Paypal sucks. Screwed for no reason after 5 years of business... Need alternative.

[affilcrazy]

Hey...well what to say apart from i'm really sorry for your troubles. Worries me a bit now as i use Paypal a lot too.

I see someone mentioned Alertpay above, i have been using it for a while and wrote a squidoo lens on it.

I'm not using this a sales pitch by the way..there is no way i take pleasure from someone else's misfortune..just have a read of what i've written about Alertpay and decide for yourself!

What Is Alertpay?

And whatever action you take, i wish you luck and hope you can get some sort of semblence of sense out of Paypal!

[drobnick]

These paypal stories are true. Don't doubt it, and be very careful. One close associate of mine, and you would know his name here in warriors, lost paypal because a company sent him a single payment. That company was deemed by paypal to be illegitimate, so they not only shut down the companies' account, but every paypal account that received money from them. Even if a one time payment.

And that is not the most hair raising story.

I highly recommend plimus.com to anyone need to take recrurring payments, or single payments, and are selling tangible or digital products, or even legitimate business opportunities.

They acccept visa, mastercard, discover, AMex, paypal, electronic check, and others.

[Ken Leatherman]

I'm wondering how big of a dog you have to be to get an Account Manager assigned to you by PayPal? Anybody know off the top of your head.

I'm just a little bitty cog in that big old PayPal wheel.

Ken
The Old Geezer

[4morereferrals]

Sounds like to me they are creating a new niche for some enterprising banker types.

[seobro]

Paypal is part of FEE-bay and they are both mean FUBAR companies. I use them as little as possible. Let this be a lesson to others. I would investigate paypal. Too many cases of them doing max evil to their customers.

Also, many thieves are using FEE-bay to sell stolen swag so be careful, as you can go to jail for possession of stolen property.

[anth.elias]

Ok..I was just a little scared at the beginning of this post...now I'm running scared. I use Amember along with PP for my membership site, so I now I'm going to be pounding my head against the wall trying to figure out how to switch all my current members to a authorize.net recurring membership payment, do they even do that?

[Chris Kent]

Moneybookers is an alternative. I found this out when I maxed my Paypal out and had to wait 2 weeks for a verification snail-mail.

They are nowhere near as user friendly though in terms of functionality. They are a UK company and registered with the FSA (UK equivalent of the SEC).

[GeorgR.]

i seriously couldn't live without paypal. I haven't run into any major issues with them, knock on wood.
Yes, they take fee outs. Big deal. Who does NOT take fees..what on this planet is actually really "free"?
Paypal speeds up purchases, it makes it easier to do business online.

I "hate" every service/vendor who does NOT offer paypal...there are some european sites (hosting etc..) which STILL use old-fashioned bank-transfer..which means a transaction would take 5 days...with my ***** bank taking out the fees instead.

Using paypal i can buy domains and have them running within minutes. Just one example. Or whatever other purchases/service. I actually <3 paypal, sorry for your bad experiences. I would call them and talk to a person.

[jasonl70]

I used to have an ebay business, and was doing over $1000 a day into my pay pal account. I ordered private label product from china, and hence usually had a large inventory on hand (about 30 days worth, with the next 2 months already on order and being manfactured).

Pay pal shut me down out of the blue, and it took months to get things straightened out. In the meantime, my entire ebay and importing business colapsed, my car was repo'd, my utilities cut off, and I was pushed right to the edge of bankruptcy (thank god I had some family help me out). it should have taken 48 hours max to sort out - not MONTHS.

Everyone who has had this happen to them was once a pay-pal cheerleader, convinced everyone who says they got shut down "must have done something wrong". and then it happened to them.

I hate having to deal with them.. I made a few grand promoting a paydotcom product this month, and I it makes me nervous having to rely on paypal to receive it

[Pat Blank]

I also had my Paypal account frozen last spring. I'm not a high-amount person and I don't leave much in the account. I tried and tried to contact them but nothing helped. Finally I was talking to "my" banker at Chase, I have a special account for Paypal, and he talked to a superior and so on, and they discovered why my account had been frozen: I had bought a $40 Lego Star Wars set on ebay and the seller had purchased something from someone else who turned out to have some questionable transactions. Note the chain!

I did get my money back after exactly 180 days.

I urge anyone who depends on Paypal to have a backup, just in case.

[Sheryl Polomka]

Originally Posted by Thomas Belknap

It was the way the original sales page was worded that landed people in trouble with Paypal. Once you took off the earn 100% commissions on the sales page, Paypal didn't have a problem with it.

This is well documented within this forum.

Thanks Thomas, I know there is a lot about it on the forum, but Paypal don't care. I had actually taken the 100% commission off my site and had in fact taken the $7 script off and replaced it with a normal buy now Paypal button only a couple of weeks before they closed me down. They still didn't care, didn't want to listen to me, they had made up their mind and that was that.

When they decide to close you down - they do not listen to any reasoning - they don't care. They are big, they have the monopoly on online payment processors and therefore they just do what they want.

The fact that they keep your money for 6 months is just plain wrong - that should be illegal, it is not their money to keep.

Their time will come, I have no doubt. The more people that have trouble with them will use other services and eventually another company will get big and really give them some competition - that is what they need.

[Sheryl Polomka]

Originally Posted by Irmscher

But anyway your story freaks me out abit. What I use to do is withdrawing money each and everytime it reaches $500-700 mark. This way I can fell alot more secure than leaving my PayPal accont with few grands on it

Thanks for the story

Andrew aka Irmscher

I wont even let them have that much, I withdraw money straight away almost as soon as it goes in there, I'm not letting them keep any of my money again.

[RevenueRabbi]

you might want to use two different paypal accounts and have some clients pay here, some there... like changing the payment link every 1st of the month on your site (looks the exact same to the buyer...)

helps a business not get totally crippled if they have a paypal issue.

[GoogleSearchToday.com]

I have herd of this before, but never believed it until I did a search on Google. Just type in "fozen paypal" and you will see many bad stories.

I would try AlertPay.com, Google Check out, or SafePay, they are all free and very safe to use.

I hope this helps!

[CraigJones]

Have any of you considered using ECsuite.com ?

I'm considering using them myself.

EC Suite can handle most any kind of online transaction processing,
including digital downloads, monthly memberships, pay-per-views and recurring billing.

EC Suite's Toolbox contains:

> Simple, Flat Rate Pricing for Online Transaction Processing
> Multiple Payment Options - VISA, MasterCard, AMEX, Discover, JCB
> Weekly Payouts by check or bank transfer
> Complete Subscription Management and Membership Optimization
> Customization Tools, such as unique forms and e-mails
> Recurring Billing and Retention Tools
> Unique International Billing and Pricing Tools
> Complete Downloadable Reporting and Tracking
> External System Communications
> Online Publishing Tools, Catalog Builder and Shopping Cart
> World-Class Affiliate System

EC Suite handles all your affiliate payouts, on any schedule your affiliates choose - weekly, or monthly, they choose their payout schedule. Your affiliates would have access to their own administrative area in the system to track their own sales and payouts, with the ability to adjust their payout thresholds on their own. And one related benefit to the EC Suite system is the ability to set who pays the processing fees, you or the affiliate or a split.

EC's 'Pay Period' is between Sunday and Saturday weekly, with checks or bank transfers going out the following Monday - nine days later.

Perhaps Mike Filsame and Sid (RAPIDACTION) Hale should consider using them as an alternative to PayPal.

Just my 2 cents!

Craig
..

[RevenueRabbi]

Plimus works too.

Plimus

[new guy]

I use plimus too. I am from Canada and have very limited options. They process cards (and paypal) and handle delivery. Also, you can totally customize your order page, which I found very appealing. I was able to make it look like my site so it was integrated very well.

[new guy]

Oh ya, they also have an affiliate program so you can have affiliates sign up to promote your products.

[Mike Hill]

Here's what I did today...

First, why wait until it happens to you! I went out today and secured several online merchant services and they all accept PayPal too.

Now I am back in control of my own business. I have several backup plans in place and can stop holding my breath every time I go to login to PayPal...

Mike Hill

[Stacey Wockenfuss]

Originally Posted by Ken Leatherman

I'm wondering how big of a dog you have to be to get an Account Manager assigned to you by PayPal? Anybody know off the top of your head.

I'm just a little bitty cog in that big old PayPal wheel.

Ken
The Old Geezer

Pretty big. As in 100k to a million dollar launch for example. If you are there, then you probably have an acct manager already. :-)

[Quentin]

I find it a bit strange Scott with that many transactions that you never had a dispute, refund etc.

I have been in IM for over 10 years and with Paypal 9 of those years and had my account suspended a couple of times but using a calm business approach always been able to get it resolved and back up within an acceptable time.

I have had many customers also using Paypal where they have had their account frozen for different reasons and also sorted it out. In every case it was the customers fault.

I guess what I am saying is what your saying does not ring true with my experience and I don't think you are telling the whole story.

Q

[Floyd Fisher]

Originally Posted by scottspfd82

UPDATE:

After HOURS of talking to several Paypal reps, here's the verdict...

Their fraud team has determined that I pose a "high risk"...

I went all the way up the customer service chain. The lady I talked to was nice and understanding...

I said "So, you're telling me that after 5 years of being a loyal customer... Who stays well within acceptable use policy, who has had thousands of dollars every month going through their account for years without issue, that you're shutting my account down and not even giving me a reason why?"

The answer was basically "Yes, that's right".

I had her manually go through my account activity for the last few months. I asked her to point out anything that may have raised a red flag. She said the account looks perfectly normal... No disputes or claims...

So I asked who to talk to about reviewing my account and being considered to have it reinstated...

The answer was that the decision is made by the fraud team, and that all decisions are final.

Bottom line, I am permanently banned from Paypal for no apparent reason...

I found out through some research that all accounts are manually reviewed by fraud specialists, and the ultimate decision is made by an individual.

There is no way to contact these people for a reason why.

I HIGHLY recommend everyone who relies on Paypal to get a backup plan in place TODAY.

Believe me, Paypal accounts don't come any lower risk than mine. I wasn't doing anything even remotely "shady" and I have years of history with them. If you're thinking "it won't happen to me" don't bet on it.

-Scott

Scott:

There may be another way to do this.

Talk to a lawyer, and see you can get a judges order demanding paypal release any records they have on you, including the fraud investigation they conducted.

That shouldn't cost too much, and it can help shed some light on what happened and why. From there, you and a lawyer can decide if you have any legal grounds on which to sue.

This should be interesting.

[Floyd Fisher]

Originally Posted by aelias

Ok..I was just a little scared at the beginning of this post...now I'm running scared. I use Amember along with PP for my membership site, so I now I'm going to be pounding my head against the wall trying to figure out how to switch all my current members to a authorize.net recurring membership payment, do they even do that?

You'll have to send out the new payment link yourself. Just offer them a nice bonus for switching.

[J smith]

Wouldn't you be able to create an llc company and reaply to paypal as the llc company rather than your personal name? Probably too much trouble, but if you are losing sales because of this might be worth it.

[anth.elias]

Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher

You'll have to send out the new payment link yourself. Just offer them a nice bonus for switching.

Thanks Floyed!

[MichaelHiles]

If you're making even a few hundred $ a month, it's worth the fees for a real merch account.

[Black Hat Cat]

For some of you who don't know, regular merchant accounts can do the same thing. If you don't believe me, ask Brad Fallon.

Paymentech Merchant Account Sucks

Paymentech Sucks - Update

[shakti2u]

I did an affiliate promotion for a company and Paypal froze the whole account for them for 180 days. They tried lawyers, etc. They verified that their customers were receiving their products, etc. But paypal still kept the money the whole time. Paypal finally released the money, but it took a long time.

Thanks for all the alternatives all of you have given us so that we can protect our business.

Shakti2u

[Patrick Judge]

Hi Scott I dont use them anymore, once you start having issues with them you will not use them anymore. I wont anyway.

I hope you get a lawyer, in fact, I think all of us here, well me anyway would be glad to ring them and give them an earful and I am sure this would help, rip off merchants thats what they are,



Patrick

[Paul Coleman]

Hi Scott,

I've had my account frozen three times in three years. Each time I got on the phone and was super diplomatic about the freeze. In each case they fixed the problem within ten minutes.

Sometimes the PayPal security software locks things up when it shouldn't. I would get back on the phone and be calm and polite with them. You are basically reassuring them that all is well and nothing shady is going on. Explain your business, tell them what you do.

Meanwhile, I recommend also having a 2CO account set up. 2CO now accepts PayPal payments.

http://www.2checkout.com/community/

All the best,

Paul

[Tony Vercetti]

If you are accepting payments in the thousands of dollars every month, especially when delivering services or non-physical goods, I would look for other payment methods. They have a tendency to do this to anyone that starts receiving too much money in their PP accounts, at best they limit your account and ask for identification, at worst they make you wait 180 days to get your money.

[VegasVince]

As the biggest hater of Pay Pal on this forum.....here's what Vegas Vince knows for sure: True or False?

1. Warriors who get screwed for a $1.00 by their FDIC Insured Bank....will raise holy hell over it......and yet these same Warriors will bend over and kiss Pay Pal's ass...even when they get screwed for NO REASON. Warriors fear Pay Pal. (True...see it every day on this board)

2. Pay Pal can and will.....freeze your account and all the funds with in it.... for ANY reason they choose.....and the burden of guilt or innocence is ON YOU! (True...it happens EVERY DAY)

3. Pay Pals corrupt and bogus FREEZE policy hurts honest marketers a hell of a lot more then the bad apples they claim they target. (True! Honest marketers get their accounts frozen every day.... and a long freeze can and will cripple cash flow...and destroy the reputation of an honest marketer whose payments received have been frozen.)

4. Pay Pal knows they are crooked.........did you know that their TOS actually prohibits you from suing them in a court of law??? How many honest companies have that policy! LOL. TRUE...very true.

5. Pay Pal earns MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in the interest they generate from FROZEN ACCOUNTS! Especially those they freeze for 6 months! (True...the dirty little secret no one but me seems to mention)

WHEN PAY PAL FREEZES YOUR ACCOUNT THEY CAN AND WILL HOLD YOUR FUNDS FOR 180 DAYS.

IF YOU ARE PROVEN INNOCENT ...THEY DO RETURN THE MONEY...6 months later!

BUT......YOU DON'T GET A DIME OF INTEREST ON YOUR FROZEN FUNDS EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. But Pay Pal makes plenty off your legal earnings!

PAY PAL EARNS INTEREST ON THE MONEY THEY STOLE FROM YOU....and decide to return at a later date...... TRUE TRUE TRUE.

6. Pay Pal doesn't ever talk about what they do with the money they freeze...but eventually the United States Government is going to take them to task .....because PayPal makes a lot of money off these frozen accounts....they hold hostage...and they should be obligated to return the money with interest assuming the account holder did nothing wrong...to do otherwise is literally CRIMINAL. (True....)

7. Pay Pal is not GOD, Warriors. Stop giving them so much power over your business and money....because good honest people have and will continue to be hurt by this monopoly of bastards. Willie Crawford had his Pay Pal account frozen in the past... and he's as honest as the day is long. True.

8. If Pay Pal ends up dead and buried some day....I will walk through the grave yard and piss on their tomb stone...just for fun.

And then.....I'll ask them what they did with the interest they earned on all that money they stole from me for 6 months....only to return it without so much an apology. And yeah...I considered it theft. When you screw with my money....for no reason...you're a theif. Even when you return it half a year later....a crook is a crook and to say Pay Pal wont screw you...is like saying The LAPD is comprised of all honest cops....not!

I truly hope more good Warriors get screwed by Pay Pal. It's the only way....we'll ever see viable competition.


xxx Vegas Vince
Legend.

[Noel2010]

I agree with Vegas - "and yet these same Warriors will bend over and kiss Pay Pal's ass...even when they get screwed for NO REASON. Warriors fear Pay Pal."

"I truly hope more good Warriors get screwed by Pay Pal. It's the only way....we'll ever see viable competition."


I hate to say this but I warned warriors about this before. Since November 2007, I've been saying it when the same thing happened to me after years of selling on eBay and using paypal. In the busiest season, with thousands of dollars of sales, they shut me down. I have never recovered.

A lawyer will not help so forget that. You will just have to start over with a real merchant account now.

This is amazing that the media do not expose the ebay and paypal scam. We only have lazy journalists now who do not investigate the practices of these companies. Notice that not one journalist warned about the financial crises until after it happened?

There has to be corruption at these 2 companies to operate like this.

I am surprised at how many warriors who are making money do not use a merchant account. When I PM most and ask for alternate payments, every single one who reply say "only paypal"! Unbelievable!

[Sheryl Polomka]

Originally Posted by Quentin

I find it a bit strange Scott with that many transactions that you never had a dispute, refund etc.

I have been in IM for over 10 years and with Paypal 9 of those years and had my account suspended a couple of times but using a calm business approach always been able to get it resolved and back up within an acceptable time.

I have had many customers also using Paypal where they have had their account frozen for different reasons and also sorted it out. In every case it was the customers fault.

I guess what I am saying is what your saying does ring true with my experience and I don't think you are telling the whole story.

Q

Quentin I am happy for you that you have always managed to get things sorted out with Paypal, but as far as saying Scott musn't be telling the whole story I think is unfair.

You are lucky you got it sorted. I don't know Scott at all but I know for a fact - 100% honest fact - that Paypal Screw innocent people and therefore I believe Scott. They do this to people, they do it ALL THE TIME! Scott isn't the first this has happened to and he certainly wont be the last.

When it happened to me I tried phoning them and got the same response Scott got - to check my emails, I couldn't get anyone to put me through to anyone with more authority, I just got fobbed off.

So count yourself lucky but don't assume others are lying because this stuff really happens!

PAYPAL SUCK!

[valerieSONORA]

I agree VV and I know you HATE paypal, the problem is Paypal is THE major to send and rec. money online. It's like a necessary evil. If they hold ur money for 180 days I think they should also give any interest accrued.

I never keep much in my paypal. I like to keep around $50 in case I need to hire someone for a simple job or something. But if I get say $200 in my acct. I'll transfer $150 of that to my bank acct. So if paypal ever decides to shut down my acct. they will only be keeping around $50.

I also have an alertpay acct. I used it once to buy something from a site that didn't accept paypal. So I have a backup just in case.

I'd also recommend everyone getting a back whether it be alertpay or something else. I don't "think" it can happen to me but I know it might.

By the way I had to call paypal yesterday-they won't let me update any of my info cause I moved and the stuff on record is old. And calling them is a real hassle. The first number was a nightmare I couldn't get out of that stupid automated system. They asked me to punch in the phone # assoc. w/my paypal acct. That number is like 3 yrs old and I can't remember it.

I called another number and eventually after dealing with that annoying automated system forever was able to speak to a real live person who let me update my info. And he was really nice I was expecting a jerk, but he sounded very pleasant

[TheNightOwl]

Scott, I'm sorry to hear about your situation, too, man.

Some very good advice in this thread, though, so I hope you're back on your feet or that it doesn't even rattle you.

Re: some of that advice... I took another look at Plimus... boy have they changed! I remember buying some software through them just a couple of years ago and they seemed a bit hokey at the time to me. And as I seem to recall, they ONLY did software. Or am I mistaken?

At any rate, leaps and bounds, I say!

I'll definitely be looking into them a bit more over the coming weeks when I get a bit more time up my sleeve. Thanks for the recommendation (I can't recall who posted the original link to them in this thread, but thank you!).

QUESTION: Is anyone currently using Plimus to sell their services (a la copywriting, for example) and/or digital products other than software? I'd be very keen to hear your experiences--and I'm sure others would, too.

And re: Your own merchant account... any pitfalls there, folks?

TheNightOwl

[TheNightOwl]

Update:

I went and had a tool around the Plimus site and found this in their FAQs:

Can Plimus sell Adult material or Gambling products?
No, we do not accept any form or Adult material, subscriptions to a website, magazines, books or others. We also do not accept Gambling products except for Books regarding the subject.

Now, I'm not in the gambling or adult markets, but what I find interesting is this bit:

we do not accept any form or... subscriptions to a website

(I assume where it says "or" it means "of")

They accept subscription payments for services and software, but not to websites. So no processing your membership site's payment's through Plimus. Hmmm...

Also, it seems that their legal status with vendor's is as a reseller and not simply a payment processor... so that needs further investigation.

And finally, their payout methods are reasonably limited for non-Nth-American folks, with the only viable option being ** drumroll ** yep, good ol' PayPal!

Very keen to hear more about merchant accounts and will do a search here on the WF later in the week. Gotta get back to the work I was doing before dropping in!

Be good!

TheNightOwl

[stefanjames]

Yes same exact thing happened to me. I had a few grand in my account and my account goes limited. When you try to contact and ask them they don't give you a real answer. 2CO Checkout works well as well as Alertpay are the ones I use.

[TheNightOwl]

And again...

interesting thread here. Scroll down to where Josh starts pumping out the good stuff (as usual).

Figuring out payment processing is driving me crazy: Please help!

[Ted Kopelli]

I would highly recommend 2Checkout. They accept PayPal payments so you get the best of both worlds.

After My account freeze with PayPal, 2Checkout has always been there for me. Customer service is excellent. Only drawback is they require a separate account for each domain that sales come from. That is easily offset by using JVManager or another centralized system.

Funny thing, my account has been dead for nearly a year and yesterday PayPasl sent me their PayPal Mastercard Debit card. Just for giggles I tried to activate it. No good LOL

Ted

[Traffic-Bug]

Yes that is why there is a market for alternative payment methods like AlertPay, Xoom, moneybookers, epassporte etc

[new guy]

I deliver an ebook through plimus. Just zip it up and they take care of the distribution as well. Actually a pretty good system. They also accept paypal from buyers. They have a good system for tracking everything, you can even find out how far people are getting in the order process and so on. They still have limitations but have found them to be pretty good. I am in Canada and I have them send me check every month so that works well for me.

[Owen Mailer]

dont know if this will be of help to you but you could look at mals ecommerce it is free
hope it all works out for you

[Fabian Tan]

I'm sorry to hear this.

I think it's a good lesson for all of us: don't leave a whole bunch of cash in Paypal.

Fabian

[billbarrett]

A temporary solution to prevent such PayPal slap: do not leave a lot of money in your PayPal account. Withdraw regularly and do not leave anything to them.

[dsmpublishing]

This is awful i had a few problems with them a couple of years ago, had my account hacked into and was using it as a business at the time it took them months to deal with it and whenever i spoke to them by phone it just made me more angry.

There just complete idiots i do know quite a few that have successfully sued them. Yes you'll get the money back but they wont do business with you again stating your relationship is broken. There was a site that people used to go to called paypalsucks.com but i dont whether its still up because paypal kept threatening court action against them!

[Powertreb]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Scott.

I hate bastard companies like this. They get too arrogant for their own good.

You definitely need to at least try and go up the chain. The reps you speak to when you first dial in are like tricycles in a lot full of Acuras. They won't get you far, and they are trained to be the first line of defense and stall or push you back.

PayPal's HQ is here:
PayPal, Inc.
2211 N. First St.
San Jose, CA 95131
Phone: 402-935-2050
Fax: 650-864-8001

Here is a list of their top brass:

(I would start here with this group, Merchant Services and Consumer)
Dana Stalder
SVP and General Manager, Merchant Services and Consumer (at PayPal)

Now this is an SVP/GM. She is probably too high up to spend time with you at first. You may want to reach a Senior Manager or Director level person under Stadler.

There's a chance that they will screen your call. And you may get a bitch or asshole who will act high and mighty and won't put your call through.

But don't forget that PayPal is an eBay subsidiary. Here is eBay's HQ info...

eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Ave.
San Jose, CA 95125
Phone: 408-376-7400
Fax: 408-376-7401

You can call eBay customer service or their sales department. Try to get a really low level name, an authentic employee name. Call into ebay like a real client or potential customer and be really nice and friendly, this will help you get the person's name.

Then you can use that name to call PayPal and get through to Stadler's group and speak with someone. But don't be nasty at first. Control your temper and speak professionally.

I hope this can help you at least figure out WHY they closed your account. Good luck!

If all else fails, send a Tweet to Obama.

PS...Don't reach out to the Legal department. That's the last place you should turn to on your own. I believe most "Lawyer Jokes" actually originated from true stories.

__________________________________________________ __________

Other PayPal senior staff:

Rene Aeberhard
Director, Architecture

Michael Barrett
Chief Information Security Officer

Ryan D. Downs
SVP, Operations

Ed Fong
President

Salvatore J. Giambanco
VP, Human Resources and Administration

Mary Anne Gillespie
VP Sales

Scott Guilfoyle
SVP Platform Services

Mary M. Hentges
CFO

Barry Herstein
Chief Marketing Officer

Katherine Hutchison
Senior Director, Risk

Phillipp Justus
SVP and General Manager, eBay Marketplaces and International Business

Robert Mansell
VP Product Development

John D. Muller
VP, Legal and General Counsel

Jack Stephenson
SVP Strategy and New Ventures

[Sparklesperson]

Get yourself a merchant account. Yes, it has fees, but it won't be as high as PP. Do your due diligence there too, have a backup, and make sure those companies are GOOD with your service before you start up.

[mkarthik07]

dude the same thing happened to me. I got my money after 6 months though.

[Jason Anderson]

The REAL solution is simply to get a merchant account. The most popular in internet marketing is Authorize.net...

If your credit is an issue you may not get approved.

There are many merchant accounts out there so don't get discouraged if you get turned down. Just to a search for internet merchant accounts and you'll have enough listings to keep you busy for a while.

I'd look for the companies that have phone numbers listed on their websites. Pick up the phone and call them. See if they answer their phone. Do your due diligence. Find out if they are a reputable company...do their customers love them??? How do they work.

Since a payment processor is one of the most important parts of your business, take the time to really figure out with merchant account is best for your needs. Do they have good customer service? Do they have a dedicated account rep? Do you care? It's really up to what YOU want.

Do this research and your business will thank you for it....

However, I have a feeling that only 5% of anybody reading this will actually do the work it takes to find the right merchant account. It is a bit of work.

Hmm....

Here's an idea. Do the research, find out what merchant companies are good in different situations. Do the report for yourself...then package it up and SELL that report to other internet marketers. Sounds like the makings of an excellent WSO if you want to take the time to do it right.