posted on August 26, 2000 09:15:34 PM new
Having used ecount and achex, I have found some good ideas that I think would help PP.
1) When buyer pays someone who does not have an account, a very clear, large message should come up, in bold saying "the email Id you entered is NOT a registered user. Please check again. Do NOT submit unless you are aware you are sending to a non-registered user." This eliminate that ubiquitous problem of misspelled IDs.
2) decimal and cents must be entered. 13 will not be accepted, only 13.00.
3) After payment has been entered and the first submit has been done (two submits are currently required to make a payment on any of these sites, including PP), a screen comes up showing the payment as a check. It shows the amount in both digits and words. It is much harder to make a $1300 payment instead of a $13 payment by accident when the words "One thousand three hundred dollars" are shown.
4) The seller receives a notification that says "Joe Blow has sent you $13. Click here to accept. <url for accept> click here to decline <url for decline>. Clicking the URL brings the seller into his account (requiring a log in with password) to the proper page. Until the payment has been accepted, buyer still has option to cancel. This solves a lot of problems:
-buyer made payment by mistake
-buyer receives paypal invoice from the "wrong" seller, as has happened before
-seller receives fake email saying "you have been paid." Now seller is forced to go to PP account and verify. He wont send item out before checking and he cant blame PP if payment isnt there.
-seller has reason not to accept payment
Considering the case where the buyer overpaid by $1000, this might have given him a chance to stop it. If seller accepted it, there would be no question that seller is in the wrong. All the "murky areas" of that situation would have been resolved more easily.
posted on August 27, 2000 10:45:51 AM new
yisgood -
I really like the idea of making the amount turn into BIG WORDS before you can click OK. Many people are slightly dyslexic when it comes to numbers, but the diference between ONE THOUSAND THIRTEEN DOLLARS and just plain THIRTEEN DOLLARS is smoething even a dyslexic can see.
posted on August 27, 2000 11:18:00 AM newONE THOUSAND THIRTEEN DOLLARS and just plain THIRTEEN DOLLARS is smoething even a dyslexic can see.
Which is why the check analog is absurd. One cannot accidentally write a check for $1013 when trying to write a check for $13.
Payment systems, including both card and check systems, have evolved over a long time. They work the way they work because things break othewise.
PayPal's biggest and continuing error is to believe that they can do things different, and foist such breakage onto their willing customer base. They can't, of course, as anyone involved in a financial business knows, which demonstrates the dearth of management competence at PayPal.
posted on August 27, 2000 05:08:59 PM newI really like the idea of making the amount turn into BIG WORDS before you can click OK. Many people are slightly dyslexic when it comes to numbers, but the diference between ONE THOUSAND THIRTEEN DOLLARS and just plain THIRTEEN DOLLARS is smoething even a dyslexic can see.
You would think so, but obviously it can happen. The buyer has admitted his mistake repeatedly, no need to rub it in.
posted on August 27, 2000 05:16:50 PM newWhich is why the check analog is absurd. One cannot accidentally write a check for $1013 when trying to write a check for $13.
I don't understand why the check analogy is absurd. Any type of mistake can be made, including writing a check for the wrong amount.
Payment systems, including both card and check systems, have evolved over a long time. They work the way they work because things break othewise.
I'm not sure what your point is here. As has been expressed and experienced by users of both services, both card and check systems have experienced problems, both on the user and merchant end.
PayPal's biggest and continuing error is to believe that they can do things different, and foist such breakage onto their willing customer base. They can't, of course, as anyone involved in a financial business knows, which demonstrates the dearth of management competence at PayPal.
Heh, it's a problem that a company thinks they can do things different? I'm trying to imagine the multitude of inventions that wouldn't exist if the inventors and companies didn't think of new ways to do things.
Foist what breakage onto which willing customer base? More often than not, it is very difficult for me to follow your statements as I usually fail to see the relevance of your point, if there is one.
I'm not sure where your feelings and opinions on PayPal stand. Sometimes I read your statements as pro-PayPal, and sometimes I read them as anti-PayPal, and sometimes I read them and just think "huh?".
edited for spelling
[ edited by jrscharton on Aug 27, 2000 05:17 PM ]
posted on August 27, 2000 06:22:41 PM new
>>I'm not sure where your feelings and opinions on PayPal stand. Sometimes I read your statements as pro-PayPal, and sometimes I read them as anti-PayPal, and sometimes I read them and just think "huh?". <<
I just assumed he took advantage of BP's free drugs.
Doesnt it state in BP's TOS that one of the conditions of use is you must attack PP at all times for any reason, real or imagined?
posted on August 28, 2000 10:24:43 AM new
Hey yisgood, I got a bone to pick with you. I went and signed up for Billpoint over the weekend just to take advantage of their "special offer" and I couldn't find a damn thing in their TOS about the freebies!
Maybe it's one of those situations that's only applicable to those high-falutin' "Power Sellers"? Like the special Billpoint fee%? Now that's the way to get me to sell more stuff on eBay!
posted on August 28, 2000 10:36:02 AM new
When you get your first charge back and complain to BP that you are going to tell everyone what a lousy service it is and that it doesnt make sense for sellers to use it, you will mysteriously get a package in cigarettes in your mail box. Once you smoke a few, you'll believe that BP is the best service ever.
