PayPal is probably the most familiar to people. Owned by Ebay, it is by far the safest and is highly trusted. It doesn't come without its own set of unique negative aspects, but these don't concern really concern us too much. It is very hard for some types of programs to use PayPal as this company has seemingly ambiguous rules about MLM programs. It allows some but not others. You will need an account here for quite a few things eventually so it's good to get it out of the way even if you don't need it today. Always free to open an account and the fees here are competitive with the other companies. PayPal is very popular with many online merchants which makes paying very convenient. They are certainly the most used worldwide.

Note From Jimbo: I opened my first account with PayPal in 2001. I have used it a lot in that time. I've had a few business and personal accounts over the years and have moved thousands of dollars through them without a single problem. It's a very easy way to bill people and pay people. PayPal is notorious for poor customer service (it has gotten better) and very tough and sometimes arbitrary screening process for new merchants. There seems to be a rule with them pertaining to affiliate marketing opportunities. My guess is that by being based in the US they have to be careful about allowing newer MLM companies as many my not be following the laws of the US (knowingly or unknowingly). When PayPal is available as an option for any opportunity or income stream I use it first every time.

AlertPay is filling in the gaps that PayPal doesn't seem to want to be a part of. This includes many opportunities that have an MLM or affiliate aspect to them. We use this processor more than any other, but that is only because of the lack of acceptance by PayPal of many of our money making opportunities. Based in Canada this company has grown exponentially since 2004. Great customer support and reasonable fees for transactions. This one is here to stay.

Note From Jimbo: I opened my first account with AlertPay in 2007. They were a much smaller company then and it has been fun to watch them grow into a worldwide force. With their main office in Toronto, they now have over 150 employees and have increased their user base from about four people in 2004 to over six million users in over 35 countries. As PayPal has waffled on much of the newer ways to make (or lose) money on the internet, AlertPay has filled the void. As much of the money they process is for MLM and online investment opportunities all over the world they have a very good merchant dispute process. I've used this more than once and gotten my money back every time. If you have a valid reason for reversing a payment and you can't work it out with the merchant you can ask AlertPay to intervene. If you really were ripped off by someone there is a pretty good chance of getting your money back if you file a claim within thirty days. I really like this company and look forward to many more years with them.

StrictPay is based in Panama and has been making a very good name for itself since 2008. The website is easy to understand and has very good security features. If we can't use PayPal or Alert Pay, we use this company if possible. They add new merchants and opportunities all the time and I expect them to become more mainstream in 2010. One unique feature here is the ability to make a cash deposit to your Strict Pay account at any Bank of America Branch. Strict Pay also doesn't get involved with merchant disputes and this is reason for caution. This makes the processing of everything much more precise, but leaves you open to fraud if you aren't careful.

Note From Jimbo: I opened my Strict Pay account in 2008. It is a little more expensive than the rest of the bunch but I do use it for a few different things. In my testing of this company they did well. (My testing involves many aspects and one of them is sending support tickets with very silly and very serious questions.) There seems to be a common element between many of the merchants that use Strict Pay - lot's of internet programs and opportunities that I wouldn't ever go near. There are very solid companies that accept Strict Pay, but with their "no refund policy" you have to be careful with what you use this processor for. For on line investing if you already have money in a program and it is paying out, Strict Pay is fine to use.

Solid Trust Pay has quite a colorful history to date. They completely revamped their website in May of 2009. The changes have been great as far as the user experience, but it still has issues with getting verified and linking accounts (it's not easy and takes time.) Also based in Canada, this company has been rumored to have participated in some shady dealings with merchants and members in the past. We only use STP as a last resort. It is still necessary for me to have an account here for now, but hopefully in the future I'll be able to cut this page to just the processors above. This company used to be very popular but seems to be losing a lot of business to Alert Pay.

Note From Jimbo: I've had an account here since 2007. The new version of their website was way overdue in my opinion, but did make a lot of the user experience much better. There are lots of negative blog posts, forum posts and bad press for this company all over the web. From my own experiences here I can honestly say much of the negativity is deserved. They also recently instituted a "secure card" that must be purchased for $30 to be able to link a bank account. See rule number one above... I like the concept of the card, but the fee for getting it doesn't make STP free to open an account anymore. I look forward to just not using this processor eventually. In my experience the customer service here also leaves a lot to be desired .