debsherenow
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posted on September 13, 2000 08:33:06 AM
If PayPal wants to force us to upgrade I'm sure they'll find a way to do it. Does anyone have any experience with other FREE online payment services?? I've seen a few things about the two I mentioned. Does any one have experience with these sites or any others?? I'm sure there's lots of people hear that will be looking for alternatives real soon!!!
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lindajean
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posted on September 13, 2000 10:17:09 AM
Not yet, but will soon. All the "big" sellers on Ebay have no problem with this, but most of my sales are under $6.00 and the Ebay fees alone are killing me without doubling them overnight. I wasn't too upset about the 1.9% added, but now they are tacking on $.25 to each one too, and that added in the last couple of months! Too steep for me!
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rivergrrrl
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posted on September 13, 2000 11:01:17 AM
I tried PayPlace for several months. My experience was not too great, as customers were not familiar with it and some found it cumbersome. I quit using them because of extended periods when their site was not functioning at all. Of course, your experience might be better. Just wanted to share what I encountered.
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paypaldamon
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posted on September 13, 2000 11:12:25 AM
Hi all,
I will have a post in the partner services forum later related to the business accounts issue. I won't be able to respond to all items due to the sheer number of posts.
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josie2306
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posted on September 13, 2000 11:34:40 AM
Thanks for starting this thread! I'm interested in alternatives, too. Just can't afford the new PayPal fees. Someone on ebay's DNF board mentioned payme.com, and I went to sign up for it They were having server problems -- guess a glut of disenchated paypallers trying to sign up! But when I got to the part where they require your SSN and driver's license number... well, I changed my mind about signing up with them. The DL#, maybe I could live with, but I don't like giving my SSN out on the net. Still looking. Hope some folks will reply with suggestions. (Moderator: hope you don't lock this thread -- it's so hard to wade through the paypal thread which is sooo long and mostly people blowing off steam about paypal. We need a thread for alternatives to paypal.)
[ edited by josie2306 on Sep 13, 2000 11:36 AM ]
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josie2306
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posted on September 13, 2000 11:37:23 AM
Appreciate your sharing your experience, rivergrrrl. I'll mark PayPlace off my list!
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yisgood
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posted on September 13, 2000 12:49:08 PM
I used payplace a few times and had no problems. They pay the seller $5 when someone signs up with their link. They pay the new account nothing. When you get the $5, they dont tell you who it came from. I tell my customers "sign up to payplace with my link and I'll give you $2.50 off." So far it's worked out, but one day I may have several people all claiming they signed up and no way to know for sure.
Achex is a free service that goes bank account to bank account (no CC). It has also worked well. No referral fees at all.
Ecount claims to be free. Free, free, free all over the site. But AFTER you sign up and try to make a payment, THEN they hit you with a $1 charge on the send and again on the withdraw. This just might anger your customer. For large ticket items, $1 isnt bad, but if you sell a $5 item, that may be more than your profit. Other than that, the service was smooth.
Payme stinks! There is no other way to say it. They charged my card immediately and held up payment to the seller for TWO MONTHS claiming that I was being investigated for fraud. They held up a payment to me for over a month claiming that my customer was being investigated. It took a complaint to the Banking Commission and a charge back on my CC to get action.
A client recently paid me with moneyzap. They claim it takes 3-5 days. He put it through on Sat and emailed me the confirmation. It is now Wed and I have heard nothing from Moneyzap.
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debsherenow
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posted on September 13, 2000 01:08:36 PM
Thanks for all the input!!! I thought looking for alternatives might be more productive than simply blowing off steam. I just saw something about energyflow.com Has anyone tried that one? I have used BidPay for International transactions. They don't seem to mind paying the $5 fee. I don't think that would go over real well with US buyers tho...
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dpent
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posted on September 13, 2000 01:26:34 PM
my partners and I have had payplace in our auctions for quite a while now - over 3 months now and still do no buyer will use them, o we have had 2 in that time frame use Payplace, compared to over 1000 from Paypal, and 36 from Billpoint and 1 whopping big one from Bidpay
in a word is there any alternatives to Paypal
NOPE
Paul
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stockdc
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posted on September 13, 2000 01:38:56 PM
PAYPAL HAS ALWAYS BEEN FREE FOR PERSONAL USERS!!! I AM SO SICK OF BUSINESSES WHINING ABOUT NOT WANTING TO PAY ANY FEES. OH WELL I GUESS THESE ARE THE ONES WHO USE NETZERO AS THEIR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER. CHECK THESE FEATURES AGAINST ANY OF THE OTHER COMPETITORS, HELL THEY DON'T EVEN ADD UP WHEN COMBINED.
DEBIT CARDS
24.7 CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT ANSWERS
SHOPPING CART
INTEREST ON ACCOUNT
INSTANT PAYMENT
2 DAY WITHDRAWAL TIMES
GUARANTEED TRANSCATIONS
PAYMENT BY CREDIT CARD
PAYMENT BY BANK ACCOUNT
INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS
NO HOLDS ON MONEY
PUBLIC KEY CRYTOPGRPHY EXPERT
(no Western Unions or Ebay's Here)
The list goes on an on, check out their website at www.x.com
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debsherenow
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posted on September 13, 2000 04:48:40 PM
Thanks for that input but that really isn't what this thread is about. Besides, I think it's how PayPal is defining a business that is getting people up in arms.
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amalgamated2000
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posted on September 13, 2000 05:58:14 PM
stockdc,
Paypal does NOT offer shopping carts or debit cards. They claim they will offer them in the future, but I think everyone can judge for themselves how much value to attach to Paypal's claims.
I really don't think the big problem is the fees. I think that the problem is that Paypal has repeatedly lied to us, yet they expect us to trust them with our money.
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amalgamated2000
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posted on September 13, 2000 06:01:11 PM
Oops. Forgot to address the topic of the thread.
AVOID PAYME.COM AT ALL COSTS!
I signed up for their service and got my $5 bonus. I then used the account to pay for a $10 item.
First, it took over 2 weeks for the payment to be "beamed" to the seller. And this was not a glitch. This is they way their system works.
Then, the $5 I had in my account was gone after I made the payment, but they ALSO charged my credit card the full $10.
Payme.com is far, far worse than anything Paypal has done.
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josie2306
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posted on September 13, 2000 06:47:31 PM
yisgood and amalgamated2000: Thanks for giving me that great "whew!" experience. So glad I balked when they wanted my SSN. So FOR SURE payme.com is scratched off my list.
dpent: Point well taken. Maybe it's pie-in-the-sky, but was hoping for some other service to replace PayPal. Oh well. Back to MO's and checks. As a buyer, I'd be glad to pay the PayPal fees to the seller rather than bother with the trouble (and expense) of a money order... but that's illegal... so... (sigh)... back to the "old fashioned way" I guess.
Let's do all try to keep this thread for alternatives rather than discussing PayPal. So far, so good!
Best regards and thanks to all!
Josie
[ edited by josie2306 on Sep 13, 2000 06:48 PM ]
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MAH645
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posted on September 13, 2000 07:10:38 PM
I,m going to add That I charge .50 to my auctions if using Paypal.Paypal has helped speed up alot of payments that I would have had to wait a week or better to receive in the mail.Around a Holiday its takes two weeks to receive some payments because everytime the Post Office is off a day,the mail is off a week.I think alot of people would pay the .50 to be able to get their item as fast as possible especially at Christmas.For me to make money on the internet,I've got to turn my merchandise as fast as possible.
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tomwiii
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posted on September 13, 2000 07:52:28 PM
There was a banner ad a hour ago here on AW for www.ExchangePath.com, a CMGI company. I just signed up -- it's "free" with "bonuses" like PayPal was so very long ago (3 months ago!)!
Soes does anybody know them?
[ edited by tomwiii on Sep 13, 2000 07:53 PM ]
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tresrhnter
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posted on September 13, 2000 08:54:45 PM
Tom,
thanks for posting the link to ExchangePath.
I keep seeing an ad here on AW for ProPay.com, does anyone have experience with them?
Here is a list of online payment services posted on another online board:
http://ganges.cs.tcd.ie/mepeirce/Project/oninternet.html
sorry, don't remember how to make a link.
Does anyone know anything about MoneyZap, a service offered by Western Union? Here is the url:
https://www.moneyzap.com/mainNS2.asp?BP=NewUser.asp&ScreenHeight=768
if you then click on Faqs at the top it takes you to the MoneyZap faq. They are very unclear about their fees, saying only that fees are being waived at this time during the promotional period (refreshingly candid) and that later there will be a fee for initiating a transaction. It makes it sound like the sender of the money would be the one paying the fee, or the person who requested money from someone. Does anyone have a clarification on this or have used it?
Melinda
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Shoshanah
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posted on September 13, 2000 09:02:31 PM
None of the above....Back to old-fashioned M.O. and Checks for this old bird..
Too tired of forever changing rules....
********************
Shosh
http://www.oldandsold.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?justdisp&Rifkah
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/rifkah/
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bargainluver
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posted on September 13, 2000 10:03:50 PM
This Exchangepath.com looks like a pretty good alternative to Paypal, they are a part of www.cmgi.com which entails companies like Alta Vista and many other big names out here in cyberspace. Take some time and check them out(CMGI) is publicly traded on the market as well. They are out of New York, not some strange island country out there like some of the others. They restrict your referral earnings to $100($5 each) but maybe that's where Paypal screwed up, payed out too much and now they need to earn it back?
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alrad
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posted on September 13, 2000 10:36:53 PM
i would like to hear more about the yahoo service? heck maybe AW should start an e commerce service.
My bet is that since the float moeny went into mutual funds that with the dips in stocks and stuff that the mutual funds didn't make as much money as when they first started out. not sure but i'll be that has a somethignto do with it. of course it would depend on the mutual fund but???? ???
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grobe
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posted on September 14, 2000 06:27:46 AM
There is no point in adding extra payment services if users don't use them--no matter if these services are free to the seller or not.
The obvious alternative has not been mentioned--get your own merchant account from a credit card company. My problem with using Paypal is not the fees they charge (which are cheaper than most merchant accounts) but their lack of credit card offerings: a seller should be able to accept all of Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express--these both domestically and internationallly.
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abingdoncomputers
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posted on September 14, 2000 06:37:00 AM
I started using Yahoo Paydirect a few weeks ago on a trial-basis. I dodn't really know what to expect but I have been very pleasantly surprised by the response. Everyone is familiar with Yahoo already and over 70% of the customers that I have recommended it to have signed up and paid with it. Just my experience. Yours may vary but I would recommend them as they are working well for me.
The only downside that I see, and it does affect a fair number of my sales: The transaction gas to be for at least $5.
A big advantage is that they will credit your balance in your account straight to your credit card so there is virtually NO waiting for your money. Of course, there is a cash advance fee but that is pretty close to what I was paying PayPal anyway.
Edit because I cant speeel
[ edited by abingdoncomputers on Sep 14, 2000 06:37 AM ]
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