posted on December 26, 2005 01:10:31 PM new
I've been hunting (even before their UNTIMELY demise) for a good alternative to BIDPAY and PAYPAL for INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS, and, I think I've found a good one:
I have invited Mr. Eddie St Clare (founder & CEO) to join us here in a discussion of how exactly his service works, fees, moola extraction, etc.
So, no gurgling about SPAM, etc, as he is here by MY invitation, and, neither I nor Ralphie are associated with nor compensated by in any way for our endorsement -- IOW: let's have a nice fun DISCUSSION with MR ST CLARE
Although I did not use BIDPAY all that often, it was an IMPORTANT part of my arsenal and served me really well in my INTERNATIONAL transactions, for which I prefer NOT to accept PayPal, and money orders take too dang long...
posted on December 26, 2005 01:17:27 PM new
Look forward to the chat with him. Thanks for doing the research for a BidPay replacement. Hope you had a nice Christmas.
posted on December 26, 2005 01:33:12 PM new
Thanks for the invite, and I will be pleased to answer questions from forum members.
Firstly let me introduce myself, most call me by my first name Eddie, or LL or Lanky Lad, (taken from my ebay id of lancashire-lad). I started off as a seller on ebay, but progressed to providing services for ebay users (sorry Vendio, I am also an ebay image host and ebay certified developer with an assciated website.
That existing website also contained some financial services, which have now been moved to a dedicated website called auctionchex.
Our main activity is exchanging of USD money orders received by UK sellers, we can exchange them into GBP, thus avoiding the high bank fees charged by UK banks for USD money orders, and as an extension to that service, we perform reverse transactions, where a UK buyer can make a apyment to us, and we can generate a USD payment to the seller.
We are not a direct replacement for Bidpay, as we do not accept credit card payments, but as the UK and most of Europe are used to direct bank transfers, writing checks etc, the lack of acceptance of CC's has not been an issue for us.
A simple basic transaction would be where the buyer in the UK or Europe, sends a local currency payment to us, by one of the many methods available to them, and from that we generate a USD payment to the seller. That payment can be a USD check from a US bank, or indeed by paypal if required.
In its basic form, thats what we do, and I will be pleased to respond to specific questions/comments/concerns you may have.
(Please also allow for the time difference, its 9.30pm here in England right now)
posted on December 26, 2005 01:48:03 PM new
TomWii,
Thank you so much for posting this, and for inviting Eddie to discuss his services here!
Eddie,
Thank you for taking this time to speak with us. Bidpay was a substantial part of my business... and if your services will work well for my customers... I'll be glad to send the business your way. I do have a few questions.
1) Is your service currently only for customers that use USD, Pounds Sterling, and Euros? Although that would cover the majority of my international needs... I still have some Asian customers and other areas that don't use those types of currency.
2) What is the typical turnaround time? If I ask for payment to be sent to me as a check, how long will it be before I receive it. (after the bidder has submitted their bank transfer, of course!)
3) What are the fees involved?
4) How complicated of a process is it for the buyer?
5) Since you don't accept Credit Cards... what are the specific forms of payment that the bidder can send you? (I'm assuming bank transfer would be easiest... but you mentioned you could accept others)
That's all I have for now... but I might come up with more later. Thanks again for taking the time to discuss this with us!
posted on December 26, 2005 01:51:08 PM new
For those of you who sell internationally, it sounds great. But for former users of BidPay who only sell in USA, it isn't a replacement.
Possibly, but I virtually never used BIDPAY for USA buyers -- ONLY international buyers.
For one thing, the fees for BIDPAY were just too durn high for any sensible USA buyer to use...
BTW:
It is important to note that AUCTIONCHEX transactions are NOT restricted to auction payments!
So, yer Uncle Heinnie in Bonn can send you moola for yer birthday, etc! A nice advantage over the service-formally-known-as-BP...
EDDIE: what is the TRANSACTION LIMIT?
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
posted on December 26, 2005 02:05:24 PM new
Hi eauctionmgnt
Answers as requested
1) Asian customers can send via bank transfer (SWIFT) to us, though you may want to check out the USPS website as some Asian countries have an arrangement where a USD money order is sent to you.
2) Typical turnaround is usually within 10 days, this allows for the bank transfer or check clearance to hit our account (normally within 4 working days) but it depends on how quick the buyer sends the payment. Once we have confirmed the payment, we are reliant on the mail services in deleivering the check from us, we use airmail of course, so it can be within a few days or not again dependant on Royal Mail and USPS. Assuming of course we are sending a check to you and not a paypal payment.
3) Fees, we make our money on the exchange rates, which to compete do have to be competetive, and comparable with tourist rates, the actual rates you will get if you were buying or selling the currency, not to be confused with mid market rates as found on Xe.com. We also add on a nomilal fee (paid for by the buyer to cover the mail costs (USD2.00 in each case) If a same currency transaction, inother words no exchange involved, then there is a flat fee of 2.50% for processing the transaction.
4) We try to make the web interface as user friendly as possible, and to cater for all, but with all web process's it may take a small learning curve to perfect for the user.
5) We accept checks, money orders, bank transfers and currently Paypal
If I ask for a withdrawl from my wallet via CHECK, I understand that that check is drawn on a NEW YORK CITY bank...correct?
Is that check mailed to me from NYC, USA, or from the UK?
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
posted on December 26, 2005 02:13:46 PM new
Tom, our transaction limits are currently GBP10,000.00 in any 90 day period, anything over that and we have to request further proof of ID. This is a requirement of our Money Services Business Licence in the prevention of Money Laundering, also we have a 'duty of care' and a responsibilty to make other reports where we suspect 'suspicious activity' in regards to the Bank Secrecy Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group Guidance Notes, the FSA Money Laundering Sourcebook and the Financial Action Task Force 40 recommendations.
Its a heavily regulated industry
Though I suspect if any ebay seller is approaching those levels they don't need us.
I will be upfront with you on this, we are 'bottom feeding' Paypal cover the bulk of ebay transactions, we try to scoop up the others where paypal is not an option.
posted on December 26, 2005 02:17:13 PM new
Yes Tom, the check is issued and cleared via a US bank (Citibank New York) but is mailed from the UK, and yes transactions do not have to be auction specific so yer Uncle Heinnie in Bonn can indeed send you moola for yer birthday
[ edited by auctionchex on Dec 26, 2005 02:18 PM ]
posted on December 26, 2005 02:26:23 PM new
One other thought... how large and easily scalable is your business? It is quite conceivable that with the demise of Bidpay... you could be looking at quite a bit of business getting thrown your way. Will you be able to handle a large number of transactions without having your services disrupted?
posted on December 26, 2005 02:38:09 PM new
I have been asked to give more details of a basic transaction. In this example the seller is in the USA and the buyer is in the UK, they are buying a widget for USD500.00
As no prior registration is required by either party they can simply enter the details in Payments section, and an account is automatically created for them, a system generated password is sent to both parties.
Also in the emails we always state that users should log into the site to verify the transaction details etc etc.....
The buyer would complete the required field for the sellers email address, and assuming they are not already an auctionchex user, no address details would be prefilled, the buyer will have to add them, which again is another good reason for the seller to log in to check the contact details are correct.
The next stage would be where the buyer provides some details about waht they are paying for (auction number for example) then they would add the amount for us to send and the payment method, (in this case USD500 to be paid by USD by mail) also selecting the payment method to us, the resultant calculation would be (assuming they are sending by bank transfer) GBP295.12 including GBP1.00 to cover the mail costs.
Preview then shows all the details they have entered, and if OK they submit, all parties then get email notification of the pending transaction.
We as admin then wait for the payment, and on receipt action the payment, again with email notification. The system also prints out a statement which we include with the check in the mail.
The transaction is now complete, and yes if the check does get lost in the post, it is easy for us to cancel it and issue a replacememt.
posted on December 26, 2005 02:42:54 PM new
eauctionmgnt : Yes it is very scaleable, the web process is almost fully automated, the manual part is verification of incoming payments, and the writing of checks where applicable.
Though I guess if we started to handle thousands of transactions a day , then I guess 'resources' would have to revued'
posted on December 26, 2005 02:51:54 PM new
I have also been asked about USA to USA only transactions, yes in theory, but see little gain for either seller or buyer, as the buyer will have to send a payment to the UK, if they can do that, then they can easily send a payment to the USA based seller, as I explained earlier we are not a direct replacement for Bidpay.
What I haven't mentioned (or been asked about is Hyperwallet)
This is where we accumulate payments on behalf of the seller, add confirmed payments to us to the users Hyperwallet in the currency received, after deduction of a 2.50% fee.
Those confirmed balances can be switched to another currency within Hyperwallet, and drawn down by the account holder as and when required, this has been found useful for sellers both in the USA and other European countries where they sell on ebay.co.uk in GBP and the buyer does not have paypal. The buyer sends a GBP payment, we confirm and add to Hyperwallet, and when the seller requires some moola, they request all or part of their declared balance and we send it to them.
posted on December 26, 2005 03:32:17 PM new
Eddie,
First, thank you for coming onto our forum to answer questions; it is appreciated.
I gather from what I've read (and what I have seen no mention of) that you don't get involved (as PayPal does) in questions of "item significantly not as described" or other attempts by buyers to get their money back (for legitimate or fraudulent reasons). Am I correct in that assumption?
Do you have a facility for a relatively low-cost refund (full or partial)? I generally calculate shipping costs accurately for international shipments, but it is not unheard of for me to want to send a (relatively nominal) refund if I've over-charged. BidPay couldn't do it, and it would not be a big negative if you can't either, but it would be a plus if you can.
Do you have any kind of logo insertion program for auctions?
Finally, what are your recommendations regarding shipping once the payment appears on-line? Assuming your company doesn't go "teats up" (pardon me, but I've always wanted to use that Britishism in a posting ), is it an absolute lock that the "check is in the mail" and I can ship?
Thanks in advance,
Claude
[ edited by cashinyourcloset on Dec 26, 2005 03:33 PM ]
posted on December 26, 2005 03:34:55 PM new
Eddie - Your e-wallet system is exactly the option I was going to ask about so my main question is dealt with. My only other question is regarding the sending of the payment. Just a quick and simple one - are they sent recorded delivery and what type of time window do you set for replacement in case of non-recipt?
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
posted on December 26, 2005 03:45:50 PM new
Hi Claude:
'teats up' ... we say tits up or belly up, and we have no plans to do either, is not as though we are new to this, or a new player, and have been doing this for nearly 4 years now, and over 5 years with my other ebay related business.
You asked <I>I gather from what I've read (and what I have seen no mention of) that you don't get involved (as PayPal does) in questions of "item significantly not as described" or other attempts by buyers to get their money back (for legitimate or fraudulent reasons). Am I correct in that assumption? </i> As monies sent to us are by a method that cannot be used for a chargeback (I think is what you are getting at) then noi we do not get invloved in buyer/seller disputes, much the same as Bidpay, buyer buys money from us, which we send to the seller.
<i>Do you have a facility for a relatively low-cost refund (full or partial)? I generally calculate shipping costs accurately for international shipments, but it is not unheard of for me to want to send a (relatively nominal) refund if I've over-charged. BidPay couldn't do it, and it would not be a big negative if you can't either, but it would be a plus if you can.</i>
Yes, if it is viable for you to send us a USD money order (or deduct from Hyperwallet) then yes we can send small payments out,
<I>is it an absolute lock that the "check is in the mail" and I can ship? </i>
Yes we modelled out notification email on a Bidpay one, so yes you can ship on notification from us, again, always check your account to verify the transaction though. If a payment does get lost in the mail, we will of course replace it.
posted on December 26, 2005 03:54:05 PM new
fenix03 Hi there, yes I briefly mentioned Hyperwallet, further info is of course on the website.
Timeframes, mail from the UK (assuming we are sending payment to you buy mail) is normally within 5 working days, from the UK to most US states, its as quick as USPS can be. If a seller reports a non arrived check, after say 10 days we normally wait for a few more days to 'give it a chance' Lets say 14 days in total from sending, then we would cancel the original check and send a replacement out.
Logos, yes there is a section on the website where you can grab the required html to include in your auction templates, as for automatic insertion, well its on the 'to do list' . We know how to do it, as our other website is an part of ebay developers, so via use of API can be done quite easily, its just a matter of getting around to doing it and getting approval.
posted on December 26, 2005 03:55:47 PM new
Eddie,
I had no intention of implying that you were going bankrupt or might do so. I just meant that barring something catastrophic, I could ship without waiting for the mailed check to arrive (delays in shipping tend to frazzle buyers, whereas they're always appreciative of quick shipping).
I have to say that this sounds good to me.
How about the logo insertion into auctions? Since you haven't been eBay intensive, I can see why this might not be a priority for you, but who knows what can happen? BidPay's misfortune could be your opportunity.
posted on December 26, 2005 04:00:06 PM new"Timeframes, mail from the UK (assuming we are sending payment to you buy mail) is normally within 5 working days, from the UK to most US states, its as quick as USPS can be. If a seller reports a non arrived check, after say 10 days we normally wait for a few more days to 'give it a chance' Lets say 14 days in total from sending, then we would cancel the original check and send a replacement out..."
***>>>I think it's important to point out that sellers can also simply withdrawl moola from AC via PAYPAL PAYMENT!
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
posted on December 26, 2005 04:04:21 PM new
***>>>I think it's important to point out that sellers can also simply withdrawl moola from AC via PAYPAL PAYMENT!
yeah....this is really cool---thanks for posting all this info---i will be signing up for sure!!
enjoy the day!
Billyne
"If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got"
--Jackie "Moms" Mabley (1894-1975)
posted on December 26, 2005 04:06:07 PM new
Hi again Claude,
BidPay's misfortune could be your opportunity.
Maybe, my original commenton this on an ebay.co.uk forum was something along the lines of every cloud has a silver lining.
The cloud would be where many of our UK users 'used' to send their USD Bidpay money orders to us for exchange to GBP, we are more cost effective than sending them to a UK bank for exchange, and that service is the mainstay of our business. So existing UK sellers will now have to educate their US buyers that a regular USD money is also acceptable, but cannot be purchased on line using a credit card, they will have to visit a store and buy one, and then mail it themselves.
The silver lining would be for us to perform those Bidpay transactions where paypal is not an option for either seller or buyer, which is something we have always done, though not on a grand scale.
posted on December 26, 2005 04:21:09 PM new
....and finally for today from me as its now midnight in the UK:
Where do we stand with Paypal, they have no objections to us sending any payment out using paypal, so no worries there, but there are some 'issues' about us accepting paypal for finacial transactions. To do this on a formal basis we have had to apply to be paypal compliant, and indeed have a pending application in for this. We were able to answer fully all of paypals questions re reporting proceedures for fraud, money laundering etc, and do have all the required licences available to us in the UK so we expect its a 'formality' to be compliant, but with ebay/paypal you can never be sure .
What will this mean for buyers, it will mean they can use paypal to send money to us to create a transaction, but that transaction will be deemed as quasi cash, and as long as we perform our duties correctly, in other words actually send a payment to the seller which can be confirmed, that transaction cannot be subject to a buyer complaint for non delivery of the sellers item purchased etc. I also think it will mean the transaction can only be funded from a bank account or existing paypal balance and not via a credit card so a CC chargeback would not be possible.
To be honest I don't know the complete answer and neither do paypal, as I get the impression nobody has asked to become paypal compliant before ¿
posted on December 26, 2005 04:47:37 PM new
Thank You tOMWiii...........for searching for a replacement for Bidpay and for inviting Eddie.
I have been searching also and everyone I found had high fees. AuctionChix sounds
good to me. I feel it would be a good replacement for when I don't want to accept paypal.
posted on December 26, 2005 06:17:55 PM new
Thanks Eddie for all the information. I will be signing up shortly with your service. If thing's go well for you you may have to hire some more help for all the new business Mike
posted on December 26, 2005 06:26:25 PM new"AuctionChix" (??)
Watch out, Ralphie! After those "AuctionChix" go thru 3 bottles of 2 buckChuck, they get nekkid & dance on yer table!
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
posted on December 26, 2005 07:19:21 PM new
Eddie,
I know you won't get this post 'till tomorrow... but I thought I'd ask it now anyhow...
When I get customers that want to use your service to send payment to me, which I will want as a check in USD, what are the exact steps I will need them to follow? I always like to (and usually need to) be able to walk them through new processes step-by-step... so could you fill us in on what those would be? (for example, what links do they click on in your site, what order, etc...) Thanks!
posted on December 26, 2005 07:55:45 PM new
Eddie,
I might be mistaken here but it's my understanding that recipients of "quasi-cash" PayPal payments bear a fairly hefty receiving fee.
Although I searched PayPal help I couldn't find out just how much it is. But a few years ago I sent someone money via PayPal quasi-cash and the cost was substantial. As in +/- $15 on $100 sent.
