posted on November 21, 2000 09:49:19 PM
What percentage of your buyers are using PayPal? In spite of all the negativity posted in the boards, over 40% of my buyers are using PayPal.
posted on November 21, 2000 10:36:01 PM
I would say that not only are 50% using Paypal, but I truly believe I would not have half of the Paypal sales if I didnt' use Paypal.
posted on November 21, 2000 11:28:17 PM
I sell high dollar clothing and musical equipment for relatively low prices and have about 50-60% PayPal customers. The other major service for me would be Billpoint, then money orders. I have a memberships through ProPay, Tradesafe, Escrow, iEscrow and a merchant account and have never used any of them for my auctions! I do use the merchant account for my online store but that is totally separate. I think if PayPal offered something for you to receive merchant account services for online stores and the such they would be such a monopoly in the online payment game. Kinda scary.
TripapHoniC
[ edited by TripapHoniC on Nov 21, 2000 11:30 PM ]
posted on November 22, 2000 08:44:29 AM
Just over 50% this month for me.
The AW message board tells me everyone is abandoning PayPal. My experiences seem to run contrary to that statement. One Item I always keep tabs on in searches had 57 matches, 31 of those matches accepted PayPal, 6 accepted BillPoint, several accepted BidPay, and no other pay service was mentioned. This wasn't via a search but by looking at every listing that came up in that search.
posted on November 22, 2000 09:00:03 AM
If there's an overwhelming use of PayPal to make auction payments, most of which are via a credit card, is that not resulting in PayPal bleeding even more red ink on Visa/MasterCard transaction fees?
posted on November 22, 2000 09:01:59 AM
about 50% here, too.
Everyone is NOT abandoning PayPal .. just a hand full of very vocal posters here, and most of them slam PayPal, yet continue to accept it, just not advertise it.
I also accept Achex, Billpoint, eCount, ExchangePath, PayDirect and ProPay and yet most of the electronic money still comes through Paypal, with the rest being checks and money orders.
PayPal ain't dead, except in a few posts on this board.
posted on November 22, 2000 10:10:52 AM
I mention in my auctions that I no longer use PP for credit cards, but can accept a PayPal account transfer. Something like 25% of my customers will pay me that way. I'm getting a smattering of PayDirect and ExchangePath, and lots of stuff in the mail. I just now sent a few "10-day notices" on auctions where payment hasn't arrived by mail, but it's not really more than I was running before.
posted on November 22, 2000 11:49:14 AM
0% here too.
Everyone is NOT abandoning PayPal .. just a hand full of very vocal posters here
Pantheus - Probably 30% of my $5k/mo sales went to Paypal before they started flaking out. After I closed my account and started recommending against Paypal, virtually all of those "loyal" Paypal users have written back to register their shock/dismay.
IOW, in my experience, very few (if any) buyers who know about Paypal's current practices continue to use them.
What I don't understand is why any seller would continue to recommend its use. Talk about a DISservice to one's customers!
posted on November 22, 2000 12:23:44 PM"What I don't understand is why any seller would continue to recommend its use."
I've never pushed buyers in any direction, I simply state I accept checks, money orders, cashier's checks, PayPal. They choose and I don't make any editorials on the payments I don't accept. I used to mention I'd accept PayDirect and MoneyZap, but they weren't used so I removed them from the TOS just to keep the wording to a minimum.
My buyers are usually over 40 and didn't fall of any turnip truck. I'd feel kind of silly directing them to a message board to 'give them the facts' when 99% of the messages can't be validated and are nothing more than rumors when you get down to it.
posted on November 22, 2000 01:01:26 PM
And paypaldamon is a figment of our imagination? The users he corresponds with are what, hallucinating?
Sorry, I don't buy your "unconfirmable" theory. For one thing, I've had my own buyers (who are also sellers) tell me their OWN horror stories after I broached the subject.
Incredibly, they thought they were the only ones this had happened to, and interpreted Paypal's actions as somehow being their fault. Falling off a turnip truck? No, just human, overly trusting or perhaps lazy in failing to actually research the company they allow to handle their money. And I might add extremely relieved to find this board and that they weren't alone.
If you want to continue to offer Paypal in spite of the dangers, that's your business. But I really resent your implication that anyone who's had problems that they've posted to these boards is exaggerating or lying.
posted on November 22, 2000 01:04:59 PM
Even though I offer other credit card asides to PayPal, I would say about 40% of them are using it. 2% for the other credit card company. Lots of checks & money orders.
posted on November 22, 2000 02:02:21 PM
60-75% of my bidders are using PayPal. I specify that I prefer it. It makes my job easier, I usually get paid faster and ship sooner. I might look into Exchange Path, but most users are already on PayPal, so it's easier. With the referrals I get, my costs are low.
posted on November 22, 2000 02:04:29 PM
About 75% of my Bidders are paying through PP, the other 25% opt for Money Orders. I sell computer components, most of those buyers seem to be geared towards PP.
posted on November 22, 2000 03:13:24 PM
50% - 60% of my customers use Paypal and I'm noticing that a lot of them are new users. I love when buyers with 0 feedback pay me by Paypal...I don't have to sit for 10 days (my policy) to wait and see IF they are actually bidders or deadbeats! I have not had any problems with PayPal....but after reading some of the threads...I'm cautious how much money I leave in my account (thank you)
posted on November 22, 2000 05:28:27 PM
Under my adult, er, mature category sales it is almost 75% for me, but that is because Billpoint can't be used there. Virtually all the adult buyers are hooked on Paypal. And do you know, I have yet to have a deadbeat bidder there!
In my regular sales, it is about half, and though I took Billpoint for a while, I discontinued it because of the pain-in-the-a** factor of using it.
I am not thrilled with Paypal, but it still works for me. Their inept management shows great immaturity and a complete lack of ability to plan ahead, but that's another thread.
posted on November 22, 2000 07:08:41 PM
humm I got a neg today from bidder casue I dont take pay pal. She sent I returned her money. I dont like they way pay pal handles things. Turned it over to ebay for decison , ebay said I dont have to take pay pal as a form of payment why do bidders insist of forcing it on sellers? I am about to close the account for lack of help on pay pal.
posted on November 22, 2000 07:12:42 PM
Over 75% for me. My buyers like the convenience. Hey, who wants to spend time writing out checks and addressing envelopes?
posted on November 22, 2000 07:54:55 PM
Fountainhouse,
You refer to PayPal's problems but don't list them. How about a brief, concise summary, from both seller's and buyer's viewpoints (mind you, I do the eBay thing as a hobby, but I'd like to run it as professionally as I do my real job).
posted on November 23, 2000 08:17:25 AM
I sell vintage clothing and vanity items and used books. I do not push Paypal, just list it with tons of other ways to pay. About 50% pay through paypal.
Just for the record, other than simple spelling mistakes that were my buyer's fault and easily corrected, I have never had a single snag with Paypal. nor have I ever had a buyer complain to me about paypal. In fact I've had a number of buyers comment about how much better they like Paypal than the old system of checks & money orders.
I don't doubt at all that I could get people to switch if I wanted to, as other posters have shared that they do, but I don't care for that type of proselytizing. I used to have a business and a merchant account and I would see people using credit cards that I knew had ridiculously high rates of interest and/or bad reputations in terms of being lousy companies, and I wouldn't have commented on that. I tend to think adults can make up their own minds about their financial choices with no "help" (propaganda) from me. Often they already know what I know and still have their reasons for using those cards or those services.
I do believe Paypal seems just as poorly run as eBay. However, my own experience has been an overall positive with both companies, and I will continue to use both of them until such time that it no longer worth the hassle of the less pleasant aspects. That day may very well come, but for me it isn't here yet. And when I get my first "Paypal is horrible" rant from a CUSTOMER, I will post it here. I am not being sarcastic. But I haven't heard any of my customers with those types of stories yet.
posted on November 23, 2000 10:06:14 AM
I mention in my ads that I take both PayPal and PayDirect. I only put in the link to PayDirect. I have stopped getting buyers that use PayPal and as of yet no one has used PayDirect with me. I have been signed up with PayDirect for a month.
posted on November 23, 2000 10:37:20 AMYou refer to PayPal's problems but don't list them. How about a brief, concise summary
Most of the problems involve sellers, not buyers.
The summary phrase: "abuse of trust".
The summary cause: "lack of experience".
-PayPal feels free to rewrite the rules on the fly, and does so frequently
-PayPal acts like a drunk with a submachinegun in a hornet nest when stung by fraud, firing indiscriminately in all directions trying to get the bad guy but not caring if they get 10 goodguys in the process.
-locked accounts. There is no greater breach of trust than to claim total control over someone's monetary account, effectively closing down their business if they were dumb enough to trust that much.
-failure to communicate when things do go wrong.
-making public assurances which were badly thought out and quickly abandoning them when the weakness was exposed.
-demanding formal withdrawal authorization to bank accounts as "verification".
and last but not least
-running a classic bait&switch operation, suggesting that something would be free while planning how to raise fees enough to make any money.
posted on November 23, 2000 11:10:59 AM
Zero, zip, nada.
Selling on ebay since 11/98, first accepting checks and MOs with no restrictions or holds. In about 12/99 I started accepting Paypal as well as checks and MOs. On about 10/7/00, I stopped accepting Paypal, and now accept only checks (with 50+ FB) and MOs.
I sell in 1 niche, so can track average bids pretty closely. Although I have developed a loyal clientele, I'm regularly attracting new bidders, so I've got a good mix of regulars and newbies. I used to start bidding at about 50% of my reserve; for the past year I've had no reserve but have doubled the opening bid.
Aside from the initial frenzy during 12/98-02/99, over the past 2 years I've seen no change whatsoever in either how many bids I got or the average high bid per item (high bids on mine average as good or better than average high bid in this ebay category). Over 80% of items sell the first time through, with all my high-end items selling on round #1.
I don't know whether continuing to accept Paypal (or any other form of payment) would increase bids or high bid amount, but when I see so many people here post how they can't attract bidders or high bids are down, I'm pretty satisfied with my biz. The inherent risks (and now additional costs) associated with Paypal simply aren't worth any possible benefit.
