PayPal

[Mr_Snipes]

At work, we accept PayPal payments for the products that we sell. It sure is nice to use but they take a cut of the money that we receive from the customer so we don't get all of the money. It they didn't charge a fee for every single transaction it wouldn't be so bad.

What do you guys think?

 

[yooperchick]

I actually don't think PayPal is too bad of a way to go if you don't have too much activity per month. Especially for a start-up business. As a bookkeeper, I've seen quite a few credit card merchant statements. As for their monthly fees....OUCH!

What I think many businesses do is try to add money to the price of their products to compensate for the fees.

The fees stink, but let me tell you, NSF check fees stink too! Not to mention the time and effort to collect the funds! :-/

 

[Mirage]

As long as they raise their prices overall, that is fine, but credit cards don't allow merchants to ask for more money if, for example, the customer is using a VISA card. This is the same for PayPal. You aren't allowed to ask for more money to compensate your fees unless you also charge your cash paying customers the same.

Technically stores make less money when you pay with a credit card, but in the long run, they make way more, because now all of their customers can spend money they don't have instead of saving up first.

 

[Mr_Snipes]

That is true, but the fees still stink. It would be nice to have a fee based system that charged a monthly subscription fee and nothing else. If that was the case, businesses would try to get customers to use that one because no matter how many transactions they had during a month the fees would stay the same.

 

[lzamora]

I think Paypal is a good option, no matter the fees they charge (as we can add it to the product). I personally added a debit card with them, and sell a lot items on eBay. Other option I have seen is a direct contract with Master Card, Visa, AmEx, etc, but I don't know what are the requirements, fees and set up process, does any one have experience with these than can be shared on this forum?

AZ

 

[stockbroker]

I'm just waiting for google to take over the industry because who doesnt want to have fees like 3.1415926% deducted on transactions

I can just see it now GoogleWallet 3.1415926% for business .376006% for personal.

 

[IslandGuy]

Hehehehehe Stockbroker ... it won't be long I think before we do see Google, Yahoo and MSN all with something similar to PayPal. Personally, I love PayPal, although I do hate the cut they take. However, I haven't yet had a problem with a payment through them, while I have had clients send me checks that bounce, so I'm still a believer.

I wish more online sellers took PayPal as a payment option in addition to credit cards.

BTW, I do hope PayPal and eBay can somehow get right of all of those spoof emailers ... I get at least one each day ... anyone know of a solution other than forwarding them to PayPal/eBay and then deleting them? All I hear back is "we're looking into it", but I've been getting them for months now.

 

[MenInTights]

I'm glad someone started this thread, I have some auctions coming up and I wanted to reshuffle my paypal account to handle them if possible. Here's the deal - I have a merchant acount with paypal and I pay $0.30+2.5% when I accept payments. I will be selling some stuff on a pretty tight margin and this is just not acceptable. I seem to remember that if you don't have a merchant account you only pay the percentage. Is that right? I couldn't find any documentation on paypal's site about the different accounts. I also have a paypal credit card that is tied to my balance and I get 1% refund on all purchases. that's nice but I will lose it if I need to. Also, what else would I lose by dropping the merchant account? Thanks.

 

[MenInTights]

Ok guys - look at this and give me an opinion-
----------------------------------------------
Personal Account

Ideal if you primarily send payments, such as for eBay items or online subscriptions. With a Personal account, you can send and receive money for free—but you cannot accept debit or credit card payments. You will also have access to PayPal’s basic features, including PayPal Buyer Protection on qualifying eBay purchases.

If you do business online, choose a Premier or Business account instead. Both include dozens of exclusive features to enhance and manage your sales. In addition, Premier and Business accounts can accept credit card payments.
---------------------------------------------
If I have a personal account, I can receive money for free! I would lose the debit/credit card feature. What if I made an auction and at the bottom out this line in:
"Payment for this auction is limited to paypal or money order. If you would like to use a debit card or credit card, please visit my ebay store where I am selling this item with a merchant account."

The deal is, if I buy something for $1.25 and sell it for $3.00, I am losing a lot of money if I have to pay paypal 37 cent per item in addition to the ebay fees.

 

[softwarewiz]

Hi Spence,

Here's my opinion. You are better off with the personal account. The only bad thing I know about it is if you are going to download to your bank account, there may be a charge if you don't take out enough if you live in certain countries, but I think it's just a 50 cent charge or something like that.

I have a personal account only, but someone paid me by credit card for some work I did on a website for them without telling me in advance they were going to do that. They claimed that was the only way they could pay me, so I had to upgrade to accept credit cards and now get the percentage taken off me, which really sucks. But that doesn't mean I have to pay for anything with credit cards ... I can still just send cash.

Anyway, I think your planned "text" explaining your payment options is fine. Especially if you're dealing in lower-priced items, people are going to accept the fact that it's not a merchant account with no problem, at least in my experience. I've bought tons of stuff with PayPal from people with personal accounts .... if it's a little item you don't worry too much about them not having a merchant account ... and you're even explaining that they can go to your eBay store if they'd rather.

I think it's good to go ... The only thing I might change in your explanation is that you don't need to say you have a merchant account at your eBay store ... you could just say you take credit cards at your eBay store ... a lot of PayPal users don't have any idea what a merchant account and it might confuse them .... Just my two cents worth ....