I am a Nigerian and I have a verified alertpay account. Can I use my alertpay account to accept payment for selling for example a website on digitalpoint? If not, what is the alternative.
You can use Alertpay. There are other payment processing option out there. Most people on here us PayPal and then moneybookers is second.
Yes, you can use it and I agree with gvannorman's assessment of the ranking. I would add that there's a huge drop-off (unfortunately) after PayPal. If there was another 800 lb. gorilla in the payment processing end of things, I would change in a heartbeat. (can't stand PP!) PayPal is closely akin to modern day payment processing "Nazis". I hope that the market gets diluted by other major players entering the market. If processors like Moneybookers were even close, I would use them exclusively. Unfortunately, PP is so widely recognized by the consumer side of the marketing equation, they won't be losing any ground anytime soon. Too bad!
I have moved on from PP only because of they control everything when it comes to your money. They have and will freeze your money with or without reason. Then you have to wait 180 days to get it back. This is something that I have read from others on this company. I have however joined Plimus that will allow you to accept PayPal payments. If someone wants to pay you using a credit card or a bank they can us just about any payment processing service. If they want to pay you using their pay pal balance they can do that with Plimus. The only draw back is that you can not withdraw money from you Plimus acct whenever. It is automatically deposited to your account once a month.
They sure do gvannorman, I have had my account frozen a couple of times. Anytime someone files a complaint for any reason, PP freezes your account. And it's not just for that sale, it's for all of the money you have in the account. I was cleared both times it happened to me, but it could happen again tomorrow. The last time, I had to pay a $400 fee out of my pocket for someone else that used my account fraudulently. It's a long story and I won't get into it here, but there are no processors on the planet more obtuse than PP. I have used other processors and my sales and conversions always dropped. So far, it's been a catch-22 situation for me. That's what galls me the most. PP is so well known that you wind up being unwillingly joined at the hip with them. If there was someone better, I would still be using them or change, but I've tried all the others. I am going to change at some point, but as you said, there is always a downside. With the PP debit card, I can get my funds out ASAP wherever I am at in the world. I don't keep a dime in PP because, when they choose to put you in PP jail, those funds are not accessible until they decide it's okay. They have up to 180 days to make the decision conclusively, if they want to take that long. Fortunately (or unfortunately), they usually resolve things in 30 days or so. However, it's rarely in your favor.
I had my account blocked and I submitted all the documents and proof that they asked for. They then decided that they had to tell me that my material was not good enough for them and they kept he block. So, I decided to deal with this setback and continue moving forward. That is what it takes to reach your goals. If you have a goal in life please do not let anyone tell you that you can not achieve it. Just stay determined and focused on your goal. You will reach it. That is how empires are built.
gvannorman, I hear you! I'm not hurting, and as I said in a similar thread, these are exceptions. For the most part, PP works fine and perhaps I am harder on them than I need to be. I don't mind paying a little more to gain more sales and increased conversions. I deduct all the costs of doing business to the IRS anyway. So, I agree that, if I was suffering, I need to move on. We are talking about exceptions here and they definitely bug me a lot. But the decreased sales and conversions would bug me a whole lot more. I did the same thing you did with PP and was lucky; I prevailed. I could have just as easily lost and have lost a couple of times, so I know what it feels like. The main points here are that we are talking about exceptions and I sure wish someone would at least challenge PP to give marketers serious options to process. Changing just because I'm not completely happy with PP is a bad reason to move. Changing because their is a widely recognized and trusted company available to me changes everything. I would move in that scenario... fast.
Well, I understand that you are still with them mainly because PayPal is the top company right now. It seems that everybody is using them. But, what happens when you can no longer use their service. What are you supposed to do then? Do you have an option? I appealed the decision they gave me and was told that it was a non-appeal case. Which means that they have my money and there is nothing I can do about it. I can wait the 180 days. Well that is all I can do. If you know of a way I can use PayPal again I would be open to your suggestions. But, right now I am unsure how to move forward with them. I just do not believe that they should be allowed to control my money like they do. With that in mind I have moved on to Google Checkout, Alertpay, and Plimus. I am hoping that others will move soon also. Maybe when PP sees a decline in users they will become a bit easier to work with. I have read online that PP is open to fraud and that is a huge problem for some people. But, the people who run the company seem to be the biggest fraudsters that I have seen so far.
Yes, I still use them, but like you, I sure don't like it. It is very disconcerting because I had a similar occurrence like you had once with them and wound up reaching into my own pocket for over $400 for a fraudulent transaction that was no fault of my own. Still, it had to be paid or they had a hold on $30k of my money. That was the last time I left even a nickel in my PP account. I empty it daily. I do have backups and use Google Checkout, Alertpay and Moneybookers in the event they ever do anything like that again. I obviously know enough to split test to see what happens when I make the changes to another processor. I haven't done it very recently, but I know what you went through. There are very few things that PP will allow you to appeal. Your documentation and everything else really matters little to them. To say that their whole operation is unfair is a huge understatement. PP started going downhill fast when eBay bought the company. Changes happened quickly and dramatically when that happened. That is the major reason I only use eBay when I need to now, and to get rid of something that still has value or (honestly) to steal the few things I can't find anywhere else for a better price. eBay is much more of a discount store now. Many of the listings are BINs, which has always puzzled me. How can an eBay have BINs when it's supposed to be an auction site? The reason used to make sense. They were an inducement to get someone to make an impulse or fast buy without having to go through the auction process. I think that concept made sense, but it is long gone. The % of people making actually making real serious money using the duo of PayPal and eBay has dropped to around 2%-3%. Most Powersellers earn less than $2k monthly and that is documented. It is also ridiculous to work as hard as a Powerseller for that kind of mediocre income. I am still tempted to change everyday because PP still scares the heck out of me. Dealing with them is worse than dealing with a government agency. They simply don't care and, maybe that's what really bothers me most. Essentially, they charge me a fee for the benefit of my buyers. They certainly do little to help me. I am really giving serious thought to 2CO and also my own merchant account. Both are viable options and it would be painful for a while, but my business is strong enough to handle the drop-off now. Fortunately, my online businesses have established and long-time clients now, so this change is coming more to the forefront every day. I would like to place as much distance between PP and me as soon as possible. Obviously, I am thinking about it a lot since I have made several posts about it here. Oh, and I definitely agree with you about the ownership and management. They are outright crooks, but then that prevails at eBay also. I really believe that the reason they keep doing the things they do is because no one has ever really challenged them legally yet. That's what it's going to take to reduce the incredible frauds they perpetrate daily. I think the long-term future for both of these companies is being decided by the things they are doing now and the overwhelmingly negative image sellers have about them. Nothing would make me happier than for both of them to go away. As we have seen, no one is invulnerable in business and even the largest companies can fail.