posted on September 14, 2000 08:44:37 AM
Has anyone used PayPlace.com? If so is PayPlace.com a good alternative to PayPal? They seem to be very simular. PayPlace is FREE and accepts American Express as well as Visa and Mastercard. PayPlace.com also pays the seller $5.00 for each new member. I have been using Paypals "free" service and have been happy but now that they have changed the "rules" (fees). I don't know if I want to pass these along to my customers in the form of higher prices/handling charges etc. I could use some suggestions about any alternatives to paypal. (PayPlace.com, yahoodirect etc.) What do you think?
posted on September 14, 2000 09:25:14 AM
I have used Payplace as a backup to paypal and when the customer's limit has been reached. It has worked out just fine. Achex is also free and it works checking account to checking account (no CC). Ecount claims to be free until you try to use it and then there is a $1 charge on the payment and another $1 charge on the withdrawal. This wont make your customers happy. Payme takes MONTHS to make payment even though they charge the card right away. Then they tell the seller that the customer is being investigated for fraud. They did this with a customer who paid me and with a seller I paid, so I know it's them that's at fault. I also heard this from other sellers.
There's a new player in town, exchangepath, they take amex, discover, visa, mc. $10 to open the account, $5 for referrals and free.
posted on September 14, 2000 09:38:39 AM
Well, PayPal is free too. I guess if there have been more recent problems with PayPal I've missed the threads.
I had a horrible experience with PayPlace months ago. I signed up, referred some people, got about $35 total, and had it deposited to my credit card (which is actuallly a debit/check card with X.COM). The transaction, for whatever reason, caused a "hold" to be placed on my checking account. PayPlace said it was some standard verification/CC authorization process, to make sure the card was a good card (before making a deposit!?) and that it would only be a $1 or so "hold" that would be removed w/in 24 hours. Well, not so. It was a hold for the whole amount ($35), even though they were PUTTING money into my account, and it lasted for four *days*, not 24 hours. It caused a check to bounce.
In the end, many emails later, PayPlace claimed no responsibility, four different "customer service" reps gave four different answers, they lied (one said it was a "hold" on my account, the other said that there was no such thing, that they were not authorized to "hold" any amount) they ignored emails outright, they got snippy in their responses, and x.com was the one who, in the end, helped me out by refunding the $25 NSF fee they charged for the bounced check. I was still out $25 to the merchant for the bounced check fee THEY charge, so I ended up getting $10 from my $35 PayPlace money, plus a lot of headaches and many, many phone calls and time wasted.
I don't care how much they're giving in referral fees, I wouldn't touch that company with a ten-foot pole. They were absolutely irresponsible and unhelpful through the ordeal. It's funny, because unlike the PayPal referall bonus flurry of activity when they were new, NONE of my friends online have tried to get a PayPlace referall from me, and I hardly ever hear anything about them. I think it's telling.
Oh, and just a side note: when someone bounces a check, keep this little story in mind. Sometimes, &#&@ happens, and banks and other companies SCREW UP, wreaking havoc on those who, like me, only have barely enough in their account at one time to cover the checks out.
Sorry to hear about your troubles with PayPlace.com. It can be stressful to not have any money in your main account and for a deposit to occur much later than you expect. We have all been there, and paid the $25 NSF fee.
But on a brigther note, I have used PayPlace.com and have not encountered this type of issue. I like their registration process is less "invasive" than PayPal's. All I needed to do was to give out my credit card information. No bank account information was necessary. This makes it much easier for the buyer that wants to set up a new account.
I think I didn't make something clear (it's confusing to me as well, and I'm the one it happened to! lol):
I *had* sufficient funds in my account for the check to clear, before initiating the PayPlace deposit to my Visa Check Card. So, I had a check out for $30, and had $40 bucks in my x.com account. I told PayPlace to deposit my money ($35) into my account via my Visa Check Card, linked to that checking account. When they did, they put a hold on that account, in the amount of $35, that stuck for four days... so even though the money was *there* before that, once they initiated their "authorization hold" the entire $35 amount became "frozen" in my checking account, so there was only $10 available while PayPlace did their thing.
So, had I not initiated this deposit from PayPlace, the check would have gone through just fine. The money was there. I was NOT waiting on the PayPlace money in order to pay that check. I was not intitiating a WITHDRAWAL, but a DEPOSIT, yet they still "froze" that amount and wreaked havoc on my account.
Sheri [email protected]
