posted on November 1, 2000 07:26:37 AM new
PayPal did it, announcement on their front page - they have gone international! YEA, my customers will be thrilled - 99% use PayPal and I LOVE PAYPAL!
Thanks PayPal for the international, and the Money Market accounts.
posted on November 1, 2000 04:27:53 PM new
Here's the list of countries now elegible for Paypal transfers:
PayPal is now available in the following countries:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
posted on November 1, 2000 05:33:57 PM new
"average seller."
You must mean "amateur seller". After $500 received in a 6 month period you will be forced to upgrade or your new transfers will not be accepted.
Since anybody doing any real business will hit this limit and be forced to update there is now another good reason to do so now: International payments. The other reason was this:
If you are still getting referrals, you must upgrade to be elegible. Not only that but you don't get the referral until and unless the referred party verifys their bank account. And if you have a bunch of referrals pending but waiting for them to verify...and they verify before you upgrade to Premier...then you crap out on those bonuses.
So if you sell you may as well upgrade now and start passing the fees along to the buyer. You can figure out the fees close enough: If the total is under $14.75 then the Paypal fee is $.25. That is, Paypal charges $.25 under $15 but if you sold something including shipping for $14.75, then the $.25 fee would total $15 and that would trigger the Percentage on transfers of $15 and up.
So if the total is $14.75 or higher, take 2% of the total excluding Paypal fees, add $.25 and add that to the total. Paypal charges 1.9% but you can't figure this exactly as the more Paypal fee you charge, the higher their cut is. So by charging 2% you make up most of the loss of the %age Paypal takes of their "own fee", and you usually get within pennies of recovering the correct amount. And it's something you can figure quickly in your head. Simply take 1% of the total amount before Paypal fees by shifting the decimal point 2 places to the left. Double that amount, and add $.25. Add this to the pre-paypal amount for the final Paypal payment.
And of course explain to the buyer that Paypal is there for their own convenience, and they are under no obligation to use it. I recommend Yahoo Pay Direct, and I quote the no-fee total for that and for snail-mail as well.
posted on November 2, 2000 01:26:26 AM new
PayPal said that international CREDIT CARD payments could only be made to upgraded accounts, but what about account payments or bank transfers? Can they be made to any type account? (In fact, will international buyers even *be able* to register bank accounts for electronic bank transfers, or will they only be able to register credit cards?)
As far as the referrals go....I have 14 "pending" from as far back as February, and I'll never see that referral money whether I upgrade or not. PayPal is making people *jump through hoops* now to join and do stuff to enable others to get referral payments: list bank accounts, verify them, load the new account with $50 from a bank transfer, etc., etc. It's almost as bad as ebay.
zzyzx000, you said , "After $500 received in a 6 month period you will be forced to upgrade or your new transfers will not be accepted....anybody doing any real business will hit this limit and be forced to update....So if you sell you may as well upgrade now."
I disagree.
When the "$500 CC received" limit is reached on a personal account, ONLY new credit card payments won't be accepted into the account without upgrade. A personal account that has reached the limit of CC payments received CAN STILL receive account payments and bank transfers.
With all the payment options available now, it's not necessary to upgrade a seller's PayPal account. I'm finding that those who *insist* on using a credit card will pay through another service; many buyers with PayPal accounts send me account payment or bank transfer money (of which there is no limit); and those who refuse to register a bank account with PayPal or join another service send money orders. I've had more money orders in the last two weeks than I had all summer.
I'm finding that, if the buyer wants your item, he finds a way to pay for it, even when he can't use a credit card through PayPal.
posted on November 2, 2000 07:19:38 AM new
It seems much to complex to dictate what kind of Paypal payment is accepted. It's all I can do to get them to tell Paypal my correct email address.
Paypal is the leader in electronic payments with 3 million accounts. If your buyer already has it and wants to use it, fine. Just let them know it's THEM who must pay the fees Paypal now charges you, because it's THEM who finds the service so valuable. It saves them the time to buy a money order, the time to send the money order and the cost of the money order and the stamp to send it. The seller still has to stand in line at the PO with the merchandise and go to the bank with the MO's he does receive. It makes no difference to the seller if you ship something today or next week.
posted on November 2, 2000 03:04:25 PM new
I will be tough to charge customers fees for using Paypal. I would just up my handling fees or starting price. Its just overheads. So far people are still using Paypal over the other online payments. I give them a free choice & I do not ask my buyers to use a specific online payment service.
posted on November 2, 2000 03:19:00 PM new
I guess one man's pain is another man's pleasure. I find it tough to pay the buyer's fees.
The good part is it isn't all that complicated, and you can give the buyer a choice to use or not to use.
Visa and the other major Credit Cards forbid their merchants from passing the fees on directly. Instead a Visa merchant must offer a 'discount for cash' if they want to have a visa price and a cash price. To me that is smoke and mirrors and what it usually means is that cash customers don't get a break at all and the difference is kept by the dealer.
And it seems unlikely that Paypal will forbid the seller's from passing this fee along. Paypal is not just credit cards...so Visa can't butt in. And I for one would drop Paypal like a hot potatoe if I was required to pay the feed myself.
posted on November 2, 2000 07:35:06 PM new
Since I only ship within USA. This is no benefit to me.
Regarding Sellers passing the paypal fee direct to the Buyer, I posted a similar message before about the credit card merchant having to offer a discounted cash price and think that buyers who are savvy to this should ask a Seller who accepts paypal "How much of a discount if I pay by other method?".
Yahoo! PayDirect is now the payment of choice with my buyers!
posted on November 3, 2000 08:10:30 AM new
Oh what joy! You can now be cheated by scammers from all over the world. Folks can send you payments with stolen credit cards from 26 countries. You have no way of verifying them. You have no way of refusing a payment. But you will be charged fees for all of these and you will pay the charge backs. So laugh all the way to the bank and later cry all the way back. http://www.ygoodman.com [email protected]
