posted on January 23, 2001 05:04:15 PM
Hi, dinapal -
I no longer offer any online payment options, and I can't tell it has made any difference. The only problem is people who send payments via PayPal without even asking.
(Not many, but it is still an aggravation.)
I have just started stating in my auctions "The ONLY acceptable methods of payment for this auction are checks and money orders."
I want to pare my expenses to the bone so I can offer most of my auctions at $1.00 minimum bid and no reserve, AND continue to charge the exact postage - no packing or handling fee. With the eBay fee increase, I am going to try to do without PayPal.
posted on January 23, 2001 05:04:16 PM
If you decide to keep the account just for your perosnal use ... CHANGE THE EMAIL ADRESS to something that is not your eBay contact address.
That way, when soneone sends you the payment VIS payPal it will not land in your account and cause fees. You can tell the sender to retrieve the money and send you a real check, on paper.
posted on January 23, 2001 05:06:46 PM
abacaxi is right - I should have mentioned that. I have kept my PayPal account, but with an email address I don't use anywhere else.
posted on January 23, 2001 05:39:59 PM
I use Billpoint. I provide customer service and I want my customers to be able to use a credit card if that is their need.
Over 50% of my payments are by Billpoint. My customers have told me that having the convenience of being able to use a credit card has enabled them to bid higher and on more of my auctions.
posted on January 23, 2001 06:16:59 PM
I now accept both Pay Pal and Billpoint. Pay Pal's transaction fee percentage is less (especially on international transfers). Billpoint's integration with eBay and exposure on eBay is better. This is just my opinion. The interesting thing is that I recently have had to drop the items I was selling on eBay because the fees were eating up too much of my profit. It was no longer
profitable (or fun) for me to sell my items and offer all the payment options. Without these payment options, I noticed a drop off in my bidding activity. Again, this is just my experience.
I stumbled on to a new market of items that now again makes it profitable for me to offer quick payment at both rates. The ironic thing is that if I priced in these fees on my old items, it would be considered fee avoidance or whatever it is called when you price in the cost of money transfers. I know eBay calls it fee avoidance if you price in their fees but am not sure of the phrase used by CC companies passing on those fees. Because I found a different line of items that just have a better demand and final bid price, I can now absorb the fees without batting an eye. It is essentially the same thing as pricing in the fees but done this way is somehow acceptable.
I've noticed that my auctions are being paid for faster and at a better completion rate than before. Again this is only my experience. I'm sure many other's have different ones. It all depends on what's right for you, weighing in all the factors. Out of my last 20 transactions, Ive had 17 paid for by Billpoint, 2 through Pay Pal and only 1 money order. What I like the most about Billpoint is the integration with eBay and the ease of which bidders can pay. I also like the ability to enter tracking information (except Fed-Ex's new groud service which Billpoint recognizes as an invalid number). I think of it as eBay's advertising helping my auctions. You even get an extra little icon in search that in some circles can be $1.00 extra! Hope this helps some.
posted on January 23, 2001 06:23:01 PM
Hi dinapal,
I started ebay when it was checks and money orders, and I have stayed that way. To be honest I think everyone was happier back then as well. I do get emails asking if and why I dont accept paypal, and I just direct them to these boards to see the headaches paypal causes. Someone here posted animated "no paypal" gifs, and they are very helpful. Maybe they can post them again so it stands out in the auction description.
posted on January 23, 2001 06:44:42 PM
I only accept checks and money orders, but once, I did accept paypal. I reverted back to checks and money orders months ago, and nope..hasnt hurt my sales at all.
posted on January 23, 2001 06:50:52 PM
I prefer electronic payments. Faster, easier, and less hassle for me whether I'm buying or selling. If I felt I wouldn't lose buyers I'd exclude Money Orders and Checks on my auctions.
posted on January 23, 2001 10:34:22 PM
I buy and sell on Ebay.
I accept both PayPal and Billpoint.
Though when buying I DO NOT Bid unless they accept Paypal.
It is simply easier to zap a payment Then write a check, fill out an envelope stamp it and mail it, then wait 2 weeks for check to clear for the item to be shipped.
Same applies when I accept Paypal. I find people who pay with PP are prompt and it avoids hassels.
No "check is in the mail", bounced checks or requests to not hold the check.
I see people #*!@ and moan about Paypal and fees but it's cost of doing business, just as having a merchant account charges you fees not to mention clearing house fee.
I'll definitely stick with both payment options.
posted on January 23, 2001 11:08:16 PM
I accept BillPoint. I was reluctant to in the beginning (not that I've sold all that much). I didn't like the idea of the fees, but a Billpoint transaction is so fast and easy for me, it's worth the fees to not have to worry about who's sent what payment, or if a check has cleared, etc. I can have the item in my bidder's hands before I'm getting a Money Order from someone else's purchase. I like that. Ü
I don't know that it helps increase transactions or not. I've had about a .25 billpoint user rate since I started offering it as an option. It was helpful getting slow payers' money instead of waiting even longer for them, and I have had one person mention how much she loved the speed and convenience of PayPal and BillPoint. I would also think that those who are leary of being taken advantage of would prefer to use their cc.
There is one thing I'm not 100% clear on with Billpoint. We are charged a % fee for values over a certain amount. Does that include shipping charges too? Are they getting a percentage on our shipping cost?
posted on January 24, 2001 01:05:17 AM
I signed up for Paypal and Billpoint. In the last couple of months I've been concentrating on mostly low priced books and CD's so I've decided to drop the advertising that I take Billpoint as it's just too expensive when they send each little payment to you immediately. 2 buyers used Billpoint. I would have dropped Paypal too except that 50% of my customers request it. Believe me I'm not going to turn down that many bidders.
posted on January 24, 2001 03:18:29 AM
I offer buyers Billpoint and if they don't like that they can email or fax me their credit card info and I can enter it through my Authorize.net terminal. And I set up a link that goes directly to my Authorize.net terminal for them to put the credit card and shipping info in themselves if they don't feel comfortable doing it through email.
I have taken Paypal in the past but haven't used it in about 6 months. No one wanted to use it. But Now I get about 5 out of 10 payments from Billpoint. I rather they use my link to my Authorize terminal since I pay for it; but hey, as long as I get the money, who cares right!
Take care and talk to you folks soon,
Ernest
[http://www.paulzgifts.com]
posted on January 24, 2001 05:50:44 AM
A lot depends on what you are selling. For me CDs and movies the buyers love electronic payments. PayPal gets the lion's share of the buyers. BidPay was mentioned, it might work for some, but my customers refuse to pay $5.00 extra for items in the 15.00 range. Think about what you would honestly do as a buyer when presented with these options from an economic and convenience standpoint.
Seller A offers a XYZ and allows payment via PayPal or BillPoint or snail mail payments.
Seller B offers a XYZ and allows only snail mail payments.
Which would you bid on? If you honestly feel it makes no difference then you shouldn't accept electronic payments.
I'm 100% convinced that the PayPal option brings more in increased bids on my merchandise than the fees that I pay. In a brick and mortar store you better accept credit cards. Online sellers are living in denial if they think they will be able to continue for long by only accepting Money Orders and Checks. Living in the past is a death warrant for a business, it isn't a sudden death, it is so slow you can't notice it till it has happened.
posted on January 24, 2001 07:13:12 AM
I have been using Paypal for since May of last year and I have used Billpoint once. I use paypal for everything with no problems what so ever. I even look for it in the auctions that I bid on. If a seller does not take Paypal or Billpoint at the very least I generally don't bid. Also I am a forgetful person if I can't pay for an auction I have won right away I for get to do it or I will right out the check, stick it in an envelope, address it , put a stamp on it and promptly for get to mail it for the next 3 weeks. Yes, I have done this and barly saved my self from getting negged, TG for patient sellers.
So, at least from me...... offer Paypal and I will pay you usually the day that I get your end of auction e-mail.
posted on January 24, 2001 07:32:42 AM
Don't let these people fool you. I guarantee that not accepting paypal has a negative impact on sales. If a paypal fee of .25 or .50 has a major impact on your profit margin than you're either in the wrong business or selling the wrong items.
posted on January 24, 2001 07:42:14 AMBrooklynguy:
I guarantee that not accepting paypal has a negative impact on sales
I suggest you speak for yourself and yourself only. I used Paypal for probably 1000 transactions and finally closed my account with them in November. Did it hurt my sales? Absolutely not. I have more customers use Billpoint than I ever did with Paypal. Every day I get emails from bidders and people just "browsing" who comment about my "no Paypal" in my auction and say that they, too have closed their account because of the bad rep Paypal has earned.
I use Billpoint (and love them!) and several other online payment methods. I no longer accept Paypal or ExchangePath.
I have used Bidpay for many, many transactions - both here in the US and also international and have never once had a problem with them either.
posted on January 24, 2001 07:54:36 AM
I state very blatantly in all my auction listings that I do not accept Paypal. I was one of the chosen that had their accounts restricted. (mine still is). I average 2 emails per day asking about my problems with Paypal. I explain my problems, direct them to these boards, and the Wall Street Journal article that says the Better Business Bureau gets 30 to 40 complaints every month about Paypal and they don't seem upset. Most send me a thank you for saving them the trouble. At 2 emails per day X 365 days = 730 people that I can keep from going through the Paypal hell/disaster/headache/whatever you want to call it. And, NO, my auctions have not suffered a bit!
posted on January 24, 2001 07:59:47 AM
I accept Paypal, Billpoint, and Bidpay. Of these 3 services, I've had 95% use Paypal, 3% use Bidpay, 1.9% use Billpoint, and .1% use Exchangepath prior to their closing down (1 user used it... that's it).
Have had no problems with any of the services - prefer Paypal because the fees are less for both sides, Bidpay is nice because no fee for me, but I agree most users won't use Bidpay for transactions below $15 (although i had one send a $2 MO via Bidpay - I guess if you can't get out to get your own MO, its worth the $5, eh?)
posted on January 24, 2001 08:08:44 AM
Of course none of you know the number of people who bypass your auctions because you don't accept paypal, so you are losing business, guaranteed.
posted on January 24, 2001 08:22:14 AM
As a seller I accept PayPal and cash, only those two options to pay. Why not moneyorders/checks? The reason: I live in Sweden. To cash a moneyorder or check here is a fee of $11, and I have to guarantee the money from my own bank account. Should something be wrong with the mo/check, I have to pay the amount to the bank!
Before PayPal opened for us overseas, I could only take cash as payment, and many buyers were very hesitant to send cash. Since I began to accept PayPal, my sales has increased a lot, I've more than doubled them. I'm happy, because I get the money into the PP account right away (but it takes me about a week to withdraw them to my bank account here)and that way I know that it's not a back-out-buyer. The buyer is happy because he/she don't have to wait 3-10 days for the letter with the money to arrive to me, and then the same amount of time for the item to arrive to him/her. Now half of that time is saved, I ship twice a week so it's just a couple of days before the package goes out, depending on which day the buyer sends the money.
If I buy at auctions, I can't bid at auctions where the seller only accepts mo/checks. And to send cash...well, I did that before (most sellers agreed to that), but since I lost a total of 112 dollars that was stolen on the way to three different sellers...I don't dare anymore.
So the sellers that don't accept PayPal don't get any international bidders. I can use BidPay, but that costs me 5 dollars for a small sum, PP is much cheaper and easier. I (as a buyer) don't have to wait for the mo they send to the seller to arrive. So far I haven't had any trouble with PP, but of course I've used it just since November 3. All my US friends though that uses PayPal have had no problems with it, maybe I/we are lucky?
Kaktus
posted on January 24, 2001 09:55:16 AM
Here's the problem: Paypal used viral marketing to hook about 6 million people. Most of those folks do not visit AW and have no idea about all the problems. To protect yourself, you dont want to accept it but that will also send buyers to your competition. Here's the solution:
In your auctions, list the payment methods you do accept and then add "paypal accepted -non credit card payments only. if you want to know why, Read this
I used to get 8-10 PP payments a week. Now I am down to about 1 every three weeks and it is non CC so I dont worry about charge backs. I withdraw it immediately and dont worry about my account getting restricted. I also get several emails a week from buyers who said until they read the link, they didnt realize all the problems and now they are switching to achex or moneyzap. You can't educate buyers if you dont accept PP at all. Since PP used a deceptive campaign of hooking folks with false promises, I see nothing wrong with hooking those same folks by accepting PP and then showing them why they shouldnt use it.
If you want to check out other payment services, like Moneyzap or Achex read this
posted on January 24, 2001 10:10:53 AMAs a seller I accept PayPal and cash, only those two options to pay. Why not moneyorders/checks? The reason: I live in Sweden.
Cool, I sure can't argue with your reasoning. As a buyer if a foreign seller has good feedback and accepts electronic payment I'm a possible customer. I'm to paranoid to even send myself cash in the mail, much less anyone else.
Hope this helps some.
