posted on December 16, 2000 03:13:09 PM
ExchangePath sent me an email that I had someone send me money, yes I was dump enough to offer them as a payment option, I went to claim the money and they say I'm suspended. I checked another account with them, I only wanted one account but I had to sign up for another as I had someone send payment to a deferent email address than I used to sign up and their solution was to sing up for another account. Yes that one is suspended too.
I've sent emails, I called and waited on hold only to give up. I've sent them my phone number and my cell number. all I've received over the last week is their auto responder asking me to contact them, I have now twice, is it common to have to wait more than 7 days to get a reply form these guys? are they even in business? are they delaying so they don't have to pay out the "bonuses"
I figured it might be that they want my info again so I signed up yet again, if I try to get into this account it says that I have to reply to the email they sent, well you guessed it I've never received the email I need to validate the account.
My biggest regret now is that these people have my information. If I ran my business like they are running their service you can bet I would be running up the negs in the last week.
Have any of you that have been suspended been able to access your account yet??
posted on December 16, 2000 04:44:32 PM
Here we go again.
First PayPal, now Exchange Path.
How long will it take to realize that you only need to call a reputable credit card processing company to do this yourself???
Wake up !!!!
Call Novus, or Card Services, or American Express.
Get off the Merry-go-round.
The free services will only be free long enough to get all the stupid people signed up. Then they will charge you more than if you went out and got your own merchant account.
If you have paid for the required permits and licenses to operate as a business in your state you should have no problem. If you have chosen not to, and are not paying your fair share of taxes you deserve to get screwed by them all.
posted on December 16, 2000 06:10:38 PMHow long will it take to realize that you only need to call a reputable credit card processing company to do this yourself???
A merchant account might be the best alternative for your business, but it is certainly not true for everyone.
First, there are many, many people here who are part-time or low volume sellers. It just doesn't make sense for someone GROSSING, let's say $500-$1,000 per month or less to have a merchant account, due to the monthly fees and start-up costs.
And even then, it's still probably going to cost you substantially more than using Paypal. Of course, with Paypal, many of the costs are "hidden" and we really have no idea of knowing what those costs may be.
On a seperate point, probably half of my Paypal transactions are NOT from credit cards. It seems that about 1/4 are from people paying from their bank account and 1/4 are from people paying from their Paypal account balance. (For those wondering how you can tell the nature of a non credit card payment -- if it's from a bank account, you have to wait for it to clear. If it is from Paypal balance, it is credited immediately and noted as non credit card.)
Other services have other advantages. With Billpoint, you get special icons, search advantages, and particularly with Buy It Now, it is much easier for many bidders to use.
With any of these services, you have people using the service as a keyword in their searches, so you get more exposure just by offering the service.
Then there's the trust factor. As we all know, many people are incredibly paranoid about using credit cards online. Using a "trusted" name like Billpoint or Paypal is often the only way that they will do so.
And then there are services like Bidpay that TOTALLY eliminate any problem with chargebacks.
Obviously, there's no such thing as a free lunch. But I think that when this all shakes out, the cost will be lower than with a regular merchant account, at least when all factors are considered.
Once these services get their acts together, I really think that merchant accounts will only be a viable alternative for a small portion of auction sellers -- mostly people who already need a merchant account for other aspects of their business.
posted on December 16, 2000 06:26:07 PM
amalgamated2000:
FYI, there are no "startup" costs with legitimate credit card processing companies. The monthly fee for a terminal (if you need one for swiping cards in a retail store) is about $15 to $25 a month. If you are 100% mail order you don't need one.
The percentages range from 1.9% (our base rate with Novus) to 3.5%. (which is about what paypal and billpoint charge when you add up all the little hidden fees)
Yes, for someone only doing a couple sales a month the expense is high. But at the same time, they didn't take credit cards before PayPal and Billpoint came along...so they could survive without it as well now.
posted on December 16, 2000 06:29:24 PM
MrJim
I don't need someone yelling at me telling me to wake up. or calling stupid because someone paid me with ExchangePath, or implying that I don't have my own merchant account because I am not "legal" and that I don't pay my taxes. all I was looking for was to see if other users were able to clear up their suspensions or if these guys are even in business as it's been a week and I can't get a hold of them.
I am no fan of PayPal or now ExchangePath credit card processing. as I have posted on these boards before I use to process my own credit card transaction and it cost me far less, aprox 2/3rds less, than PayPal does now unless you take into account the charge backs just because the people didn't recognize the name on the CC statement which is my .com and like you say on one of your other posts they had to go to my site to give me the CC info, just boils down to credit card fraud on their part.
I have never had a chargeback form PayPal, not that it wont happen someday but it hasn't yet and like I said I don't care for them and the plan is to drop their services after the first of the year.
posted on December 16, 2000 06:37:16 PM
Merchant accounts can be affordable for someone doing $1,000 a month in charges. Some can be had for a $149.00 application fee and $25.00 a month minimum in charge fees. That's affordable for anyone doing $1,000 a month in charges. And the rates are comparable to PayPal's -- in some cases, they're lower.
posted on December 16, 2000 06:51:54 PM
there is a fee in opening up a merchant account, depending on the service you use it can very form 50.00, to I've seen 250.00.
when I opened my account it cost me 50.00 for a creditthere is a fee in opening up a merchant account check, they had to see a copy of my D.B.A. and they wanted a picture of my business front. if you didn't have a physical address/store front they charged a larger "set up" fee and it cost more to clear the transaction, something along the lines of what PayPal is charging.
it only cost me .11 to charge a card and it cost 1.770% of the transaction plus a 15.00 a month statement fee. like I said if you add it all up it cost me 1/3rd of what PayPal charges to process the transaction.
posted on December 16, 2000 06:58:31 PMBut at the same time, they didn't take credit cards before PayPal and Billpoint came along...so they could survive without it as well now.
Give me a break. This is nonsense.
Twenty years ago, very few small businesses used computers. So they should be able to get along fine without them now, right?
My post was not directed to you personally. It was directed to the 10,000+ posts from people complaining about PayPal, BillPoint, ExchangePath, BidPay, and the rest...yet doing nothing about it. We set an account up with Novus five years ago, and there were no upfront fees or charges. We also setup and account with American Express four months ago and there were no fees. We did have to pay $35 to have our terminal reprogrammed to accept American Express, as we did when we signed up for Telecheck through our Novus terminal.
Years ago I used to sell Copiers. We were the least respected people on earth. (next to used car salesman) At one point, I almost believed it until I met a Merchant Account saleman. I was sitting in a bar with a couple other sales reps when I saw a guy that used to work for our company. I invited him over for a beer to see what he was doing for a living. He told me he was selling Merchant Accounts to small businesses and making twice what he was making selling copiers. (and he made 50k selling copiers)
I asked him how he managed to make so much and he explained the commission program to me. It was as follows:
The company did not charge a setup fee, so whatever he could get the fools to pay was his to keep. The terminal cost $50 to $150 to the rep.(depending on the model) He was paid 40% of the profit above his cost. If he could lease it for $25 a month on a 3 year lease, he made about $275. (based on a 3 year lease which equals a selling price of $695) If the merchant was foolish enough to signup at $49 a month he made even more. (and many were)
If this was not such a profitable business, (reselling accounts for the real companies) than why would we recieve 100 emails a month advertising merchant accounts. This has become the number one source of spam email. Only because of the great money a rep can make signing up fools.
amalgamated2000:
No, actually I believe that every business should have a computer, if not two. I also believe that every household should have a computer for each occupant including small children. (of course this opinion may be swayed by the fact that I own a computer store)
My point was that if someone is selling a couple items a month as a hobby, they could get by without accepting credit cards. If they are selling full-time and rely on the income as all or part of their subsistance, they should seriously consider taking their financial well-being out of the hands of other people and gain a better control. By opening their own merchant account they will be able to reduce the chance of fraud by verifying addresses and eliminate the possibility of frozen and suspended accounts.
posted on December 16, 2000 08:07:57 PM
You also might note that to set up a merchant account you must have not only credit established you must have good credit this meaning qualify for a credit card yourself if your already over credited or have less then perfect credit due to past problem you can and more then likely will be turned down for a merchant account.
posted on December 16, 2000 08:38:05 PM
We use both - we have had a Merchant's Account for years, but also use PayPal, PayDirect and BillPoint. We use all of these to please the buyer - but I don't find our buyers on eBay use BillPoint, 99.999% use PayPal, which I much prefer to BillPoint, even if BillPoint is/was free - I don't like the bother of sending an invoice - we have found the same to be true on Yahoo - where 99.99% of our customers use PayPal and only once in a while does anyone use PayDirect. Of course we love PayPal, have never had a problem, and encourage our buyers to use it before the other services - but we also have customers who call us with their credit card information....
I personally like the PayPal type services, over a buyer using our Merchant Account, as I prefer not to talk on the phone endlessly to buyers, which often occurs when they call in with credit card numbers.
We never involved ourselves with ExchangePath. I personally felt the preponderance of people were/are using PayPal, and I don't need another start up service to try to keep up with. I think sellers are much more apt to jump from one service to another, than are buyers, so till I see a major buyer move from PayPal, which we don't see in our current charge patterns, we'll stay put, and avoid any new services.
Your account might have been suspended because you originally signed up with a credit card that Exchange Path no longer accepts. It seems to me that I noticed somewhere on their site a few weeks ago that if you signed up with---I think it was Discover Card--that you need to edit your info and use another type of credit card.
I just went to check my account. I signed up originally to take advantage of the free listing day and then chickened out. I got a screen that says:
"As a result of new security enhancements, we need additional information from you.
We've upgraded our system! New account information is required from all members."
posted on December 17, 2000 12:38:39 PM
cybercat:
I used a visa card
I have seen that screen also, if you send your emails to them as they ask you get a auto responder, there is no where to edit or add the information they want.
it's now been over a week and no contact from them at all.
also I am still waiting for the email that the sign up page says they send on another account I tried to open so I could claim the money they have sitting their for me.
I really don't understand how they expect to be able to handle the free listing day and all the other business this will attract. there are two other payment systems I'm looking at now, I really hate to say it but PayPal is the best of all the services I've used, however I still plan to quit them after the first of the year.
anyway I hope you have better luck than me with your account over there.
