7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Intro to PayPal

by banco420
6 replies
Just spent about two days researching PayPal. Prior to yesterday, I had absolutely no knowledge of it other than the fact that people use it to buy things on the Internet.

For yous guys who may be new to PayPal, check out this .pdf, it's free to download and pretty straight-forward... since I can't link, just google
How PayPal Works - Manitoba E-Association pdf

I did have some questions, for some people who may know more about it, though.

We all know about PayPal's nonsense with freezing accounts and such and sorta screwing over people with only Personal accounts on customer service... So why does everybody continue to use it? Is it better to have multiple accounts set up for all payment, such as Paypal + Moneybookers + AlertPay? Or is there enough people using Moneybookers and AlertPay in IM to not even use PayPal anymore? I would much rather use other mediums for e-commerce but it seems I'm gonna have to use PayPal because so far every person I've done business with uses it.
Business and Premier Accounts also get a toll-free customer service number and extended customer service hours.

These extra features come at the cost of transaction fees. Sending money is still free, but 2.9 percent is charged for funds received. Extremely high-volume accounts get a break - after $3,000 has been received in a month, the percentage drops to 2.5 percent. Above $10,000, it goes to 2.2 percent, and money in excess of $100,000 received in a single month is only charged at 1.9 percent. In addition, all transactions in which money is received, regardless of volume, have a $0.30 fee added.



This is a quote from the .pdf I linked. Is this to say that on business/premiere accounts, no matter how low the amount of money is, whenever you receive money from somebody PayPal will go ahead and deduct 30 cents? So if you receive like 30 payments a day in increments of $2.00... that's straight up $9.00 out of your day's pay, before PayPal takes their 3% cut and before taxes. Is this what we're looking at here? If so then I'm gonna have to find a way around this.

Also, how do you guys feel about which accounts to sign up for? I'm probably just gonna go ahead and sign up for a Business account, and I don't have a problem giving PayPal my legal info, but for those of you who use Personal accounts, are you pretty much getting by okay?
#intro #paypal
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Originally Posted by banco420 View Post

    So if you receive like 30 payments a day in increments of $2.00... that's straight up $9.00 out of your day's pay, before PayPal takes their 3% cut and before taxes. Is this what we're looking at here? If so then I'm gonna have to find a way around this.

    You can have your customers mail you a check, or you can go directly to your bank and get your own merchant account, so that you can more in fees than PayPal requires.

    By the way, it is 1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30 USD.

    Moneybookers charges less, but then you run into a credibility issue and you risk alienating the very people who want to buy from you, who rely on paypal to pay online vendors.
    Signature
    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4803595].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author LukeBream
    You will read constant horror stories about paypal. Some are true, some are scaremongeres and some deserved it because they were commiting fraud.

    having said all that I would not reley on Paypal for my business - its just too risky. But if you must then make sure you regularly remove the money and also consider having more than 1 account.

    There are many alternatives. I have just used Fastspring for my latest app and have been really pleased with the implementation and functionality that they offer - out of the box.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4803598].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    If the OP is offended at PayPal fees, he is going to **** when he sees FastSpring fees: "Pricing is 5.9% plus $.95 or 8.9% flat per order". (Source)
    Signature
    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4803623].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author banco420
      Thanks for the responses guys. It helps a lot.

      Originally Posted by tpw View Post

      If the OP is offended at PayPal fees, he is going to **** when he sees FastSpring fees: "Pricing is 5.9% plus $.95 or 8.9% flat per order".
      And ya, lol.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4808363].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    PayPal fees are not bad when compared to other payment services. Try getting a merchant account with less than perfect credit. You will pay up the wazoo, while PayPal rates are the same, regardless.

    I am one of the PayPal horror stories. I won't get into it, but they did a number on me. That doesn't change the fact that there is no other payment processor on the planet that offers easy integration like PayPal does. Lots can be done with others, but they might require the assistance of a programmer. PayPal integrates into a lot of things very easily. Also, so much software is built with PayPal already integrated.

    With that being said, you should not put all of your eggs into one basket. Have a backup plan that you can switch to in a pinch. You never know if you are going to end up being the next horror story.
    Signature

    Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4803633].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ruffas
    I use paypal and so far it works for me well. But yeah, consider other options.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4803641].message }}

Trending Topics