Do You Lose Out Of Sales Using Only Paypal As a Payment Option?

Probably a few, but not enough to worry about.

I had a guy from Nigeria email me a couple of days ago saying that he wanted to buy my product but couldn't with Paypal so asked if he could buy an affiliate product of the same value through my affiliate link.

There's a $10 product I promote with 100% commissions so I sent him that link and he ordered that and I manually sent him my product.

James

Yes, but no more than a couple per year.

Yes you loose out you need to add as many ways of paying as possible if you don't want to loose out.

I've seen people who are afraid of PayPal and email a question if there are any other alternatives. Yeah, even that PayPal has the option to pay with a credit card.

No, not now. When you had to sign up for a PayPal account before you could make a purchase, that did put people off, but since they made signing up for an account optional that doesn't really happen anymore.

I haven't had anyone contact me for an alternative payment option... but that might just be the problem. :p Nevertheless, I don't think non-Paypal options are that huge a market share. Paypal is the lion here.

Thanks for responses...wonder if there has been any studies made in this? It would be interesting to see the real numbers of what is actually going on...From talking to ppl many do not like paypal so I am not so sure of just a few sales per year...

I think it depends on how many sales you have per year and should be measured as a percentage...

anyways, if anyone has any more comments feel free or if there is a case study I would be interested in hearing...

As a consumer, I am more apt to trust using PayPal for purchases more than giving out my CC to yet another site or waiting for a check to arrive and clear.. if I go to a site and they offer PayPal as well as CC payment, I will choose to pay via PayPal over CC 100% of the time.

I am another one that prefers to buy with Paypal - if there is a problem with a product then I can open a dispute (although I have never had to do that yet) and I prefer that the people I am paying don't have access to my credit card details - in fact I have not bought products because they didn't offer Paypal and that has happened a few times.

For a number of reasons, paypal has just gotten stronger as a pre-eminent brand on the interwebs, as the years have gone on. Its brand power is so strong now, even traditional banks are starting to worry.

IMHO, I would NEVER sell without PayPal. And, I only accept other payments if the buyer asks me through email... even though there are upsides and downsides to this. The biggest downside is that PayPal is NOT a bank. They are a "Third Party" merchant. The short story on this is that their Terms of Use will benefit the buyer more than the seller. So be prepared to accept a return, even if it is a month or two after they bought it.
It used to be I never knew something was being returned until it arrived at my doorstep and I went to see that eBay had taken the money out of my PayPal account...bummer. It was equally upsetting that eBay creates and sends the buyer the label for the return, and NEVER insures returns or has them signature required (so if your Postman has the habit of leaving it on your doorstep, you may never get the item back)...I think they may have changed this terrible routine, recently...dunno.

Anyway, after selling many THOUSANDS of items (with many different IDs on eBay), I believe that the combination of having nearly 100% positive feedback and both "TOP SELLER" & "POWER SELLER" ratings help drive traffic and sales, but it's the safety of PayPal that makes if work for the buyers. I believe that it helps in search ranks, too.

Sure, I've seen plenty of good times and bad with eBay's use of PayPal (ie, I don't like that they have TOTAL access to my PayPal account to do what they wish - without asking), but I like that I can get my money fast and ship things fast, too!

**THESE ARE SOME OF THE IMPORTANT REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD USE PAYPAL**

1. Fast money. A buyer can BuyItNow and pay fast, with PayPal. PayPal is the best way to fast money. Sell something and have someone pay you through PayPal and "POW" your money is in your PayPal account -- instantly.
2. Their Debit card. I like their debit card because I can get my money out that day - before I ship it - to be sure I get paid first. Using PayPal's "Withdrawal" feature and you'll be waiting a few days before it hits the bank. OH...and don't forget that you get cash back for using the card for buying things, too.
3. FREE shipping manager. They have a free shipping manager that helps you automate the whole shipping process - including shipping labels and packing lists. I've used other shipping managers, but always return to PayPal. They work so well with eBay's system. And their presets for standard items sold every day sure make selling thousands of listings a breeze.
4. International payments are a breeze. As well, I can have PayPal create the necessary customs forms automatically, during the creation of the shipping label. All the buyer information needed for the forms is mostly handled automatically and saves me time and keeps me from making mistakes on the forms.

...I could go on and on about this, but my proof comes from experience.

**One more note: There is one more thing to consider that will be effect ALL sellers, soon. The "NEW" shopping cart system will be rolling out in the next month or two. And, as a seller, you will have NO CHOICE but to be a part of this... and from what I'm hearing, offering PayPal might not be a choice -- as it seems that PayPal will the the only way a buyer can pay, at least in the short term.

You can read more about the cart here: Is eBay putting the (shopping) cart before the (search) horse?

...and here on eBay, too: New eBay Shopping Cart

Good luck with your sales and drop me a note if you have any questions. I'm here to help. You can also drop me a note through eBay, too. Just do a search for this seller ID: "TheAislelands" ... one of my "TOP SELLER" ids.

I loose some because paypal integrated some restrictions in my country. So I am thinking of switching to other options. The most painful thing is I can't take payment above $500 at a time.

There are a few non IM things I sell that I will only accept Pay Pal (up to about $1,000). Not only that but I insist my customers pay the fees and they do. (I'm not pushy about it. I just say the price is X plus PP Fees. End of discussion). I found a handy little calculator for Pay Pal fees on here a few days ago and I have it on my desktop. Before that I did it by hand and only charge the customers what it costs, to the penny. A couple of times I have used Escrow (dot) Com for larger amounts. I have had several customers thank me for introducing them to PayPal.

Thomas