I have Paypal- isn’t that good enough? Do I really need a merchant account?
No, it isn’t. PayPal is widely used, though in comparison to Visa, Discover, and so forth, it’s not at all able to match up. Clearly you’re researching why you should accept credit cards for your own reasons, but the most important reason is that in a tough economy, and in general, it’s important to give your customers a wide variety of payment options.
PayPal is large. Visa & American Express are much larger, and have a much better reach. In addition, setting up with a merchant account provider is not difficult. It’s generally not a step by step process, like PayPal, but your time will be well spent here. In terms of fees, merchant accounts are generally cheaper than PayPal. It’s very much in your best interest to take the time, and get it sorted.