Newbie questions re. setup

[shorin]

I'm in the process of setting up a sales page on my new website, and have a couple of questions.  I apologize if this is in the wrong category... (the danger of being a newbie).

1) Is there any way to set up PayPal if I do not have an SSL certificate?

2) What is the difference between using PayPal directly and going through Braintree?  I now there are some pricing differences, but beyond that I'm not clear on the advantages of going either way.

Thanks!

[angelleye]

1)  Yes.  The majority of PayPal's products do not require an SSL.  That said, an SSL is recommended on your site regardless of what you're doing with payments.

2)  The simplist way to answer this is that Braintree is more about direct credit card processing with other things tied in around that, where PayPal is more about PayPal payments with credit card processing tied in around that.  Both can get you to the same place, they may just do it a little bit differently.  Also, depending on the volume you're doing and the types of transactions you're typically working with (ie. company cards, rewards cards vs. personal debit cards) you could get cheaper rates with Braintree on the credit card processing portion of things.

There is a lot more that could be set on this topic, but that's a quick, simple answer for now.