mommacude
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posted on October 23, 2001 08:03:50 PM new
What are the main differences between Billpoint and Paypal? Should I accept both? Also, I was planning on accepting c2it but the first person that tried couldn't get it to work. ..
Christine
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Eventer
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posted on October 23, 2001 08:12:36 PM new
Stepping gingerly into the fire here.
Both allow customers to use MasterCard/Visa to pay for auctions. Both handle the taking of the card for you. BillPoint is owned by ebay. PayPal also allows a buyer to pay a seller with funds in their account rather than having to pay by credit card. BillPoint does a daily sweep of payments into your checking account (of course, you pay for this) & it's not optional.
All in all, there's barely a dime's worth of difference between them other than PP's allowing you to receive funds already in a buyer's account.
Standing back out of the way now to let the flames begin. Have marshmallows & weenies standing by. 
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mommacude
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posted on October 23, 2001 08:23:44 PM new
You know, I thought of that after I entered this that this might be a hot topic.
Then it's like. .. oh. . . delete. . . delete!!
If they're about the same I'll just offer both. I just have a hard time getting it down to the nitty gritty with all the different options.
Thanks,
Christine
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thekismeme
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posted on October 23, 2001 08:34:36 PM new
Well.........I love making smores on an open fire.......so I will bring the chocolate and graham crackers!
I just like Paypal. It is little things like the sender's name and address easily cuts and pastes into my auction management program and I can get my money from an ATM if I am just plain broke and don't have to wait. I love the Paypal debit card....it is great for the post office, etc.
I just don't like Billpoint.....again it is the little things........the address does not easily cut and paste ~ I don't like the page layout of the Billpoint webpage and all the many requests for a Billpoint invoice just because it is so easy to hit that button...very time consuming. Granted every now and then I get a a request for a Paypal invoice request.......but not often. When I took Billpoint....it happened all the time.
They both have their major pros and cons......bottom line for me is that I just find Paypal easier to deal with on a daily basis. I know there are plenty of Paypal and Billpoint horror stories.......and I even had a Paypal fraud once.......but Paypal contacted me right away by phone and I was completely happy with the way the entire matter was handled.
When I offered both services ~ 25% paid by check or Money Order, 20% by Billpoint and 55% by Paypal.........I dropped Billpoint and never saw any decrease in sales.......now 30% pay by check or money order and the rest in Paypal.........so pass the marshmallows!
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mommacude
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posted on October 23, 2001 08:41:59 PM new
Thanks. I was trying to decide if I could get away with not offering Billpoint so I get that cashback deal using my debit card.
Every little bit helps!
Christine
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thekismeme
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posted on October 23, 2001 08:59:29 PM new
Some will disagree.........but if you are only going to offer one or the other.......I would go with Paypal. The debit card is very handy and the cash back hleps to set off the cost of having Paypal. One other point is that if you have a high volume of Paypal users ~ you get a better rate ~ another reason to only offer Paypal instead of both.
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wowwow85
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posted on October 23, 2001 09:45:47 PM new
i see no one wants to stick his/her neck out on paypal seller protection program.
if you have a shop outside ebay,you can list in paypal directory,and paypal will give you a traffic report once a month.
traffic is almost nil.
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soldat2
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posted on October 24, 2001 05:14:11 AM new
>What are the main differences between Billpoint and Paypal?<
Easy, just do a search of ebay and see which is more popular. (it was about 70% more PP the last thing I knew)
>Should I accept both? <
Sure, it only opens the door to more buyers.
(although we only accept PP)
I do know one thing, the word PayPal will draw more fire than anything else here!
STAND BACK, here we go again............
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wbbell
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posted on October 24, 2001 05:22:53 AM new
There are definitely a lot of emotions on this issue. Personally, I wish to provide as many options to the buyer as possible. So I take both. IN fact, my online payments are about dead even between PP and BP. (ANd well over half remain Ck/MO.)
Billpoint is notorious for buggy behavior and has frequently screwed up international buyers invoices. There have also been concerns posted about billpoint's (lack of) validation of users CC info, and of course the $10 chargeback fee that is not avoidable.
While Paypal seems to be a much more technically robust service than BP, and certainly more popular, they have their own share of problems. For instance, they had a big image problem when they ceased to be "always free", and they have had quite a few other publicity/policy problems along those lines.
So it's up to you to decide. They both work OK and keep pumping the $$ through. They also have problems and everyone has their personal favorite.
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vargas
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posted on October 24, 2001 06:52:38 AM new
I take both. I find that, with the items I sell, usage of each service ebbs and flows.
For awhile, it seems everyone was paying via Billpoint and no one's using PayPal (one recent month, PayPal usage dipped so low, I almost lost my lower rate. Buyers who are new to eBay also tend to use Billpoint, since it's so closely associated with eBay. Everytime I have a rash of zero feedback buyers, Billpoint usage spikes.
Recently, I had more PayPal payments than Billpoint.
This week, everyone's sending checks or money orders.
If you offer a variety, you'll be ready for almost any trend.
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avante
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posted on October 24, 2001 07:17:35 AM new
In mho, is definitely Paypal. For the following reasonings:
1. ATM withdrawals
2. Fees are lower
3. No fee for transfer into my checking account.
4. Actual answers from Paypal customer service, as opposed to canned responses from billpoint.
5. Majority of my customers prefer it.
I know longer take billpoint due a couple of problems in my account that they can not seem to give me a straight answer about.
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jujudee
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posted on October 24, 2001 07:17:39 AM new
Here's my 2 cents: I think using one or the other is all you need. Why clutter up your record keeping with both of them? I personally would choose Paypal because I think they are a LITTLE bit cheaper if you can use the debit card for Cash Back.
As to c2it, I know a bit about this because I don't accept Billpoint OR credit cards at Paypal, so I was steering people there for awhile. they are having ALL KINDS of online troubles, and have not improved in at least 4 weeks. It's a shame, because I was sending then lots of business when it worked. But lately I have had to steer people away from there because it is just not getting fixed. Frustrated buyers just can't join there until it gets fixed.
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mommacude
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posted on October 24, 2001 07:25:30 AM new
Well, I may stick with Paypal then. . .becaues I just got the debit card and I think you have to only use them to get that cash back .And I like keeping my records separate. . .I'm starting small and for now I'm putting profit back into buying inventory and it's an easy way to see how I'm doing.
Christine
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jereth
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posted on October 24, 2001 07:26:10 AM new
I do a lot of eBay business and I accept Paypal and not Billpoint. Paypal is easy and can be handled off-line; Billpoint is slow and keeps dragging me back on-line for invoices, etc. Takes me 1/2 as much time to process a Paypal payment as a Billpoint payment. Add that up and it saves me $$$$$ each day.
The new SEARCH function at PayPal (at the History button in your account, lets you search for an old payment by last name of payer or email address of payer) works great and saves a lot of work on solving problems or potential problems.
Marie
[email protected]
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keziak
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posted on October 24, 2001 08:04:05 AM new
With Paypal it's still possible to take payments with no fees if they come from the buyer's PP account or bank account. Little things mean a lot to small-volume sellers. Next month Personal accounts will permit NO credit cards so I may break down and set up a second PP at the business rate to use in a pinch. I do get lots of payments by the non-credit card method.
Another option for credit cards is Yahoo PayDirect, but they make life miserable for new users. People who already have PD have no problems with it, though.
keziak
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yisgood
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posted on October 24, 2001 11:22:35 AM new
I am no particular fan of either but:
Paypal sends the seller the cardholder's address. This definitely lowers fraud. Billpoint lets someone in Chicago open an account using a Chicago name and address while entering a cancelled New York credit card made out to a completely different name and address. Scammers have learned that using BP gives a whole new meaning to the term "fast and free."
Paypal gives *some* limited protection to the seller, BP gives none. Neither does Paydirect. But if you are going to use a service that gives no protection, why pay for it? At least PD is free.
C2it did have a lot of problems a few weeks ago but in the last few weeks I am getting payments again. It used to be that 2 out of 3 people couldn't sign up. Now it's about 1 out of 10. For those who have a problem, I accept PD and no one reported a problem signing up with them.
C2it's advantages (for those who can sign up) $10 bonus on first payment, $5 to the referring seller (though I haven't received any of these yet), charge back and fraud protection to seller unless seller fraud is found, credit card protection to buyer, free to seller, 1% to buyer after one month trial.
I just wish they'd stop playing around and put their better programmers on it. I can't believe that the rest of Citibank's operation runs as badly.
http://www.ygoodman.com
[email protected]
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jujudee
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posted on October 24, 2001 12:12:25 PM new
yisgood: THANKS for the update about c2it. You always have the best info about online pay services!! I hadn't noticed that things were getting better, and I am so glad to hear it. I will be steering people there again, because when it works, it is a FABULOUS alternative to paying the high fees at Paypal and Billpoint. I too was just as surprised to see such bad technical trouble from a company as reputable as Citibank.
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uaru
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posted on October 24, 2001 12:22:59 PM new
PayPal
While I might sell on eBay because of the required traffic I avoid buying on eBay when I can. PayPal is offered most of the time.
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NormanB
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posted on October 24, 2001 01:14:51 PM new
I guess I'm an non-conformist.
I use Yahoo PayDirect as my only online payment option. I find I have about 35-40% of my buyers using it.
Why? It's free.
Of course, it may not be forever, but until then, that's all I take.
Any reason you guys shy away from it?
I'm just curious, because I've never had any problems.
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ecomputeremporium
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posted on October 24, 2001 01:47:39 PM new
I have noticed that I have got a lot of Money orders and a few Bid Pay money orders lately even though I don't take Bid Pay I do take their money orders if they come in the mail. I use only Pay Pal. I am still deeply upset at Ebay for using the tragedy (AFA) to boot their number of registered users at Billpoint. I really think they should pay a penalty or something. A lot of people are using the tragedy to benefit. I was at a computer conference recently and the sales guys for security firms were using the tragedy for their sales pitch. It makes me sick. I think anyone who mentions the tragedy as a sales pitch to buy their product or use their service should be in trouble and fined.
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GreetingsfromUK
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posted on October 24, 2001 03:30:03 PM new
Jereth says "I do a lot a lot of eBay business" Guess that qualifies for the under statement of the year! If you want to sell Internationally, Paypal is the only option. I have just bought my first Xmas present from Germany.
I agree with ec etc! I am still deeply upset at Ebay for using the tragedy (AFA) to boot their number of registered users at Billpoint.
[ edited by GreetingsfromUK on Oct 24, 2001 03:32 PM ]
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gs4
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posted on October 24, 2001 03:44:36 PM new
"and of course the $10 chargeback fee that is not avoidable."
From what I have read on the boards its not only billpoint that charges a fee in case of a chargeback, paypal does also.
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paypaldamon
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posted on October 24, 2001 03:49:35 PM new
Hi gs4,
PayPal Preferred users do get the chargeback fee waived. The fee is also waived if the user participates in the Seller Protection Program.
Why am I charged a $10 fee for chargeback settlement?
To cover the cost of processing chargebacks, PayPal assesses a $10 fee to sellers who are determined to be at fault for credit card payment chargebacks. The $10 fee will be waived in those cases where the sellers have fulfilled all of the requirements of PayPal's Seller Protection Policy. The $10 fee will also be waived for all sellers participating in our PayPal Preferred program.
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GreetingsfromUK
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posted on October 24, 2001 03:50:25 PM new
In over two years of trading I have never had a chargeback, so really do not understand what it means. I guess that your customers were not happy with the goods supplied.
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uaru
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posted on October 24, 2001 03:54:20 PM new
GreetingsfromUK Jereth says "I do a lot a lot of eBay business" Guess that qualifies for the under statement of the year!
I chuckled at that also, there's "a lot of eBay business" and then there's "A LOT OF EBAY BUSINESS." I think Jereth would be allowed to use caps.
gs4 From what I have read on the boards its not only billpoint that charges a fee in case of a chargeback, paypal does also.
The chargeback fee with PayPal is avoidable, PayPal preferred customers are exempt from chargeback fees.
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GreetingsfromUK
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posted on October 24, 2001 04:11:37 PM new
A question please uaru. Any eBay sellers with more feedback than jereth?
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uaru
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posted on October 24, 2001 04:21:30 PM new
Any eBay sellers with more feedback than jereth?
Not to my knowledge.
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GreetingsfromUK
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posted on October 24, 2001 04:42:37 PM new
Urau. Many thanks. So am I happy to accept the comments from Jereth? I guess they know what they are doing! I think this started as a very small scale business and just grew and grew. Good luck to them. I sell pocket money lots to The World, but not on this scale.
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mommacude
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posted on October 24, 2001 07:36:07 PM new
I'm glad I just got my Paypal debit card then. I think I made the right choice!!
Christine
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