If you already have a small business, you may have a merchant credit card account -- an account which allows you to accept credit card payments. If that's the case, you should give customers the option of paying by credit card.

You might be reluctant to do so with small (under $10) transactions, because the credit card processing companies take fees out of every transaction. But keep in mind not only that

• You are likely to get more bids from people outside the US for whom a credit card transaction is far simpler than getting an international money order or a check made out in dollars on a US bank, and because the credit card company handles the currency exchange. Whether they win or not, those bids drive up the price.
• Credit card payments save you lots of time and hassle. The payments go straight to your bank account, whereas a check or money order payment requires you to make and record bank deposits by hand -- which can be very time-consuming if you are selling large numbers of low-cost items.

How do people pay you by credit card? In all probability, you do not have a secure encrypted ecommerce system of your own, and eBay does not provide that for you. But it is a simple matter for buyers to email you their key credit card information -- number and expiration date. If they break that information up in a series of two or three email messages, that makes the transaction extremely secure -- probably far more secure than giving your card to a waiter at a restaurant or telling it to an operator over an 800 number.

As my feedback rating and personal reputation at eBay grew, the percent of buyers who wanted to pay me by credit card climbed from zero to about 15%, with most of those from eBay veterans who have bought many items that way and have learned the value and convenience of trust.

We often hear that many people are concerned about security in doing credit card transactions over the Internet. I'm seeing the opposite at Ebay -- far greater levels of trust than you'd normally expect in the "real" world. About 10% of my customers send me cash through the regular snail mail -- including a customer in Germany who has no problem at all about sending $100-200 at a time that way. Some of these people don't have checking accounts, and don't want to go to the hassle of buying money orders. Others are overseas without credit cards, but with US currency. Rather than jump through hoops to come up with a secure and mutually acceptable payment method, they find it's simpler to just stuff the cash in an envelope.