Accept Paypal?

[sjaguar13]

Do you think it looks amature-ish to accept Paypal? With the new Paypal credit card processor where they remain hidden, is it a good idea to advertise Paypal as a payment method? From what I can tell, most people use Paypal to be able to pay with a credit card. If they have a lot of money in their account, they probably have the Paypal debit card, which would work just like a credit card. Should I display the Paypal logo and add it as an option? As a side note, what about other sites like StormPay, eGold, ect?

[Gamezmania]

yes personally i only use paypal i don't like using my bank account flat by it self.
so i think Deffinitly Use Paypal!

[l234244]

I dont think it is amature-ish to accept paypal, its just logic. Most people have an ebay account and therefore have a paypal account. For a more proffessional service give as many payment options as you can. Plus, paypal is not available to everyone, eg Hungary so you need to cater for these if your likely to get purchases from them.

[Peter_Rosado]

I accept payments via paypal, and I really like website that accept paypal as a payment method.

[Blitz]

Depends what kind of site you have. If you can afford it, use WorldPay aswell as Paypal. I would avoid the Paypal alternatives, as much as I hate Paypal, they pretty much have the monopoly so we're stuck with them until something better comes out.

[kukumaka]

Google Wallet will KILL paypal

[jeeplaw]

I accept paypal on all my sites and like the convenience that it presents to my visitors.

[capebretoner]

I think that Paypal is a great asset to your site, it allows people to pay with many different ways securely. Most of the webmasters that I have dealt with prefer Paypal since they have the money in their account.

Also if you are a new company people may have reservations about giving away their CC numbers

[daredashi]

paypal is one of the most widely used and available online payment processor.
its good and have good features.
its easy and free to open new account but has a little bit high fees.

[just-4-teens]

godaddy accepts payment via paypal do they look like amateurs?

[adacprogramming]

During the early years of Paypal there was a stigma attached to it. Companies that couldn't or wouldn't afford a merchant account used Paypal.

With eBay adopting it, that stigma doesn't seem to be there as much. I personally prefer to use Paypal over a companies merchant account because I don't like giving my credit card info to companies I don't know.

No reason to exclude the huge number of potential clients by not offering Paypal.

[Deafwish_cVo]

My 2 cents:

use paypal, it's got enough years of credibility behind it now.

[Artashes]

I think it is amature-ish NOT to accept PayPal, when nearly 90 million people are equiped with it. I have been in the e-media business for over 5 years and I have paid for numerous merchant systems, yet most of my customers still request PayPal for simplicity.

If you do not turn many sales and commission % is not *that* important, PayPal business accounts are a perfect solution because it is virtually headache free and reliable.

Best,
Artashes

[xenu]

Definitely accept Paypal, sames with it are much higher.

[jestep]

I think it has a lot to do with the industry that you cater to. There are still a lot of people who will not use paypal. In selling a lot on ebay, I would say that about 20% of people don't want to use paypal. From my experience, there are far fewer people who will not use a credit card than people who will not use paypal. I think that paypal is great for new businesses or an additional method of payment for your customers, but for an established business, it shouldn't be the sole accepted method.

[HippyBuggsGirl]

I don't think it look amature-ish to use PayPal either. PayPal makes it easy for consumers with or without credit cards to purchase your items.
I've accepted PayPal for 3 years with no complaints. Good Luck to ya!!!

[dsm56]

This summer someone made a purchase for $1500 on one of my sites, and filed a chargeback two months later, and paypal gave them their money back no questions asked.

AND THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY

except for arghh!! i hate paypal!

[HippyBuggsGirl]

Wow thats just crazy! Sorry to hear that. :confused:

[IamNed]

creditcards are chargebackable (lol made that up)

Checks aren't though. For big purchases take checks so chargebacks wont happen :)

It sucks how pople can rip you off and take your stuff. it is stealing

[jestep]

This summer someone made a purchase for $1500 on one of my sites, and filed a chargeback two months later, and paypal gave them their money back no questions asked.

AND THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY

except for arghh!! i hate paypal!

Unfortunately, accepting credit cards doesn't alleviate situations like this much either. Merchants have virtually no protection against consumer fraud, as all regulations from Credit Card issuers are geared toward consumers. I have seen Amex make a chargeback without their customer asking for it. The merchant later cleared the charge up with the customer who just didn't recognize the name. Amex still didn't refund the money to the merchant, even after the consumer told them that they recognized it. Luckily the customer was honest and mailed a check for the merchandise, but it rarely happens this way.

There are about a hundred chargeback reasons that a customer can use, and if they know the system well enough, they can basically get anything for free. No matter how meticulous a merchant is about keeping their books, correct transaction procedures, etc, there are situations where a chargeback is possible. Only one time have I ever heard of a consumer being charged with fraud for making illegitimate chargebacks. They made hundreds of thousands of dollars in chargebacks over a 3 year period before they were caught.

[lpstong]

Do you think it looks amature-ish to accept Paypal? With the new Paypal credit card processor where they remain hidden, is it a good idea to advertise Paypal as a payment method? From what I can tell, most people use Paypal to be able to pay with a credit card. If they have a lot of money in their account, they probably have the Paypal debit card, which would work just like a credit card. Should I display the Paypal logo and add it as an option? As a side note, what about other sites like StormPay, eGold, ect?


It itsnt amaturish to accept or use Paypal in the web development world. For me it is convienent and east to use especially the debit card. And I do display the paypal logo.

I do have a stormpay account but I do not use it that often. I had only set it up to accomodate those who are in countries who can not sign up or use paypal. You can add the stormpay and egold logos to your websites to let people know what their options are.

[brandnewx]

Accepting only paypal does look amature to me. If compared to website, you're like "IE only" type. Yes, designing "IE only" site or accepting only Paypal is super convenient to you and majority of IE users, but it's very frustrating for non-IE users.

If you want worldwide exposure, processing credit card is what you need. It's de facto standard. Accepting both cc and paypal is even better!

(PayPal accepts credit cards from very few countries)

[brandnewx]

There are about a hundred chargeback reasons that a customer can use, and if they know the system well enough, they can basically get anything for free.Don't think it's free, as they needed to serve time later on. Maybe right though on doing community services for free.

[wyuguy]

Accepting only paypal does look amature to me. If compared to website, you're like "IE only" type. Yes, designing "IE only" site or accepting only Paypal is super convenient to you and majority of IE users, but it's very frustrating for non-IE users.

If you want worldwide exposure, processing credit card is what you need. It's de facto standard. Accepting both cc and paypal is even better!

(PayPal accepts credit cards from very few countries)

which few countries can pay paypal via cc ?

[AnthrAx]

lots of countries can pay credit card through paypal, but i also accept e-gold, western union, stormpay etc.

[sitestem]

Even if it did look amateurish, not having Paypal could lose you sales. I always prefer paying through Paypal, and would sometimes just not buy from a site if they only accepted cards.

[AnthrAx]

exactly it is better to put evry payment method available to increase revenue.

[smallbizstartupkit]

I use PayPal and a traditional Merchant Account to cover my bases. The more options you have and can afford the better.

[ddanger]

i run a couple of membership sites as well as a couple of physical product sites - here is my experience.

to non-technical users: paypal is like wtf?! when presented with the option (even stating no account required) they generally go away thinking i dont have a paypal in my wallet. remember most people are still very frigtened about giving credit card details online. if you have never used ebay or come across paypal before it does not pose as a legitimate option to some people. in fact the whole paypal account process has been complained about to my customer service as if we process or handle the payments side ourselves.

merchant accounts: since installing a merchant account abandoned carts have dropped by 50% and sales have gone up by 50%. yes we pay a slightly higher rate almost double our paypal account rate of 2.4% but its more than made up for in increased sales.

relating to chargebacks: we havent had any chargebacks since converting to a merchant account, whereas we always got a few complaints via paypals internal complaints system (which is far too verbose for my liking). on the rare occasion we suffered a chargeback via paypal, we were unable to deal with the credit card company directly. with my merchant services, i have been led to believe that i will have a greater ability to dispute a chargeback.

in summary: if you operatre in a tech-centric market, where you know your clients are computer literate, have probably dabbled with ebay and done a lot of surfing and online purchasing i would say you could get away with paypal only. for any other market i would look into a merchant service as default payment processer and offer paypal as a secondary. that way you have covered all bases as 'smallbizstartupkit' suggests.

[ntrikate]

Many larger companies are beginning to use PayPal now such as Barnes and Nobles, Dell, Buy.com 1-800 Flowers, Sharper Images - so its gaining popularity as a mainstream merchant account.

If you need to use paypal and want a more professional merchant account, then you can always go with Website Payment Pro - that way customers can pay on your website.