Alternatives to paypal

by chini
39 replies
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Hi, don't want to rely on paypal as from what i've read they tend to freeze accounts or scew you in one way or another.

Is there any good alternatives to paypal, which accept all forms of payment including paypal. Which are good for small ecommerce stores (less then $500 in transactions per month)?
#alternatives #paypal
  • Profile picture of the author Julia Russo
    Pay pal is just fine---if someone has their acct "frozen" they are doing something wrong or illegal. Rumors should not stop you from moving forward with your business.
    I have used Paypal for over 8 years without any problems--support is great. If you have such a small business, PP is a great place to start. You can move to a merchant acct elsewhere after your business grows large enough to sustain the higher fees.
    I like that my fee is deducted immediately at PP. When I had a credit card merchant acct., my fees came out at the beginning of the month and I had no idea what they were going to be so, in my small business at the time, a $200 withdrawal from my checking acct. was not always on a convenient day--overdrafts did occur. Plus the gateway fees, statement fees, transaction fees, were eating my small business up!
    Don't base all your decisions on what you "hear". Even in my instance, the advice is worth a test run. You can always change over but if you keep sitting on the fence, waiting for others to make the decision for you, you will never learn on your own.
    Good luck and keep us posted.
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  • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
    Just read payPal's terms of service and play by the rules.

    Paypal does not want to get screwed or have it's customers get screwed. If you don't wave any red flags you will be fine.
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    ...Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just set there.
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    • Profile picture of the author jocosity
      I use Stripe for my site. The only problem is you have to wait 7 days before you get your money!
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      • Profile picture of the author nayemkhulna
        Is stripe very secure like PayPal?
        Please let me know.
        Thanks

        Originally Posted by jocosity View Post

        I use Stripe for my site. The only problem is you have to wait 7 days before you get your money!
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        • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
          Originally Posted by nayemkhulna View Post

          Is stripe very secure like PayPal?
          Please let me know.
          Thanks
          That depends... what makes you think PayPal is so secure lol?
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    If you do a search in this forum for "Paypal alternatives" you'll find a lengthy list. I used to have it but I seem to have filed it somewhere. I remember there are something like 46 alternatives so that should help you.
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      Unfortunately for that small of monthly transactions, PayPal will still be the most cost effective way of doing business. Others have used Stripe but that assumes your shopping cart will support Stripe, not all do. You can use Google Checkout and many people like it but when it is all said and done, while Merchant don't necessarily like PayPal, customers do.

      Starting out, keep a balance there and transfer once a month. When you are first starting out, keeping a small balance gives PayPal comfort that you are not a hit and run. After 3 months and no charge backs, you can then start doing daily pulls back to your bank account.

      If your site is consistent, then PayPal won't freak out. Its when you are doing $500 a month for a year and all of a sudden you do 5000 in 3 days they freak out. Also, be careful what you are selling. if it is high risk, stay away from PayPal (i.e. Adult, gambling, travel and other high risk). This also gets your account flagged.

      PayPal is getting better. They have brought some more customer oriented people into the organization. I know many of the fraud people and its their biggest fear.
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    Google is your friend. Alternatives to PayPal
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  • Profile picture of the author designitbuddy
    There may be different alternatives of PayPal. But you must know that PayPal is the need of the today's businesses. It is accepted everywhere and most of the transactions are done through PayPal in case of IM.
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  • Profile picture of the author RMC
    2 good alternatives- Google Checkout and Moneybookers
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  • Profile picture of the author PBScott
    Paypal is fine, but I disagree with the comment above that their service is great, it is not, when you have a real problem they pass you around like a hot potato until they hang up on you and you start again, one of my issues took 8 months for them to repair after over 40 hours of me calling them. The support staff you actually get to talk to are technologically illiterate, and I would assume underpaid, but feel they are geniuses just the same, and after a couple of months with support they close your case as resolved even if it is not. They do however seem to be pretty fair in resolving customer service issues. Only twice in 10 years and 10s of thousands of transactions did I get the S%#t end of the stick.
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  • Profile picture of the author extravalue
    If you based in US you may get many alternative solution. If you are not, the only close alternative are moneybookers and payza.
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    I also Don't think that there is a good PayPal Alternatives. Because PayPal is free to use, it is very convenient, cost effective & a Perfect Payment option for Business Owners. I am also with PayPal from 5+ Years & never face any problem with them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Riq
      Not sure if this is the correct spot...

      I signed up for Payza and now I am getting this...
      Payza, like all other financial institutions, must keep your photo identification and proof of address documents on file.
      Now they want a copy of my passport and utility bills!
      Is this for real??

      No one else has demanded this stuff....

      Rik
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      • Profile picture of the author extravalue
        Originally Posted by Riq View Post

        Not sure if this is the correct spot...

        I signed up for Payza and now I am getting this...
        Payza, like all other financial institutions, must keep your photo identification and proof of address documents on file.
        Now they want a copy of my passport and utility bills!
        Is this for real??

        No one else has demanded this stuff....

        Rik
        Give Payza support a call and I believe they will explain to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author CBusiness
    GumRoad is pretty awesome for me. They transfer money every other Friday.

    Amazon is instant deposit if I remember correctly It works well but no smoke / alcohol / adult /etc

    Paypal definitely freezes accounts without reason. They've done it to friends and I for being well within their legal rights. Froze a few thousand, freed it pretty quick but held my last $100 for 180 days... Ridiculous stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      Originally Posted by CBusiness View Post

      GumRoad is pretty awesome for me. They transfer money every other Friday.

      Amazon is instant deposit if I remember correctly It works well but no smoke / alcohol / adult /etc

      Paypal definitely freezes accounts without reason. They've done it to friends and I for being well within their legal rights. Froze a few thousand, freed it pretty quick but held my last $100 for 180 days... Ridiculous stuff.
      I always caution on Amazon. If you are selling something they don't currently carry and you do good sales, Amazon will see it and undercut you.
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    • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
      Originally Posted by CBusiness View Post


      Paypal definitely freezes accounts without reason. They've done it to friends and I for being well within their legal rights. Froze a few thousand, freed it pretty quick but held my last $100 for 180 days... Ridiculous stuff.
      They never freeze accounts without a reason. When an account does something that raises a warning flag, they take steps they see as necessary to protect their business and the people who are spending money using their system. As far as they are concerned the customer is King and they don't want the customer to have any hesitation about spending at payPal.
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      Robin



      ...Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just set there.
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  • Profile picture of the author ShaggyMax
    Out of many thousands of transactions over a 10 year span...we have never had our account "frozen" and I can recall 1 chargeback dispute. GO FOR IT!
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  • Profile picture of the author mark healy
    Paypal is fine, just check their terms and conditions. yes i have heard rumours of freezing accounts but you need your own intuition and experience to know yourself.. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.I would suggest you have different merchant accounts as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author haero
    I have paypal for years and have never had any problems with them... I guess you get banned if you somehow breach their TOS
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  • Profile picture of the author Aura
    PayPal is homo. I'd say, Liberty Reserve is the best.
    However, you can't really count on it if you're a seller, though it is an amazing payment processor simply because it isn't extremely popular as PayPal, and you can't add funds to your LR account with credit card (Not enabled for everyone).

    Despite that, they're the best in every aspect. No kidding.
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  • Profile picture of the author yitbarek
    I use 2checkout.com
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  • Profile picture of the author massarogi
    http://stripe.com

    One of the simplest payment platforms I've ever used.
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  • This is a very popular question. There are many alternatives to Paypal for small businesses other than just using typical Merchant Processing companies.

    Check out this post, you'll find more than enough legit Paypal competitors:

    46 Paypal Alternatives
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  • Profile picture of the author littlemilly
    i use 2checkout and payoneer. i get weekly payments with and life keeps moving..
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  • Profile picture of the author NataliaF
    I was thinking of Moneybookers (Skrill), but still I have chosen Plimus (bluesnap.com). Quite a good solution. I've integrated plimus to my website http://contentsia.com/
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  • Profile picture of the author Baba Pandey
    I will go with Plimus, fastspring (Digital products, they will approve manually), 2CO. 2CO and Plimus both would accept paypal payments and credit cards as well so really awesome. Fees can be matter tho ..

    Skrill (Moneybookers) is good option but accepts cards and bank transfers. (No Paypal)

    Regards
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  • Profile picture of the author rapidtransit
    I use Stripe. Only complaint i have is that they charge a $15 fee if a charge is disputed and it can be very difficult (nearly impossible) to win a dispute. Not sure if that is the standard rate with other card processors.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Marcoux
    MerchantINC
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  • I think PayPal is just fine and there are plenty other alternatives to it but you just need to know how to get about with their rules and regulations as well as operating systems in order to gain benefit from their service
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  • Profile picture of the author goofymanager
    Originally Posted by chini View Post

    Hi, don't want to rely on paypal as from what i've read they tend to freeze accounts or scew you in one way or another.

    Is there any good alternatives to paypal, which accept all forms of payment including paypal. Which are good for small ecommerce stores (less then $500 in transactions per month)?
    I had similar issues and being an Indian doesn't really help the cause a lot whilst using paypal. I started using Instamojo.com lately and it works really well.

    Best part is now my sales is auto credited to my bank account without my doing anything. Give it a shot - it might save you lot of headache.
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  • Profile picture of the author ViralMediaBoost
    Well there is escrow which is more for bigger payments but i'm sure you can still use it for what your needing.
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  • Profile picture of the author FergusM
    PayPal are very expensive but some of your customers won,t convert if you do not have it. We use WorldPay and on debit cards pay 16c a transaction and 1.8% on credit cards. PP will charge you full whack of 3.2%. On a 7 or 800 euro sale that really hurts. Get a merchant account as well as PP and if PP messes you about (and they can) you won,t go out of business. We list PP last in the payment options. But it is better to pay 3.2% on something rather than 0% on nothing, so get going.
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  • Profile picture of the author rbehar
    I use Skrill, it is quite safe and easy to get the hang of.
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