I am running an e-shop and wanted to switch to paypal to accept the payments.
But after I read horrible things about it I need to get an advice on whether sign up to them or not.
Here is what people say about it:
webexplorer.100webspace.net/paypaltruth.html
Thanks in advance
Paypal is fine on a small scale. If you wanted to do more business then a more expensive option may suit you better.
I use PayPal in conjunction with a regular merchant account/gateway. I do a lot of business and have never had any issues in the several years I’ve been using them. I wouldn’t rely totally only on them, however, but that’s because customers like to have a choice.
Paypal is to eCommerce what Facebook and Twitter are to Social Networking.
PayPal on a website is a must.
Hint: if you sign up with another processor, it very well may offer PayPal as well, as a payment method, on its own pages. 2CO does this for example (but don’t sign up with 2CO, it’s a nightmare).
Paypal is Ok as a secondary provider only
unless you use their advanced options
such as Website Payment Pro or PayFlow.
I personally am not a big fan of Paypal but
I know you need it to boost sales as some
people look at their payPal account as
“play money” and spend it on things they would
not spend their “real money” on.
So my advice:
Get a real merchant account
Use PayPal as a secondary but
readily available option.
Nothin’ wrong with PayPal. I’ve been processing with them for almost 10 years now. 6 figures a year in PayPal sales and I’ve never had any type of problem with my account.
Yes …agreed.
PayPal basic works OK but that transfer
process to their page takes away the
smooth flow of the website >>> order
process.
Use the advanced payment options and
then you never leave the order screen.
and this looks a lot more professional in my
opinion.
I also don’t like the PayPal layout with PayPal
basic as it tends to promote using their service
and does not prominently display the fact
that you can use a credit card even if you
do not have a PayPal account.
Nothing hurts sales like confusion.
I must disagree. The first screen the user sees is a normal payment form that asks for billing address and credit card number. The form to log in to an existing PayPal account is smaller and placed off to the side of the main form.
http://www.i-point.ca/assets/images/paypal_credit_card_page.jpg
Paypal is fine unless you run into some trouble with them.
If you’re doing any real volume PayPal is more expensive than most payment processors. They may have monthly fees, but have lower transaction fees and discount rates which save you much more money if you’ve got the sales.
Sometimes. Maybe. Depending on your rates, depending on your types of customers, depending on your processor’s downgrade rules. Rewards cards and business cards are often downgraded to fees much higher than PayPal charges any merchant that qualifies for the merchant rates.
If you offer several payment options in your checkout, and you have statistics how many people use each method, can you share?
That’s not going to be useful information, as they may be vastly different by product market and site demographics. If you can get that kind of information from a direct competitor somehow, that might be useful to you.
I must disagree. The first screen the user sees is a normal payment form that asks for billing address and credit card number. The form to log in to an existing PayPal account is smaller and placed off to the side of the main form.
Ahh yes. I forgot because I always use
PayPal as a secondary provider so the
layout is different.
But I still stick with my original point …
you never see a major site using PayPal
as their primary provider (at least I’ve
never seen one).
So if all big businesses use a merchant
account …by inference, you look like a
small business when you do use Paypal
as the primary payment method.
True or not …makes no difference …it
only matters what people think. And the
fact that the customer leaves the site
and the continuity of the website / order
form …those are never good things.
On the other hand, maybe the customer
already knows you’re a small time operation
and the credibility / security of PayPal gives
them confidence in the purchase process.
So in the end …I’ll stick with my original
assessment of:
A. Get a merchant account
B. Use PayPal as a secondary option.
Get the best of both worlds this way.
From what i know a lot of customer prefer Paypal express checkout to them is more save especially for a new website
Yes … that is exactly my original point:
“for a new business”
Who wants to do business with a “new business”?
People prefer an “established business” over a
“new business”.
So if you want to look like a new business, use PayPal
as your primary payment processor. Or use PayPal
Website Pro or Payflow and look like an established,
trustworthy business.
For the $30 / month PayPal Website Pro will cost, it’s
such a small fee to look better …$1 / day.
In addition to the implementation cost, it also significantly increases your fraud risks. $30 buys you no fraud filtering (costs extra) – basic features like velocity and amount filters that other gateways provide for free. Even with those filters, taking credit cards directly makes you vulnerable to whole new classes of risk – card tasters, payments from high risk countries that PayPal doesn’t allow through its site, etc.
Every single payment becomes a chargeback risk, where you may lose more than you were paid and if you don’t manage it well lose your account, whereas payments from a PayPal balance can’t ever cost you more than the amount you were paid in the case of fraud.
On top of this all, you’re now responsible for becoming PCIDSS compliant. You’re now potentially liable for up to half a million dollars in fines for any incident in which your lack of compliance results in even a single cardholder’s payment data being stolen.
It’s not as simple as deciding whether you have $30 per month or not. At least, not if you take the responsibilities associated with accepting credit cards over the internet seriously… which you should, since not doing so could bankrupt you.
Yes … all true for sure.
But PayPal is not without risk.
You can still get Chargebacks via PayPal
and PayPal is famous for freezing accounts,
making you wait 6-months to get your cash,
and then banning you for life… not a whole
lot different.
(and then try to get a single person on the
line to tell you WHY you were banned …not
possible)
Risks? Plenty of risks in business …always
have been and always will be. Anyone
in business already knows this …
So in the end it’s always about options and
choices. I choose one path while you choose
another. Neither right, neither wrong …simply
a chosen path.
Hi,
There are many pay sites in net…paypal is one of them. I would like to go with pay pal as the best of all…and coming to the pros and cons,using paypal you can shop online without having to worry about people stealing your info.And coming to the cons, When you get payments it takes a small fraction of money out…
Thank you,
melchface