TA wrote:

I don't, and never will, since the news broke not long ago about their system being hacked into ... hundreds of people lost alot of money; not to mention confidence in any of these programs.

U sure?

Yeah; I left links on the 1st page, but they've since revamped their system and everything seems to be working fine now.

My hubby and I have both used and accepted PayPal payments. Personally, we have only had 1 bad experience with PayPal and that was a customer of ours that continually kept getting their payment declined through them yet was able to perform his transaction using the same credit card through our merchant account. That caused him (and us) a bit of frustration and time with repeated phone calls back and forth between the customer, us and PayPal Customer Service.

We accept both PayPal and all other forms of payment (except "paper" check) and it's amazing to me the number of customers that choose to use our merchant account for payment instead of PayPal. we have had a number of elderly people get confused by the steps involved with PayPal when they can simply call and place their order over the phone with us.

As far as fraudulent charges with credit cards by untrustworthy sites - the customer always has the ability to dispute any unauthorized charges so they can be removed from their account.

Personally, for us- we prefer PayPal. It is much simpler once you have it set up. You do need to be careful of all the phishing emails and "spoof" email that you will receive from dishonest people trying to obtain your information. Be certain to only go through the PayPal site and never "reply" to email that claims to have been sent by PayPal.

That is my opinion.. for whatever it is worth.

A use PayPal often....

I do a lot ef eBaying and try to use PayPal as much as i can because altough I have had very good experiences on eBay in general i have had a few go wrong (items lost in shipping as always) and PayPal has always reimbursed me (even though its not their fault) which i think is pretty cool

My only major issue with PayPal is if you try and transfer "large" sums of cash...for example i've had to pay a couple thousand bucks for work a few times and the fees they charge can get very costly- so at that stage i would rather find an alternative if possible

I have been using PayPal as a payee and payer for many years and never had a problem. I like it.

mark wrote:

I have run into quite a few people who really dislike paypal.  I would be interested in seeing who here uses, likes, dislikes Paypal...

Ack! Sometimes I need to answer BEFORE reading everyone else's answer, or I'll feel like a complete idiot (compared to my usual partial idiot status ) and not answer. I stopped halfway through TA's links, before coming back to answer as someone you really want an answer from -- the foolish, nonInternet Savvy buyer!

Here's the scoop -- like all things, it has its good points and bad points.

Good points

- Owned by Ebay, therefore, often the only way to buy stuff from other normal folks trying to sell that jar-opener Aunt Sally gave them for Christmas, even though they have no trouble opening jars.

- Good alternative for folks without credit cards - more so back in the day (last year) when debit cards weren't commonly accepted, but, since hackers are breaking into every system except the U.S. Mint, all in all I'd rather have hackers know how little I have in my checking account then how high a limit I have on any credit card.

- Purchasers pay nothing for transactions, and seller pay very little.

- Customer service people aren't snooty, and usually accurately helpful the first time.

- A good place for those, who are just using it to maintain their sites, or receive a little cash via "If you liked my answer well enough, why not buy me a ...." (I like flowers! )

Bad points

- Iffy if the system will work during the December holiday craziness, and customer service slides down to the level of the IRS on April 15th. (For folks fortunate enough not to catch the reference, I'm sure you have your own versions. IRS = Internal Revenue Service -- those, who have no ability to write easy-to-follow directions on how to file your yearly tax form, don't even understand the directions they did write -- try to figure out what "semi-weekly "means -- but sure know when they think you didn't do it right, and like to heap interest and penalities, above the insult of paying a government for, of all things, income! April 15th is the tax deadline date in the states.)

- Some pretty bizarre rules on what kind of money can't go into their systems. (I have a remainder of a cash gift certificate in the form of a Master Card account that I'd like to enter into my own account to get the money left, but they won't allow that for some strange reason.

- They are run by Ebay, which has it's own "sales resolution" code that doesn't work for sales over 30 days old, so if you buy something that you won't know if it was good or not for over 30 days (like if the bare root will even sprout into a bush), you're SOL for getting your money back (unless you want to take it to small claims court in the place you bought the item.) Both Ebay and PayPal will not help you.

Did that help any? If so...I like flowers! ... err, I mean

(Now the big test! Will I change this after reading what everyone else wrote?! LOL)


Edit:
OK, so I just noticed this thread started a couple of years ago, and judging the "thank me with..." buttons -- gotta say, I think Mark got his question answered enough that he decided.

Glad I realized how old the thread was before reading the rest of the thread -- I think a lot must have changed in the last couple of years. Also, good thing 14% isn't much if orders are under $10!

Now, since I found this thread through the latest newsletter, I figure folks will be stopping by again and might see my response, With that, gotta add --

Matte wrote -

To me Paypal (and most other forms of aggregated payment services) implies that the business is small time (really small) and not all that serious about business. This has an impact on trust. Lets face it, if they are serious enough about getting a good site set up (and quite a few have got great sites), then they should also be serious about transacting their own CC payments

Ummm, Matte, sometimes sites aren’t for making money online. Some are for information and others are for entertainment purposes. Still, it costs to have a good site, so “small time” is acceptable to some of us, without killing our trustworthiness. My site holds 3 purposes – entertainment, writing, and presenting a big enough presence online to gather a following, when I start selling children’s books. In my case, killing trust would be selling a whole bunch of stuff to children, while they’re being fooled into thinking they’ve found a fun site to look at. You might want to reconsider your thoughts on sites. Believe it or not, the use of the Internet is not always related to retirement savings.

Then Matte said:

In addition you also don't need real time payment - I don't because I get too many fraud attmpts (espc. on one product - 99% of US orders are fraud). When you start to spend too much time clearing card details then move to automated - this also give you a feel for what products attract the 'bad apples'

Actually, from my business experience, yeah, real time payments are a good thing! I can’t say 99% of my customers (all from the local area Philly, PA, USA) were frauds, but the one that was, cost me dearly in a number of ways! If I could go back to full time business, it would always be a Money-up-front business. Real time payments would certainly rush the projects. Since most of my customers wanted their projects done 10 minutes before they ever considered doing them, that’s a helpful little feature!

Then Gareth said:

I set up a PayPal accout to use for my site then I almost instantly received several of the said phishing scam emails with all the official PayPal imagery and a link to an identical in every way homepage (minus the secure "s" in the URL). Suffice to say I cancelled my PayPal account immediately and will not open another in light of the recent stories. This was actually only around 6 months ago.

I’ve been phished from supposed Nigerians, a variety of countries in the UK, banks I never heard of and have heard of, but don’t use, and folks, who do such a poor job, I can’t even understand their sentences. Opening an account with PayPal didn’t cause the phishing – scam artists did. You will continue to get more and more phishing e-mail from "PayPal" and a whole bunch of other creeps, but it has nothing to do with joining PayPal, it has to do with thieves knowing how to steal.

And, with that, is there anything left to add about PayPal that hasn't been covered?

Bad points - the daily limit of funds that one can withdraw from paypal can be easily less than the daily take, so paypal keep your money and you can never get it

I did not see this mentioned in any of the replys,  Since (I believe it was just before all thaose nasty hurricanes) you do not have to have a paypal account to pay for articles when using a credit card.  In your business account at paypal you can stipulate that you will accept these payments.  Of course the person will be asked if they want to set one up, but if they answer no, the only information that they fill in is the name address etc.

I have used paypal also since 1999.  There were a few hectic moments but things got resolved very quickly.  I've had more problems  with a shipping company then I have with paypal.  (I should have used my paypal to pay for the shipments then maybe I would have gotten my money back faster)

  How can a shipping company leave a package at a building that is clearly abandoned due to fire?  A while ago that happened to me.  I shipped to the client and sent shipping info,  the night before the package was to arrive the house burned down, but the shipping company (who I will not mention at this time)  still left the package on what was left of her front porch.  The package was suppose to be signed for, and it was signed by the driver.  Go figure.

I'm using paypal frequently as buyer and vendor alike. It's a cool system and helps a lot for fast and easy international online transactions. I use paypal directly and indirectly (via PayDotCom.com, ClickBank.com etc.) for online sales and purchases.

What I dislike is the unproper view of account activity summaries and lack of settings on how the transaction page for customers should look like (the automatic country and language settings often get this wrong).


What I also dislike is that customers not always are given a CLEAR option to purchase products by credit card instead of paypal without the need of becoming member of paypal. This is possible, but they do not clearly tell it to clients. As a result of this we may lose some customers regularly. But this comes back to what I said above, lack of influence to paypal sales page settings. 

All after all I guess paypal is a great tool, but needs some important improvements on these and other details.

Torsten

Northie wrote:

Bad points - the daily limit of funds that one can withdraw from paypal can be easily less than the daily take, so paypal keep your money and you can never get it

northie, i don't recall an instance on here where i've been able to say you're wrong but.......

paypal are the kind of people in my experience that will take you out, buy you cocktails and feed you, they're certainly not in the habit of performing transactions and keeping a hold of funds, when you're dealing with proper account managers and directors there they bend over backward to help and clear the path of any obstacles. 

if as a merchant you're doing such massive volume they'll want to work with you rather than get in the way, we're not a high flying merchant and there's no limits on our account, we're just fully validated and have a paper contract in place.

it's got it's quirks and goofs, there's even been times (many) when i've screamed at their site but  through it all i can say i like paypal, it's been a good, solid revenue stream since the day we put it on our site and their new mobile checkout totally rocks in my realm!.

we worked with paypal pre-launch on the mobile checkout and were the first merchants to do a live transaction with it, article

atwhatcost wrote:

I stopped halfway through TA's links, before coming back to answer as someone you really want an answer from -- the foolish, nonInternet Savvy buyer!

Need I say more?

Torsten wrote:

What I dislike is the unproper view of account activity summaries and lack of settings on how the transaction page for customers should look like (the automatic country and language settings often get this wrong).


What I also dislike is that customers not always are given a CLEAR option to purchase products by credit card instead of paypal without the need of becoming member of paypal. This is possible, but they do not clearly tell it to clients. As a result of this we may lose some customers regularly. But this comes back to what I said above, lack of influence to paypal sales page settings. 

All after all I guess paypal is a great tool, but needs some important improvements on these and other details.

Torsten

You're "preaching to the choir" and we don't sing -- have you tried airing your displeasures directly to PP?

mobtex wrote:

northie, i don't recall an instance on here where i've been able to say you're wrong but.......

paypal are the kind of people in my experience that will take you out, buy you cocktails and feed you, they're certainly not in the habit of performing transactions and keeping a hold of funds, when you're dealing with proper account managers and directors there they bend over backward to help and clear the path of any obstacles. 

if as a merchant you're doing such massive volume they'll want to work with you rather than get in the way, we're not a high flying merchant and there's no limits on our account, we're just fully validated and have a paper contract in place.

it's got it's quirks and goofs, there's even been times (many) when i've screamed at their site but  through it all i can say i like paypal, it's been a good, solid revenue stream since the day we put it on our site and their new mobile checkout totally rocks in my realm!.

Mobtex -- I gotta agre with you!

How can a shipping company leave a package at a building that is clearly abandoned due to fire?  A while ago that happened to me.  I shipped to the client and sent shipping info,  the night before the package was to arrive the house burned down, but the shipping company (who I will not mention at this time)  still left the package on what was left of her front porch.  The package was suppose to be signed for, and it was signed by the driver.  Go figure.

Assuming the big three (my experience is over ten years ago, so we didn't use DHL much back then), the companies generally rectify the problem, by getting the package to you (if not ruined by weather), give you a check from their insurance process, or pay for the replacement item. Only thing required is a business like tone on the phone, when you call.

TA wrote:

...have you tried airing your displeasures directly to PP?

Yes, I have been in contact with them. But they only approached technicalwise which was of no big help, as the issue is sourced within the system. They said they have forwarded the issue for consideration for future updates... So I don't know if this will be improved, but at least they gave some reaction on the matter, which is already more than many companies do... Only, this doesn't help much at the moment. 

Torsten

I've been using PayPal for over a year on my site....no probs yet...

I've been using PayPal as a buyer and to accept payments from eBay since 2001 and have had absolutely no problem with it.  Then in 2005 I opened a website and am using Paypal's Standard Shopping Cart for "Add to Cart" buttons.

Here are the advantages I've found:

1)  No monthly fee (for the Standard Shopping Cart version - most other shopping carts charge a monthly fee)
2)  Accepts all credit cards (it actually gives customers a choice - pay by PayPal or by credit card or bank transfer, etc.)  Paypal doesn't require customers to sign up for a PayPal account in order to make a payment.  Most of my customers pay by credit card, NOT by PayPal. 
3)  Accepts credit cards for you without you having to go through a credit check (this is unique - most merchant accounts require you to go through a credit check)
4)  Automatically reduces your merchant rate based on your volume of sales (they will do this for you automatically - you do not have to ask for a rate reduction)
5)  If a customer pays by credit card, and then fraudulently reverses the charge with a charge-back, Paypal will automatically insure you and cover your losses (provided that you meet the guidelines - most importantly shipping to the billing address) - I am not sure if other merchant accounts have this - it sounds unique to me.  Out of all these advantages, this is the biggest advantage that I've found.
6)  If a customer does not pay by credit card but pays with a PayPal account, then they cannot fraudulently reverse the charge with a charge-back.  What they'd have to do is file a Buyer Dispute - in the end, PayPal's resolution team decides who is right.  And most times they decide by looking at the tracking number.  If you have shipped the item, then you have nothing to worry about. 
7)  Transfer funds to your bank account for FREE.  In my case I transfer a 5 digit figure to my bank account each month.
8)  Conveniently prints out shipping labels for you and keeps track of what's been shipped and what has not.
9)  Offers you a debit card so you can withdraw funds directly from your PayPal balance.  This has been very convenient for me.  Because of this, I don't use any other card to shop with.  And in addition they give you 1% back on anything you spend.

Here are some disadvantages:

1)  Some customer support staff are clueless but won't admit it and often times give you wrong information.  (They're basically meant for beginners, not web designers with business websites)
2)  When customers check out, they are directed to PayPal's website, not yours.  PayPal takes advantage of this and can put their own marketing stuff or convince them to sign up for a PayPal account.  For example, they could put the option to pay by credit card small and not as visible and have the option to pay by PayPal really large and noticeable.  This could  scare off customers who don't like PayPal or who think they have to sign up for PayPal in order to make a payment.  So far this has not been a significant disadvantage though.  If you want the ability to have the check-out on your own website and avoid all this, PayPal charges $20 a month for their (Website Payments Pro Shopping Cart).
3)  The PayPal chargeback insurance (called PayPal Seller Protection) will cover you if you ship to the billing address.  However, if the customer mis-spells the address or even types "St. Louis" instead of "Saint Louis", or puts an extra space or extra comma somewhere, PayPal's system automatically does not recognize it as the billing address and won't cover you under the insurance.  You'd have to appeal and that's a huge headache given that most of the customer support staff there don't know how to think outside the box.
4)  Whenever a customer goes through your PayPal checkout, you are basically giving PayPal their marketing.  Alot of customers might end up joining PayPal because of you and your own marketing.  Although you are not really losing by this, PayPal is gaining.  Some people might not care about this, but you might not like it if you don't like the feeling of being "used". 

You have to balance the disadvantages with the advantages.  Again, there is no monthly fee (with the Standard shopping cart).  Perhaps that could offset some disadvantages.  I'll add more if I think of any. 

To respond to some previous posts:  The beauty of PayPal is that if the shipper leaves the item at a building abandoned by fire, you will STILL GET PAID by PayPal's Seller Protection (as long as it's the billing address).  If you ship USPS and they drop off a package anywhere (burned or not), it will be marked as "Delivered' on the tracking number.  Then if the customer tries to reverse the charge because they claim they didn't receive the item, PayPal still re-imburses you because it is covered (provided that you meet the guidelines).

One person wrote:  "paypal are the kind of people in my experience that will take you out, buy you cocktails and feed you, they're certainly not in the habit of performing transactions and keeping a hold of funds, when you're dealing with proper account managers and directors there they bend over backward to help and clear the path of any obstacles."  That is true, but how much does it cost?  For PayPal there is no monthly fee.  For those other "proper account managers", I've seen the cost as high as 3 digits a month.  Again, I bring in a 5 digit figure per month with PayPal and I've had no significant problems.  I agree with you though, I'm probably an above average customer to them bringing them alot of business but their customer support don't really recognize this and treat me no differently than someone who doesn't even have a PayPal account.  I don't take it personally though.  It's still working out fine.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.  Runs very smoothly.

TA wrote:

I don't, and never will, since the news broke not long ago about their system being hacked into ... hundreds of people lost alot of money; not to mention confidence in any of these programs.

The system WAS hacked into and the people who lost money were NOT VERY SMART.
I received several of the fraudulent emails from the fake corporation claiming to be paypal.
I still have a copy of one of the emails.
With a little bit of wisdom you can check the source code and find out  if it's genuine or not.
I was a newbie to the Internet at the time and I even picked up the discrepancy.

I use paypal for both buying and selling and I'm sure there are some disadvantages...but I have yet to discover them.

Paypal provide a system that is really easy to implement.

Elizabeth

I get those e-mails all the time.  Got into the habit of looking at the message source sometimes it is unreal looking at the email routing. The address is so close that if you look too fast you may believe that it came from paypal, or some bank or credit company.  (The last one had security@paypals.com)

ninak wrote:

I get those e-mails all the time.  Got into the habit of looking at the message source sometimes it is unreal looking at the email routing. The address is so close that if you look too fast you may believe that it came from paypal, or some bank or credit company.  (The last one had security@paypals.com)

I agree that it can be easy to overlook...but people need to be aware that this is happening with all sorts organizations - not just paypal....and then take the necessary precautions!