posted on October 5, 2000 06:23:51 PM new
I am in the process of narrowing down where I list and what forms of payment to take. Yahoo is one venue I plan on continuing to use on a more frequent basis. I see they have PayDirect. Is this like Amazons 1-Click?Can you use it anywhere online? Is it doing any good to list it as a payment option on Yahoo?
I am looking at the Paypal upgrade to Premier account, but am hesitating because they want to charge the percentages on non-credit card transactions too- at least I think so.The $500 limit on Paypal is a killer.
Now I have seen ProPay mentioned. They use your name- not their own like Paypal- as the person selling and it is supposed to be a true credit card transaction.The fees are slightly higher than the latest Paypal has. Has anyone used ProPay? Any good or bad points?Can you take foreign payments? For that matter - can you take foreign payments with PayDirect?
I also have a shop online, list at fixed price book sites and use a few other auctions and would like to have the ability to take Credit cards without a merchant account.
The Net has been through so many changes in the last 3 years that I have been selling online!! It is so hard to keep up with it all!! I would appreciate any opinions!!
posted on October 5, 2000 07:16:52 PM new
PayDirect is more similar to PayPal than Amazon's 1-click...except that it is free. It is integrated into Yahoo Auctions similar to the way 1-click is, but you can use it anywhere online. It is also integrated with Yahoo Wallet, so it is easy for anyone who already has a Yahoo Wallet to sign up for PayDirect and is also being used for other Yahoo services such as Yahoo Stores. Unfortunately it does not accept international payments (at least not yet)...though there have been many positive posts on these boards about energyflow.com and BidPay for international payments. It also appears that they are adding many new features, without the constant changes in TOS that PayPal has. Many Yahoo (and Ebay for that matter) are starting to push PayDirect with bidders as a good alternative to PayPal and are having good success with it.
posted on October 5, 2000 07:17:00 PM new
payment option.
Frist if you up date your paypal like you talked about it wont be limited only free accounts have the $500 limit over 6 month period .
Propay I have looked into but not used it is more like a merchant account you have to get the buyers Credit card number from them and run there number for them the buyer is not required to have a propay account the fees on this merchant account is a bit higher but not awfull.
you can take yahoo pay direct payment from anywhere its not just for yahoo auctions but the user must have a pay direct account.
some people swear by payplace but it has withdrawal limits of no more then $200 at a time.
I supose if you really wanted to narrow these payment options down propay and paypal would cover most all your credit card and bank tranfer payment needs no trouble at all.
posted on October 5, 2000 11:33:55 PM new
EnergyFlow and BidPay are great for foreign bidders if they're willing to pay a $3 or $5 fee. If they're not, the only foreign-CC services I know of (at this point) are BillPoint and (starting in November) PayPal.
PayPlace DOES limit your bank withdrawals to $200 every 90 days, but you can have them send you checks instead, and it's still free. (They supposedly give referral bonuses, but I didn't get several owed me, so I quit promoting them. I guess others had the same problem, because they haven't grown at all.)
Someone said that E-Count is now charging $1.00 to send money and $1.00 to receive it, but I can't verify that. I have an ecount account (never used it), but can't get signed in right now to see if they've changed the terms.
ExchangePath takes a LOT of different CCs, is free, and is giving $10 sign-up and $5 referral bonuses.
Offering PayDirect is a wise move if you plan to sell on Yahoo. Totally free for ANY sales you make (Yahoo or otherwise), Visa/MC/Discover credit AND debit cards, and bank transfers. I think there's a limit on how much your can SPEND with your account, but not on how much you can RECEIVE.
I think I'll keep my PayPal personal account and use it for $500 every 6 months, when buyers absolutely INSIST, or when they use a bank transfer or money already in their PayPal account. That way it won't cost me anything. If I upgrade on PayPal, ALL payments I receive will cost me (including the first $500/6 months and bank/PP account transfers). The only advantage I'll really have will be for international buyers to use it.
[ edited by granee on Oct 6, 2000 12:18 PM ]
posted on October 6, 2000 04:35:02 AM new
I just checked out EnergyFlow after a recommendation from someone on this board. (was it you VeryModern? can't remember.)
Anyway, energyflow looks pretty cool based on the observation that you can use it to accept PayPal even if you don't accept PayPal. And they are less expensive than BidPay, also a plus. AND they are a member of the Better Business Bureau, which goes a long way towards re-assuring customers. I didn't sign up for the service yet because when I read through their terms of service I wasn't 100% sure that I want to agree to everything contained therein. It is 4:30 AM here & I think I should probably read it over again after a decent amount of sleep.
PayPlace's TOS made my eyes cross- they seem to be located in 3 or so different places, which makes me wonder why? I think I'll pass on them for now based on the fact that PAyDirect is meeting my needs very well at this point.
Cathy- I use PAyDirect and LOVE it! I have sucessfully used it in both Yahoo & Ebay auctions. I can't think of any reasons at all at this point why a Yahoo seller SHOULDN'T offer it.
posted on October 6, 2000 04:55:20 AM new
Just had a look at exchangepath & think I'd be interested in using their service. I like it that they let you credit your credit card when a customer pays you. That is a big deal to me. Well, I didn't read over exchangepath's TOS yet. Still gotta do that before I decide for sure. Do you use them granee? What is their position on chargebacks? Does anyone know?
posted on October 6, 2000 05:50:10 AM new
energyflow--Anyway, energyflow looks pretty cool based on the observation that you can use it to accept PayPal even if you don't accept PayPal.
posted on October 6, 2000 10:11:50 AM new
heygrape- the customer can purchase one of EnergyFlow's "unbounceable internet checks" or one of EnergyFlow's money orders using funds from their PayPal account (or from their credit card or bank account if they prefer.) There are charges for these services that the customer would have to pay. I think it's $2 & $3 depending which service they want. (Doublecheck the site for sure if interested.)
So the end result is, the customer can pay with PayPal funds, and the seller gets a money order or internet check as payment. There are "wrinkles"- getting the customer to agree to register with energyflow, getting them to agree to pay the additional fee through energyflow, etc etc...but assuming you can successfully navigate those hurdles you as a seller can accept funds from PayPal without accepting PayPal- through energyflow.
posted on October 6, 2000 11:46:37 AM new
Thanks!! You all have given me a lot to think about and research.
PayDirect makes sense. I already am signed up for the Yahoo Wallet and it is free.It can be used as a payment option anywhere.
I won't beat on the Paypal dilema there are enough threads about it.I just wish there was a way to tell exactly what is a CC transaction there.If I buy something for $20 and only have $5 in my account and they have to fund the account through my CC is that an account transfer or a CC payment? Isn't the $500 limit on CC transactions- not regular account to account trasnsfers?? I will call them.
If Propay takes foreign credit cards- I would be interested in them.The transaction fees would be less than a Paypal Premier account since I would only be paying on actual CC transactions not all transactions.People are used to giving CC#s online - so I don't see that as a problem.
EnergyFlow---I will look into.
Bidpay- I have had payments through them with noproblems.However they are only good for auction payments- not site payments and I had one overseas buyer that had problems with them at her end.
If I use Paypal, ProPay(or the equivalent) and PayDirect- I think that will cover everyone.
Any negatives about any of these getting the money to you?
posted on October 6, 2000 12:45:47 PM new
Just FYI- I talked to someone at Paypal and the dollar ammounts for CC transactions would include anytime a user had to go beyond what was in their account balance and refill from a credit card!So it wouldn't be just WebPay CC transactions counting against the $500.Whatever has to be taken from the CC would also count.
All of this is because they have fees you know and are going to offer some nebulous interest sometime -somewhere!
posted on October 6, 2000 12:47:05 PM new
labelle,
Since PayPal will IDENTIFY the source of funds for a payment you receive beginning on October 16th (when the "new rules" kick in), then it should follow that a $20 payment made up of $5 already in someone's PP account and $15 charged to the buyer's CC will be divided between the two sources in figuring your "$500/6 mo. CC payments received" limit, and only the $15 will be debited from that limit. Of course, this only applies to the personal account. The upgraded account will pay 25 cents plus 1.9% of the ENTIRE amount, regardless of the source.
CAgrrl, I signed up for ExchangePath a couple weeks ago (after reading VeryModern's mention of it), but have had only one customer use it (in spite of my promoting the $10 sign-up bonus in EOA emails). I don't remember their position on chargebacks (I give satisfaction-guaranteed on my auctions, anyway, and insure everything that's one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable, or valuable). I received the sign-up bonus, payment, and referral bonus with no problems, and transferred the money to my bank without a hitch. ***NOTE: The ONLY way you'll get the referral bonus is by having the new user sign up THROUGH THE "EMAIL TO FRIENDS" YOU SEND from ExchangePath's website. There IS no referral link in their logo to put on your listings or anywhere else that I can find.
I'm going to check out ProPay as an option for my foreign bidders. I don't want to upgrade PayPal JUST to take foreign CCs, because then I'll have to pay fees on ALL the PayPal payments I receive. I might offer ProPay ONLY to my foreign buyers so they don't have to pay BidPay, EnergyFlow, or I-Escrow.
posted on October 6, 2000 04:39:43 PM new
Granee- I have a guarantee on my auctions also, but still worry that a customer might try to bypass me in the chargeback process. My items are low ticket & wouldn't be the type to attract the real fraudsters, so I'm sure all worry is vain at this point. At any rate, feel free to send that email to [email protected] at your leisure- if I do sign up for exchangepath I'll use you as my referral.
posted on October 7, 2000 04:32:07 PM new
OK, I signed up for exchangepath. Thanks for the link, Granee. I didn't seem to receive the $10.00 bonus for signing up though. What's the deal with that? Do I have to complete a transaction through them before I get it? I hope you at least got your referral bonus.
posted on October 8, 2000 04:32:39 PM new
My head is spinning with all these pay options! Funnythingis, I can't even get Paydirect to register me! I have a wallet and can't get by that part of it. It keeps saying I'm already registered. Not sure if it mean cuz they have MY CC# or not? If I put their logo on listing - guess I'd find out fast,huh? someone else was having this problem....with wallet -- are you there???
Actually, may not need any CC methods....if Yahoo has just died a quiet death. NOTHING happening at all.
Would love to hear the bidders side on all the controversy of low bidding.
It is integrated into Yahoo Auctions similar to the way 1-click is, but you can use it anywhere online. It is also integrated with Yahoo Wallet, so it is easy for anyone who already has a Yahoo Wallet to sign up for PayDirect and is also being used for other Yahoo services such as Yahoo Stores. Unfortunately it does not accept international payments (at least not yet)...though there have been many positive posts on these boards about energyflow.com and BidPay for international payments. It also appears that they are adding many new features, without the constant changes in TOS that PayPal has. Many Yahoo (and Ebay for that matter) are starting to push PayDirect with bidders as a good alternative to PayPal and are having good success with it.