posted on December 12, 2000 12:19:32 PM
I know there have been several payment options discussed here, but it's hard to figure out which are considered good ones and which are considered bad ones.
This is a list I have of all the online payment options I know of:
Did I miss any? Your opinions on these? I would like to get one FINAL list of the payments I accept - but it seems like they are CONSTANTLY changing! One day I hear good things, the next day I hear bad. I would like your opinions on these.
Personally, I no longer use Paypal and I prefer Billpoint and PayDirect. BidPay is great for international transactions.
I have used Ecount but they charge you $1 each time you want them to send you a check and if you want an ATM card you have to BUY it (and then pay bank fees every time you withdraw money).
I've never used Achex although I am signed up with them. Are they reliable?
I haven't had any problems with Exchangepath but I'm beginning to hear a lot of negative comments about them so I'm rethinking that one.
I've also never used Propay or MoneyZap. Comments on them?
If we could keep all our comments on these online payment services all in one thread I think it would be easier for us to see the pros and cons.
posted on December 12, 2000 12:25:50 PM
I have read that site, but that is only one person's opinion. I happen to disagree with some of his opinions on some of those sites, (and agree with others) which is why I'm asking for everyone's different opinions and personal experiences with these services.
posted on December 12, 2000 12:29:13 PM
You can add C2it by Citibank to that list. I think they charge $2 per transaction.
I've only used PayPal and Billpoint and have had positive experiences with both, though I find Billpoint invoices annoying.
I wouldn't use any of the lesser-known services, unless they're owned by an established company, because there's too much of a risk of them going out of business like so many other .coms are doing these days.
posted on December 12, 2000 09:17:20 PM
sg52's ultra-cynical analysis so far:
As a buyer I like Billpoint. No compromise credit card chargeback if seller turns our to be a scammer. Note that in around 1000 eBay buys, I've never been scammed in a way that a credit card chargeback would be appropriate.
As a seller, I like Bidpay. The MO just comes, I send the stuff.
PayPal: flakey to the max, likely gone within a year with even bigger fiasco than the Gametek thing.
Achex: shill me once, shill me twice, no more scummy telephone pole ads, please.
The rest of them haven't done anything important as yet.
posted on December 12, 2000 11:23:57 PM
I like BidPay, and am still accepting it. I am accepting Western Union money zap though it has yet to be used! Exchange Path is off my auctions, ditto PayPal, and AChex is still offered by me, I've used it once with no problems except for the website being out for a day.
So, for now I'm only offering those three. There are others out there and I welcome bidder suggestions to try out new services but boy am I leery nowdays. Out of my last batch of auctions (25 or so closing at the same time), I got one ExchangePath payment (right before they suspended me, right before I could get my money!), and one AChex payment. The rest were snail mail. No complaints about that either though from the bidders, or myself. I end up getting my money in hand in about the same time regardless. Sometimes the electronic payments are actually a liability for me when I'm broke, because the items have to go out before I can actually access the cash, and if there are a lot of items paid for that way, it means a lot of cash out of my pocket to ship the stuff, which sometimes can be really tough for me to pull off financially!
posted on December 13, 2000 12:26:25 AM
I wouldn't dream of trying to influence anyone's opinion.....
HOWEVER.....
I've ditched PayPal for lying through their teeth....
I'm busy removing ExchangePath info from my auctions now ... for Supreme Squirreliness...
I received my first MoneyZap payment this evening ... it was submitted by the buyer over 3 days ago...
After the 1st of the year, I plan on offering only PayDirect and BidPay as online options. (BidPay primarily for my overseas sales)
The rest of 'em can...well,... BITE ME!
The online payments are supposed to make life simpler for the customer - a concept I can fully appreciate. I didn't realize how much of a confusing pain in the butt it was going to be for me!
I'm going back to a simpler time...when my mailbox was full of payments, when I had time to anticipate and plan for the items to be sent out, and when I got to sleep a few hours at night.
If that offends some of the current crop of new-millennia, follow-the-lead-lemming,
cellphone-grafted-to-the-ear, SUV-drivin', attention-span-of-a-gnat-and-proud-of-it, gotta-have-it-now, weenies.....
well, they too can....BITE ME!
Peace and love....
"Some days it's not worth chewing through the restraints!"
posted on December 13, 2000 12:43:59 AM
I am dumping ExchangePath as soon as possible. Been trying to get my account re-activated since Friday (see my earlier post on these clowns). Have had no problems with Achex or BidPay. I dropped Paypal when they started charging sellers (I have a lot of low price items and can't afford to absorb their fees). I haven't seen any changes in number of bidders or bid amounts and have had no complaints from bidders about my accepted forms of payment.
posted on December 13, 2000 01:21:29 AM
sg52, I laughed when you warned about Paypal before. You were right. "Gone within a year?" That's the first time I've heard this pronouncement from you. So what do you think ... Earth opens up and swallows Paypal, or fire and brimstone from the sky?
mrattitude, totally agree with that.
As for Paypal, their actions have been so outrageous that I'm getting this little voice that keeps telling me Paypal is intentionally "discouraging" auction sellers.
posted on December 13, 2000 08:55:23 AM
In my opinion, the first question you should ask about a payment service is how safe is it and what is the customer service like. Someone mentioned ditching Moneyzap because it takes 2 days to get the payment but using Paydirect which takes as much as two weeks..? During those two days, Moneyzap contacts the payer and verifies their ID. When the money is in your account, it's there. None of this nonsense of getting a message a month or two later that it was an invalid credit card.
I have just updated my page this morning due to a post on a yahoo board where the same buyer repeatedly charged back her Paydirect payments claiming they were unauthorized. Paydirect took no action but the seller contacted the police who charged her with fraud.
Paydirect is the only service I know of where their customers are free to make multiple charge backs and they don't bother to react, except for taking it back from the seller. Even Paypal and Exchangepath would have shut down the buyer's account.
Maybe Achex did make a shill post or two. But the service has been excellent. I'd rather see a shill post about how great the service is with no arguments than the posts here from folks who are still saying how great Paypal is in the face of all the complaints.
posted on December 13, 2000 09:06:34 AM
On Paypal being gone within a year...
My guess is that they will be bought out by one of the fledgling services with deep pockets, those being Western Union, Citibank, or, much less likely, Yahoo.
posted on December 13, 2000 10:02:25 AM
I spoke to Achex about this. They said:
They are doing bank ACH transfers, not credit card charges. ACH transfers are very cheap, something like 20 cents each regardless of amount. So unlike Paypal and the others, they are not spending a fortune doing processing. They make their money by:
-strategic partnerships with larger companies that pay them for their service and to advertise on their site
-the float on the funds between the charge and the payment.
The reason other services are not making money on the float is because they pay 2% or more to charge the credit card in the first place. Even if they held that money for two weeks, they are still paying 52% effective rate (at 1% per week). But if Achex is paying 20 cents to hold on toe $200, that's a nothing rate. Plenty of room to make money on the float.
They *may* decide to charge a fee if you go over 30 transactions a month. They will give plenty of advance notice.
The best thing about them is they are the fastest and the safest. No fraudulent credit cards, no shipping to Indonesia, no frozen accounts, no charge backs.
P.S. - I dont work for them, so don't let anyone tell you this is a shill post.
posted on December 13, 2000 10:31:17 AM
Didn't find any ready-made achex buttons, but it's easy to make one yourself. Right click on the achex logo on their site. Choose save picture as and save it to your hard drive as achex.bmp. Upload it to your site or wherever you store your photos. If you dont have a site, get a free on geocities, mysiteinc, etc. Then in your auctions, use a link like this:
