thinking of going to pay pal - thoughts please

[signswi]

Despise PayPal after they screwed over not one but two five-figure charity donation accounts from other forums I'm apart of.

Use Square over PayPal whenever possible, Google Checkout is also a viable alternative for some things. There are a host of other options as well on the ecommerce front.

 

[andy]

PayPal? Are you kidding?

PayPal UK are based in Luxembourg.... you won't see a list of phone numbers or a postal address which make this clear on their website because they've gone to huge lengths to hide all their email adresses, phone numbers and their actual geographical location.

To me this is clear evidence that PayPal are dodgy. If you choose to hide your contact details and make it virtually impossible for people to make legitimate complaints it means you know your business model is going to pi$$ a lot of people off... you're going to screw a ton of people and you don't want the hassle of actually having to speak to them, answer their emails or heaven forbid.... encounter them in your reception area.

The other dodgy thing is regulation... by deciding to move to Luxembourg PayPal have deliberately removed their operation from the juristiction of the UK's Financial Services Authority. If you had a SERIOUS problem with PayPal you used to be able to phone the FSA in London and have the British authorities deal with your complaint. Now you have to complain to the Luxembourg authorities. It's ALL way too dodgy and not worth the @rse ache.

Proper credit card processing using a chip & pin terminal issued & installed by your bank isn't exactly "expensive".... it'll cost you money but from the sounds of it PayPal is hardly what you'd call "cheap". Proper banks don't want to take your money for 90 days and leave your @rse hanging in the breeze for 3 months whilst they collect the interest your money is generating... 3 days tops.. money cleared, in your account and ready for you to actually use.

Before you gamble with PayPal my advice is to check with your bank.. you'll probably find they can provide you with a "proper" terminal at a cost which compares with the wonky PayPal system.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Proper banks don't want to take your money for 90 days and leave your @rse hanging in the breeze for 3 months whilst they collect the interest your money is generating... 3 days tops.. money cleared, in your account and ready for you to actually use.

We're looking at moving to a virtual terminal but this instantly turned us off. I get Paypal is geared to the super-small ebay seller and they probably have to watch their back, but when moving to pro I can't understand holding on to that much money for 90 days to make sure we're legit. That's $75k for us, that's no pocket change for them to "verify". Shady in my mind.

We're looking at Quickbooks virtual terminal, it seems much better and we've been using Quickbooks Merchant Services for about 6 years now and can't complain, we're just getting rid of Quickbooks so we can't process directly through it anymore.

 

[Bly]

we've used paypal for years and haven't had that many issues with it. be warned though......if someone pays via paypal and they dispute the payment for any reason, 99 percent of the time paypal will go in their favour. it doesn't happen alot, but it has and can happen.

This is the drawback.
Great if you're a customer but as a seller not so much.
Scammers are well aware of this loophole.

I use Paypal for net purchases but use my banks CC facility for work sales.
Not cheap but you get the money in your account instantly.

 

[laserman70]

We use intuit.
We have apps on our phones that are free to download and all of us have card readers for the phone as well to take out on the job.
Cheaper than paypal, easier to use.
Only downfall, they hold money for 3 days. (not an issue w/ our company but may be for some)
Paypal has gotten worse over the years for the sellers, we no longer use their services.
Good luck

 

[Deaton Design]

Been using paypal for several years now. Never had any problems at all.

 

[royster13]

I would sure love to see some stats on disputed charges via normal channels.....I get the impression most of those charge backs also go in favour of the buyer....

And a while back I saw a figure that said PayPal processed something like 100 billion + in credit card transactions last year....You must have to screw a lot of people to get that big......

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

expect alot of spam wanting you to update your account in some manner.

 

[heyskull]

Well further to my last comment on the paypal subject.

I sold an item for my girlfriend on ebay and it was paid through paypal.
After 3 weeks the buyer stated they had not recieved the item and paypal took their side as it had been sent economy delivery and my proof of postage was not good enough. They were refunded.

I checked on this persons e-bay account today only to find they had just sold my item to someone else!!!!!
Paypal say they are looking into it.......... I bet not!!!!!

SC

 

[8DC]

No matter what the transaction is or who it is through, always opt for proof of delivery.

If you're in the states, delivery confirmation is free when you use USPS Click-N-Ship (which can be accessed through your Paypal account). If you can't prove that the customer received something for the payment that they sent, Paypal is not going to take your side in a dispute (and I really can't blame them).