Pay Per Click Payment Options

When managing the funds of your pay-per-click campaigns, there are two ways to go about it. Advertisers can either choose to make a deposit first and have the system (Google, Yahoo, or MSN) makes a deduction from the prepaid balance until the funds runs dry, or they can choose to pay the outstanding charges at the end of the billing cycle. Analogically speaking, it’s almost like “prepaid airtime” vs. “pay-at-the-end-of-the-month” for your cell phones.

Some search engines accept both methods and some only accept a particular method, and each search engines have their own minor variations on the policies.

We have gathered info on payment options offered by the three major search engines.

1. Prepay - This method requires advertisers to pay before their ads can start running. As users click on the ads, the system deducts the charge from the advertisers’ prepaid balance.

Google - Available, Accepted Payment Methods:Credit Card, Debit Card, Bank Transfer

Yahoo - Available, Accepted Payment Methods:Credit card, Pay Pal

MSN - Not Available

2. Postpay - This method requires advertisers to pay after their ads start running and charges accrued.

Google - Available, Accepted Payment Methods:Credit Card, Debit Card, Direct Debit

Yahoo - Not Available

MSN - Available, Accepted Payment Methods:Credit Card, Monthly Invoice

3. Both Prepay and Postpay - This is a new payment option introduced by Google. It’s sort of a mix of both prepay and postpay. Advertisers can choose the amount they wish to pay for each postpay payment. Advertisers can even overpay the charges to create a surplus of funds (which acts like prepaid balance).