posted on January 15, 2001 11:05:20 PM
For those of you who canceled your PayPal account (when they started charging fees), how are your auctions doing since then? Did you have a noticeable dropoff in bidding?
posted on January 15, 2001 11:12:35 PM
Being a seller in Canada, I couldn't sign up for PayPal until they became international in November. I signed up right away because I had countless people ask, or even try, to use PayPal.
Now, I have about half my payments come through PayPal. I don't like the fees, but at least I get paid quicker. People often pay right after the auction, as you've probably noticed.
I had hardly anyone use BidPay since then, but two people did yesterday. As most of you probably know it costs the bidder $5 to use BidPay. One customer used it to pay me $4.95, and another for $30. The guy who paid $30 emailed earlier to say he would register for PayPal, but ended up using BidPay.
Unless I get burned, I would never think of cancelling my PayPal account. Also, it never hurts to accept BidPay, if people want to pay a $5 fee to send me payment, let them!
posted on January 15, 2001 11:36:12 PM
Sales have not been affected. There is some grumbling among my customers. I doubt many buyers are aware of the changes at Paypal, in particular the decrease in buyer protection.
Yahoo works well, but it does not automatically fill in the auction number or the buyer's mailing address. I'm spending too much time tracking down where the payments come from. I think next week I will discontinue credit cards altogether.
posted on January 16, 2001 05:15:10 AM
I am frustrated. I just tried to close my Paypal account and had to leave money sitting there for an auction. Yesterday I shipped the item which was basically unpaid to me thanks to Paypal. Oh well, perhaps I will get a decent feedback from her.
This business of freezing accounts is sure edgy at best.
I am surprised the Paypal ripoff story has not spread far and wide.
posted on January 16, 2001 05:52:54 AM
i stopped taking paypal right before christmas.......no complaints so far, my sales seem to be doing just fine.......i have also dropped exchangepath and emoney mail.........now all i accept is paydirect and bidpay, with the bulk of cc transactions coming from bidpay...........i am still looking for another option of 2.....any ideas
posted on January 16, 2001 07:02:11 AM
I stopped taking ALL ePayments (PP + XPath) after the ExchangePath fiasco (2nd fiasco) .
I've had about 10% of bidders ask if I take PayPal, and I simply send them about 5 URLs to threads on this and other sites with the warnings and say that the risk to me is unacceptable, and that I will hapily take a personal check or MO as stated in my TOS and EOA notice.
Best side benefit: My EOA notice is TINY now and it shrunk my auction listings since no more flashy icons splattered all over.
Effect: NONE. I have as many dead beats now as before, as many bids as before (actually, I noticed a decrease mid-december when I was still taking epayments, and there was a huge pickup after Christmas after I stopped), as much profit as before.
Do yourself a favor and stop accepting ePayments if eBay isn't your primary source of income/life. It isn't worth the risk of 6 month old chargebacks, stolen credit cards and frozen accounts! You'll sleep MUCH better, I know I am.
posted on January 16, 2001 10:23:33 AM
I cancelled PP several months ago and it has had ZILCH effect on my auctions, either in hits or bids. My experience has been that most buyers are oblivious to the dark side of PP and, when informed, most are as horrified as we are.
Billpoint is an excellent alternative, far superior in their methods, procedures and business practices.
There's some interesting information in another thread that, while PP has 30-40 BBB complaints/mo., BP has had only one - EVER.
posted on January 16, 2001 12:08:57 PM
I'm glad to see that the media is picking up on the problems with PayPal. It's about time!
PayPal and X.com have an unsatisfactory record. "They have a pattern of complaints, and they're failing to take care of the problem," says Sharon D'Amico, president of the Better Business Bureau of Silicon Valley.
I guess we weren't imagining these problems after all.
posted on January 16, 2001 12:42:52 PM
Canceled paypal in November after they decided they couldn't ship checks to my po box anymore despite having done it for months before that - the only way they'd mail to me then was if I verified and I was NOT going to give them my bank account information after all I've heard.
I've had a few grumbling bidders, but so far my volume seems about the same - of course, I'm pretty low volume anyway, if I was a huge seller I might notice more of an effect. Amazing how many people don't see the statement I've CLEARLY marked in my auctions saying I do NOT take paypal, though! Then they act surprised after the auction when they try to pay me that way. Ah well.
posted on January 16, 2001 01:07:37 PM
I stopped accepting Paypal payments about the 1st of Dec. and have not had any changes in my bidding numbers. All my auctions state very clearly that I do not do business with Paypal and I suggest no one else should. People ask why but don't complain when I inform them of the problems I've had.
posted on January 16, 2001 01:16:36 PM
Are these stories true? Is Paypal really removing funds from verified sellers BANK ACCOUNTS without permission??!!
posted on January 16, 2001 01:19:42 PM
I stopped using PP way back when the troubles first began. My auctions after that point didn't seem to suffer at all. Out of maybe 25 auctions, only 1 or 2 buyers asked if I used PP, when I said no, they just sent Money Orders.
posted on January 16, 2001 01:31:28 PM
I do believe that many folks are unaware of the paypal problems and will not bid on auctions that do not accept paypal. So I accept pp non-credit card payments only. In my EOA, I tell the buyer about the problems, send them to my web site http://www.ygoodman.com/paypal.html and recommend that they use moneyzap or achex. I went from 8-10 pp payments a week to 1 in 2 weeks. If you just stop accepting PP, you are probably losing customers and you are definitely losing the opportunity to spread the word.
posted on January 16, 2001 02:36:24 PM
yisgood, I disagree with your statement "If you just stop accepting PP, you are probably losing customers ..."
Being a fairly busy powerseller for 2+ years prior to registering for PP, I can state unequivocally that my dumping them several months ago had absolutely ~NO~ effect on my sales levels.
The other portion of your statement, "...and you are definitely losing the opportunity to spread the word." is also misleading. I'm sure I'm not the only seller who seizes every opportunity at my disposal, including my auction listings, to dissuade the general public from placing blind faith in this faceless, brainless dotcom. For instance, when I cancelled my account I revised my listing template to include the verbiage that I no longer accept PP because I could no longer recommend this service. My EOAs contain a similar caveat.
It's surprising the number of inquiries that small reference generates. I respond to each with a plethora of information, including links both to this site and to yours.
While you're obviously free to conduct your business as you see fit, I can't and won't condone doing business in any form with a company that I have no faith in. Nor will I enable or recommend my customers to do so.
Just suggesting that, contrary to your statements, you may be missing the best opportunity of all to educate the online public -- your own auction listings, which currently leave window shoppers with the impression that PP is just fine by you.
posted on January 16, 2001 06:05:10 PM
>>I can't and won't condone doing business in any form with a company that I have no faith in. Nor will I enable or recommend my customers to do so.
Just suggesting that, contrary to your statements, you may be missing the best opportunity of all to educate the online public -- your own auction listings, which currently leave window shoppers with the impression that PP is just fine by you. <<
No one will ever get the impression that PP is fine with me. I list the services I do accept (Moneyzap, Achex, check or money order) and then add "I do not recommend PP due to the many problems reported. If you want details, click here (link to my page). If you insist on using PP despite the problems, you must pay with non credit card source." No one uses PP for one of my auctions thinking I am fine with it. Since I have a newsletter going out to over a thousand people and a few months ago I was recommending PP, I can't refuse their payments. And as far as I'm concerned, PP works fine if both parties know each other. It's only when you accept a CC payment from an unknown that you run a risk. So I will continue to accept payments that I deem safe and I will continue to use PP the same way they used me.
By the way, quite a few of my auction winners (and even a few who didnt bid) emailed me to thank me for informing them. A few said they did not have time to wait for Moneyzap (there is a 2 day delay the first time) so they will pay me with PP but are opening a MZ account for the next time. So I think my method is effective.
Is there a way to determine if customers are actually paying with money in their account or by credit card? I guess I find that so many customers don't take the time to read an EOA that they would see the word PapPal and just send payment in any form. How do you do this? Thanks.
posted on January 17, 2001 05:58:17 AM
>>Is there a way to determine if customers are actually paying with money in their account or by credit card? I guess I find that so many customers don't take the time to read an EOA that they would see the word PapPal and just send payment in any form. <<
I have a business account and my wife has a personal account. For previous customers and folks I know who want to pay by CC, I send them to the business account. Folks I don't know must pay with non credit card to the personal account. In my EOA I state "Do NOT pay by credit card. Your payment will either be frozen by Paypal or I will refund it, less 2%." No one has sent me a CC payment that I didnt want to. If you click on the payment in your account it will tell you if it is a CC or not. PP has changed the default payment method to bank account, so no one sends a CC payment by accident.
>>Hi Could you tell me more about Moneyzap, Achex, Thanks<<
