5 online payment software alternatives that allow you to manage online and mobile payments.

If you conduct any kind of business online, you need to find a reliable, low-commission paymentservice to receive credit and debit card payments. Thanks to its partnership with eBay, PayPal has been king of the online payments market until now. With its high transaction fees, however, many online sellers are looking at alternative options that are more business-friendly. Here is a list of 5 online payment software alternatives to PayPal.

Google Wallet

Google Wallet, formerly known as Google Checkout, is an online paymentservice that allows users to pay for goods using their Google account details. Once shoppers have registered with Google Wallet they can use it online and in-store.

The service enables customers to pay for goods without leaving your website, and Google covers the payment processing, fraud protection and PCI compliance.

Google Wallet fees are at $0.30 plus 1.9-2.9% of the transaction value for online payments.

Amazon Payments

Amazon Payments provides direct competition to PayPal: as well as supporting merchants with one-time transactions, the payment service also handles subscription payments and donations. Customers can sign in through their Amazon account, and use the billing and address details already stored on the website. Like Google, Amazon provides protection against fraudulent charge-backs, and handles taxes and shipping fees. Commission for receiving payments through Amazin is $0.30 plus 1.9-2.9% of the transaction value.

Dwolla

Dwolla is an online payment system that’s designed to simplify the onlinetransaction process. When a consumer buys and online product through Dwolla, the money moves straight from their bank account into the merchant’s.

The drawback to this system is that you can’t accept credit card payments – buyers have to have enough existing funds in their bank account to cover the transaction. On the positive side, however, Dwolla’s fees are much simpler than any other online payment processor’s: transactions under $10 are free, and transactions over $10 are $0.25. There are no set-up or registration costs, and you don’t need to worry about PCI compliance, as that only applies to companies who are handling sensitive financial data.

Square

Square is an app and gadget that enables you to receive credit card payments through your iPhone and iPad. Once you create an account, Square will send you a free card reader. Simply set up the software, connect the reader to your device and, when someone wants to make a payment, swipe the buyer’s card through the reader.

Square charges 2.75% commission per card transaction, and merchants don’t incur any additional fees.

Braintree

Braintree is a comprehensive system that provides a safe and effective way to receive credit card payments directly through your website. The service is designed specifically for online businesses, and provides a gateway system and merchant account services in one go. Braintree accepts one-off payments as well as subscriptions, and repeat customers can also choose to store their card details within the service.

The service’s fees vary depending on the number of transactions per month and the average value per transaction, and merchants can choose to pay monthly for optional extras, such as recurring billing and Amex processing.

The company speeds up the credit card gateway set up process, including the time to PCI compliance, and saves potentially tens of thousands of dollars on in-house set-up fees and software upgrades.

hannah@zeropaid.com

Hannah Clare
Hannah is a freelance writer from London, UK. Having completed a degree in English, she discovered a passion for all things digital, and enjoys nothing more than writing about online communication, marketing and anything Apple-related. When she’s not researching the latest app releases or ogling new gadgets, Hannah enjoys writing about personal development, yoga, and exploring the world. | Google Plus

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. GIVE UP YOUR NEED TO ALWAYS BE RIGHT
There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. GIVE UP YOUR NEED FOR CONTROL
Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. GIVE UP ON BLAME
Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. GIVE UP YOUR SELF-DEFEATING SELF-TALK
Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. GIVE UP YOUR LIMITING BELIEFS
about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

6. GIVE UP COMPLAINING
Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. GIVE UP THE LUXURY OF CRITICISM
Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. GIVE UP YOUR NEED TO IMPRESS OTHERS
Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take off all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. GIVE UP YOUR RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

10. GIVE UP LABELS
Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

11. GIVE UP ON YOUR FEARS
Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. GIVE UP YOUR EXCUSES
Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

13. GIVE UP THE PAST
I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. GIVE UP ATTACHMENT
This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another, attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. GIVE UP LIVING YOUR LIFE TO OTHER PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS
Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves. You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.