posted on March 8, 2007 06:16:38 AM
I'M curious. why dont Americans use credit card merchant accounts.? I have an account here in Australia. and it costs me about $10.aud a month for the account, and about 1.9% commision. for me it is the cheapest way to go.
posted on March 8, 2007 06:46:09 AM
I am using google checkout - I started using it last month with ecrater. So far, I love it and it is free until the end of 2007. Of course, ebay hates google and won't allow you to put it on your listing page, but you could offer it after the sale in your invoice. They also don't allow cash to be stated, but I receive a lot of cash and so far (knock on wood) have never had a problem.
posted on March 8, 2007 06:46:44 AM
Agate,
it costs more in this country,if they give us a low monthly statement fee ,then they make up on transaction fee and discount rate and high chargeback fee,and may be annual fee.
Most Ebay sellers dont sell that much to qualify for low fee and Ebay bidders dont want to fork over the cc data to every seller .
you figure most are weekend warriors,why do you want them to have your credit card number,exp date and CVV code?
posted on March 8, 2007 01:36:53 PM
mainlymike wrote: Anyone know of a viable alternative to PayPal?
Yes. Can you give details of your customers demographics and geography so we can make suggestions as preferred payment methods vary widely in different socioeconomic groups and countries. There are no real one size fits all solutions but rather a range of them.
agate18 wrote: why dont Americans use credit card merchant accounts.?
God fearing USAians are scared of al-Qaeda terrorists getting their credit card details and using them to fund the Democrat's presidential candidates. Or other bogeymen committing identity fraud with their details. It's basically all down to the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) daily propagated by PayPal.
I have an account here in Australia. and it costs me about $10.aud a month for the account, and about 1.9% commision. for me it is the cheapest way to go.
Australian credit card acceptance rates are amongst the lowest in the world thanks to the ACCC which smashed the credit card cartel and forced them to lower the interlink fees. A similar case is being prepared against credit card providers in NZ and the UK, so merchants rates should drop significantly.
vintagepostcardsdotorg wrote: moneybookers, London-based, works great, lower fees than PayPal
Also safer for buyers and sellers as verify customers before allowing them to send or receive funds.
A popular option in many countries is bank transfers which are often free or very cheap.
posted on March 9, 2007 03:16:42 PM
I do a lot of credit card transactions out of the usa. 90% of all my business on the internet.(ebay) is done with credit card. Some people say it is not safe to send card details by email. I actually invented a way to send the details thru by email about 9 yrs ago. Never lost one of them. I keep a special file with all the card details in it . not on any computer. A lot of our customers are many times repeat customers. they only have to send details one time. until the card expires. Then they just resend the new details.Saves them sending every time they buy something from me. I sell in about 9 countries on a regular basis. All are happy to do it this way. But i do have a golden rule which my customers like.
When i have a transaction ready to go thru. I let my customer know the exact amount i am going to extract from their card, in the currency i require as well as in usd. they give me their approval to continue with the transaction, i extract then send their goods.All my customers are more then happy with this system.
As for my own credit card, i have the smallest one that i could get. About $500.us. This way, if something does go wrong, then they wont get much. I dont use it anywhere but on the net. Or you can setup a debit card.
Dont forget, you do have the right to negotiate with your bank over the percentage on your card merchant service. You dont have to accept the first figure they tell you. And as you use it more and more, you can re negotiate the percentages with them. After all, it is your money , not theirs.
I occasionally have a customer that does not have a credit card. But they are happy to send a payment by bank transfer. So i setup a bank account especially to accept these payments. I find out how much they are going to charge me for the transfer into my account and tell my customer to pay it. Also make sure they pay in the currency you want them to.
We also have a system in aust called Paymate. But it is only good for australian account holders. They automatically transfer it to my account at my bank.
posted on March 9, 2007 03:58:33 PM
I see Google Checkout as the only potential competitor to PayPal. The banking industry doesn't seem to be in a rush to compete.
Now if Google would hurry up and start their own auction site...
posted on March 10, 2007 12:40:25 AM
agate18 wrote: As for my own credit card, i have the smallest one that i could get. About $500.us. This way, if something does go wrong, then they wont get much. I dont use it anywhere but on the net. Or you can setup a debit card.
Same here. I have several credit cards all $500 credit limits - the lowest Visa or MasterCard would permit. My debit cards are all set to low balance accounts which I top up by funds transfer before a large purchase. Several of my card also rebate between 0.5 and 1.5 percent of purchases, and the nice banks even waived annual fees.
We also have a system in aust called Paymate. But it is only good for australian account holders. They automatically transfer it to my account at my bank. Paymate.co.nz their NZ subsidiary, is even cheaper than the Australian one. Only available to NZ-based sellers who want to accept credit/debit cards worldwide. Gaining popularity with small sellers on Trade Me which has around 95% of the NZ online auction market.
sthoemke wrote: I see Google Checkout as the only potential competitor to PayPal. The banking industry doesn't seem to be in a rush to compete.
Goes the heart of the problem with the USA's banking system - lack of nationwide banking networks. Outside the USA, most countries have a handful of large nationwide banks (and smaller second tier ones) and many more payments are made by direct debiting bank accounts (EFTPOS) than credit card. Much the same for online purchases or monthly utilities - all electronic payments. (The USA has similar but they tend to print out a check and mail it to the business.) Worldwide, banks have invested heavily in electronic banking and electronic funds transfer, often using secure "Chip & PIN" systems that can't be cloned. Even the poor old paper cheque is rapidly dissappearing in many countries with banks raising fees to make them unattractive (so as to speed up their demise).
[ edited by agitprop on Mar 10, 2007 12:54 AM ]
posted on March 10, 2007 04:50:19 AM
If you have too many buyers for your items, the best way to cut them is to not offer Paypal. Even if you offer the deal of a lifetime, folks (like me) who filter out non-PayPal sellers will never see it.
posted on March 10, 2007 07:51:07 AM
I'm with Pixia on this. If the seller does not take PayPal, I rarely will buy from them. It is too much of a hassle to mess with a check or money order.
If I do buy from a non-PayPal seller, it is only because they have a really great deal.
I don't think sellers realize how much it actually costs them to NOT take Paypal.
I do not like handing 3% to PayPal, but I think it will cost you more than 3% in final bid price if you do not take PayPal. We are talking less than $3.00 on a $100. Can you really afford to be that cheap?
I accept Google checkout outside of eBay and of the last 1000 sales, only 4 have been Goggle checkout. Not many people are using GC yet. Even on Ebay, my mailed payments are less than 5% of my total sales.
If you are seriously trying to lower your costs, PayPal is not the corner you want to cut.
Add 3 % to your opening bid or your shipping charge and just be glad when the sales come in.
Here are some good links for more info about selling on eBay.
Ebay/PayPal Fee Caluclator This site has not been updated since 2005, but it still gives you a good idea of selling fees.
Interesting and well written blog about selling on eBay.
posted on March 10, 2007 03:57:03 PM
Just to pile on: I dislike PayPal as much as the next eBayer, but it is IMO a necessary evil. It might not always be, but right now it is.
I still won't accept PP internationally; I don't care if it loses me some international sales.
posted on March 10, 2007 04:53:22 PM
I remember back in the old days banks are not allowed to establish branches outside their state,interstate banking did not exist in the 60s and 70s.
Intrastate banking did not exist either,like a bank in metropolitan Chicago did not have branches in say Springfield,Illinois,or even in different parts of Chicago.
The currency exchange ,so called mom and pop stores made every effort to prevent that,does anyone remember when the banks win this battle??
This could be one reason why banks are behind in nationwide network,also members of Fed reserve banking system clear their transactions thru the Fed,which can get costly.
Then the major money centered banks get together and created a company to do clearance among themselves.You figure they account for a large volume of the checks written,mostly to each other-bank of america,Citibank,Manufacturer hanover,Chemical,Chase,Morgan Guaranty ,and they can clear cheaper themselves than going thru the Fed.
There are more banks in this country than anywhere in the world,and dont forget to add the quasi banks such as Washington Mutual,the credit unions,saving banks and whatever happens to the S&L and dont forget the money market mutual funds run by Merrill Lynch,Fidelity of the world where you can write checks,there is just a whole lot of shaking going on/
We have ACH (automated clearing house) and this is what is behind all that online banking among domestic banks,as for foreign banks,why should they make it easy for us,they make good money charging a wiretransfer fee coming and going.
And if you want to wire Euro,Yen or any foreign currency,they make another killing from the bid and ask price,so why should they make life easy,most folks dont do that much overseas transactions,this country is so big,most people do business with each other .
Australia has what ,25 million people,and CANADA has 80 millions and we have 230 millions and how many banks are out there in Aussieland or Canada,even countries like France and Germany ,they dont have that many banks,we have way too many banks,too many fast food chains and too many 99 cents store and too many car dealers.
