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Are you using something OTHER than Paypal or Stripe to take CC Payments?

by MusicMinCoach
17 replies
Hey everyone,

So I've been using Paypal for years without incident, but I've heard so many horror stories I'm feeling like it's only a matter of time before I have my own. I've heard a good things about stripe, but to me they seem like another version of Paypal, that being some entity that handles your money but isn't a bank therefore not bound by any of the laws.

I know merchant accounts are the next option, but I wonder if any of you know of or use a certain company that works best for selling on-line products and services, courses and such?
#payments #paypal #stripe
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    but I've heard so many horror stories I'm feeling like it's only a matter of time before I have my own.
    That's exactly what they are; horror stories.

    If you aren't doing something wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

    I can't imagine doing business online without Paypal.

    Brent
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  • Profile picture of the author ppres74
    I've been using PayPal for years, years I tell you - without a single issue. There's a lot of competition in the payments industry so there's a lot of noise you have to sift through. As long as it works for you keep at it!
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    Yes I got banned from PayPal (failed to realise they had changed their T&C's and got a permaban). So the "stories" are very real.

    Are you really trusting some or (yikes!) your entire online income pipeline to some idiot in the PayPal call centre?

    DIVERSIFY AT ONCE!

    Thankfully there are alternatives. Some vendors wire transfer my earnings to me. And for software sales I use Avangate. I'm also trying ClickBank - again they also wire money to you.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by brettb View Post

      Yes I got banned from PayPal (failed to realise they had changed their T&C's and got a permaban). So the "stories" are very real.

      So you violated their terms and conditions and got banned for it? Oh, what a horror story.

      I've used PayPal for over 10 years now to collect invoices from clients, sell products, buy things I wanted, fund marketing expansions with their working capital loans, and hell I even have a PayPal debit card. Never once have I had even the slightest hiccup.

      Personally, it's a relief to hear that people get banned for violating their T&C's. The last thing I want is for PayPal to have any legal or financial exposure because of the violations of its customers. I wouldn't want them to become insolvent.

      If you violate the T&C's at your bank, guess what? They will likely close your account and never let you open another one. If your violation is severe enough, in the United States there is a system called ChexSystems that most banks will report to. If you have an account on ChexSystems, not only will the bank that reported you not allow you to have an account, but most of the other major and regional banks across the country will also refuse you service.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    (failed to realise they had changed their T&C's and got a permaban)
    So it was Paypal's fault? You didn't do anything wrong, they just nuked you for no reason?

    Ridiculous.

    Brent
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  • Profile picture of the author erin31
    I think Skrill is a good alternative to paypal.
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    • Profile picture of the author 52.ct
      Originally Posted by erin31 View Post

      I think Skrill is a good alternative to paypal.
      What is so special about Skrill?
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    • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
      Originally Posted by erin31 View Post

      I think Skrill is a good alternative to paypal.
      Skrill isn't as fast as Paypal, it charges higher fees, and most of the people i've worked FOR to collect online payments are those companies not in the USA that Paypal doesn't really work for/approve of. It's more of a use for sending invoices. But it is still good though. A better choice would be 2checkout.
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  • Profile picture of the author cearionmarie
    I never got issues with paypal. Paymaya is also a great alternative, I'm just not sure if it's available in your country.
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    • Profile picture of the author MusicMinCoach
      My thing is if I were to leave Paypal I wouldn't leave it for another "not really a bank and therefore not bound by any regulations whatsoever" money management site.

      I haven't had a problem with Paypal either, but I think it's crazy to assume that every single one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have did something wrong.

      I've seen way too many stories of people whose only offense was that they had a successful campaign and saw an influx of sales come into their paypal account. That's enough for Paypal to freeze your funds, apparently.

      And that would be ok if they had some efficient and reasonable process of quickly verifying everything is legit and getting you access to YOUR money. But in every such instance I've seen Paypal held funds for months while sending the user in endless circles for upwards of 6 months.

      And their terms say they can freeze your account any time for any reason and they don't even have to explain it to you if you if they don't want to. So I think to say that everyone who has had a problem with Paypal did something wrong to deserve it is a bit naive.
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      Ron Cross
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      • Profile picture of the author Imamarketer2
        I just posted a similar question. I'm curious to see the responses here. The horror stories about Paypal are real. And there are horror stories about Stripe too. I thought a regular merchant account would be better, and they are, but there are horror stories there too.

        I don't think you can get away from the horror stories. But, the really big Gurus selling coaching packages and courses online aren't using Paypal.

        Ali Brown, Jeff Walker, and Mike Filsaime all recommend a company called PowerPay. Frank Kern recommends another one called PlatPay. I'm going to check them both out. These two companies, according to the names mentioned, understand our type of business where you can make nothing for months, do a huge product launch and make thousands or even millions of dollars in one fell swoop.

        All that said, I may offer PayPal in addition as some people are simply more comfortable paying that way.
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      • Profile picture of the author nowservingpixels
        Originally Posted by MusicMinCoach View Post

        I haven't had a problem with Paypal either, but I think it's crazy to assume that every single one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have did something wrong.

        I've seen way too many stories of people whose only offense was that they had a successful campaign and saw an influx of sales come into their paypal account. That's enough for Paypal to freeze your funds, apparently.
        I've also not had any problems in the past 3 years that I've been using PayPal, but I've heard too many of these stories to be anything other than cautiously optimistic. I never keep more than a $100 balance in my account. Payments are immediately expedited to my bank account.

        I also use Square sometimes to send client invoices. They're great and I wouldn't have a problem using them as a PayPal replacement. And for selling digital products I use Stripe.
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      • Profile picture of the author Roksana Obuchowska
        Originally Posted by MusicMinCoach View Post

        My thing is if I were to leave Paypal I wouldn't leave it for another "not really a bank and therefore not bound by any regulations whatsoever" money management site.

        I haven't had a problem with Paypal either, but I think it's crazy to assume that every single one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have did something wrong.

        I've seen way too many stories of people whose only offense was that they had a successful campaign and saw an influx of sales come into their paypal account. That's enough for Paypal to freeze your funds, apparently.

        And that would be ok if they had some efficient and reasonable process of quickly verifying everything is legit and getting you access to YOUR money. But in every such instance I've seen Paypal held funds for months while sending the user in endless circles for upwards of 6 months.

        And their terms say they can freeze your account any time for any reason and they don't even have to explain it to you if you if they don't want to. So I think to say that everyone who has had a problem with Paypal did something wrong to deserve it is a bit naive.
        I think that what you are saying is a common thing for big, international corporations. You are just a single individual and while dealing with thousands of "you" they don't need to care
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  • Profile picture of the author MusicMinCoach
    Here's a list of terrible,
    aweful things you can do to have your funds frozen by paypal.
    Pay particular attention to number 4 on the list,
    then tell me that everyone who has had this done to them did something wrong.
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    Ron Cross
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Originally Posted by MusicMinCoach View Post

    Hey everyone,

    So I've been using Paypal for years without incident, but I've heard so many horror stories I'm feeling like it's only a matter of time before I have my own. I've heard a good things about stripe, but to me they seem like another version of Paypal, that being some entity that handles your money but isn't a bank therefore not bound by any of the laws.

    I know merchant accounts are the next option, but I wonder if any of you know of or use a certain company that works best for selling on-line products and services, courses and such?
    As long as you are doing everything on the "up and up" and nothing shady or grey you should be fine.

    I've heard good things about 2checkout as well
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    There are tons of good companies out there for processing payments and it never hurts to offer more than one on your site, just in case a problem should arise with one of the other ones.

    Durango is our preferred payment processing company, outside of PayPal and Stripe. We have also used finance companies like FuturePay and Klarna that allow customers to pay for things over time with no money down and no credit card.
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  • Profile picture of the author samncube21
    If you are serious about running your business, I strongly suggest you look into getting your own merchant account through a company like Authorize for example.
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