Usage of PayPal Uk accelerating

Hi
for the last 6 weeks I see a steady growth in usage of PayPal.
This is PayPal UK (not US)
On some of our sites it's getting close to 50% of c/d payments.

Before you ask the alternative we're offering is WorldPay and on some sites Nochex as well as banktransfer and UK cheques.

Anyone else seeing this?

Expat

 

We have proper merchant accounts and accept all major UK cards. I was wondering yesterday, would there be any benefit (more sales?) in offering PayPal alongside this? We also offer Direct Bank Transfer and Cheque.

I would be passing (almost all) the additional costs on to the punter so for them it would be more expensive.

I've heard some people prefer using PayPal because then the (potentially dodgy) merchant never gets to see the credit/debit card details.

What do you think?

 

i prefer buying using paypal over buying normally online (wher you enter card details etc)

 

Actually, over the last 2 months we have seen a decline in PayPal usage, and nearly all of the decline has been replaced by the growth of NoChex...? We haven't changed any of the "help" popups about either service, and we dont pass on any fees for either, but NoChex is definitely winning with us at the minute....

 

hmmm.
interesting about nochex as it is relatively new to us.

Regarding passing on costs to punters - I'm afraid I would never buy from a site that would try that.

At 2.3% and holding foreign currency at no cost for us, sourcing and selling world-wide pp is perfect. We can now pay US bills directly without having this part converted and re-converted which safes about 1.5% currency conversion costs and takes out any currency fluctuations on this part.

We now tell our overseas suppliers if they want to be paid promptly it's paypal.

We looked into setting it up with our own software full merchant account etc it's just to much hassel. I always found that keeping security up have the databases etc stress and hacker tested ideally run it on a different mashine and clean it up costs more that simply use a third party like veriflow wp pp etc.

(Just the upgrade to master visa enrolled would have probably taken a week including stress testing)

I also strongly belive to give choice - so if people are confident with pp like the verified and the ease of payment by just putting in a pw (similar to nochex etc) or don't like WP give it to them.

My 2 pence
Expat

 

I see nochex as a dying alternative, it was quite popular a year ago but I just dont see the same demand or talk nowadays.

My shop offers:

Payment online merchant/debit-credit card
Call you back to take credit-debit card details
Paypal
Mail-In cheque

Only the online payments and Paypal are used and from a small sample I know paypal does help sales as people have money in their account that they view as disposable income more so than using a debit/credit card, its viewed as money for spending online so I think any online shop that does not offer a paypal option is potentially losing sales.

Personally if I have a few hundred or thousand in my paypal account that is not spoken for I go looking for a website to buy or head to ebay, seriously if your ecommerce I would say that a paypal option is a necessity and I can see no good reason to limit your customers options, around 30% of my ecommerce sales are paypal.

 

That's exactly how I see my money in my PayPal, ready to be spent again not to 'download' into my bank account. Interesting you mention that, I might give it a try.

How popular is your call-back function?

 

For me paypal has declined and Nochex is replacing it as a gateway which is cool as its cheaper and no charge backs ( not that I have ever had one )

JUst wish Nochex did europe as well

edit

about 72% NOchex to 28% Paypal

But go back six months and it was the other way around

 

Call back has not been used at all as yet, but then again I think its like having a telephone number on the website, the telephone has been used once - and that was when a customer had problems with worldpay paying online!

So I feel that offering call back and a phone number are not things that necessarily get used but offer confidence to the shopper so they feel better about ordering and using the store knowing that your professional and contactable.

I am talking from a purely internet buying point of view, we will be doing other promotional work that will increase the use of the telephone number and possibly call back for people who don't feel "safe" but for internet users paypal is very much a necessity, as you say, its money for spending and it doesn't even feel like your spending money as it does not affect your bank a/c.

 

What do you think about passing on the processing fee to the customer though? As a merchant, PayPal is way more expensive than our normal banking fees.

 

Well if you run a business then all cost must be built into the cost of the item whether P&P / credit card charges / import or export tax ect. or your GP will be screwed and at the end of the year your accountant will tell you made less or even made no money

So yes every business passes all costs to the custmer - sorry guys to burst a bubbly but do you think amazon sucks the charges ect

The thing is not to add them at final check out as that will piss off a customer

 

Indeed, it is not acceptable to offer a convenient method of payment and charge more. There are certain circumstances where I get away with on a freelancer site I own where people pay artists through me escrow kinda and that all fine and well, but ecommerce shop; if the price you see if not the price you pay then be prepared a lot of half full shopping trolleys being left around your shop when they get to checkout.

 

Well I see that differently.

I'd rather have them pay with a credit or debit card but IF they want their convenience (and our hassle) of a PayPal payment they can cough up for the fees IMO. I wouldn't want to let other people who do pay direct pay for those that want to use PayPal.

I'll probably surcharge them first and see gauge the interest. It's not like they don't have enough options. It's merely a favour to them (which might give us more sales).

 

Jeez, TOPS thats mad.

Do you really think that your/my customers realise that we pay fees for processing credit or debit cards? For the vast majority of them they think what they pay goes into our pocket.

I have spoken and surveyed hundreds of people, one of the first thing people look for nowadays on ebay is shipping/P&P.

Why? Because it is now an active and very real method that certain people use now to overcharge customers and lower their sale price, even my mother in law bitches about charges/p&p, they do not see these charges as something they should shoulder, they see them as a method of you the retailer to fleece them further.

If they are avid paypal users YOU are the one inputting hassle to them of entering credit card details when they could do a very quick checkout with paypal.

? I kinda see what your saying but..? treat every customer as if they are your only customer.

 

I see your point and I guess I can only find out by trying. Thanks for your insights.

 

If you do trial a charge and have something to measure it against then let me know what results you get, you may blow my theory out of the water which is why this forum is so cool.

 

Total agreement as this is a way of getting a sale - low price but stung at checkout

ebay is at the top of the list and do not even get me on to the subject if the sellers pay thier tax on each sale

I charge at sale which includes the gateway costs but I must admit P&P is added per cart item . The reason why is it is only fare the customer is charged by what they buy and not a fixed shipping cost

Anyway back on track Paypal is in decline as more and more people start to trust other gatways

 

I don't see paypal on the decline personally, not that I would be upset but I do see paypal as a "figure" that some people have that they want to buy things with, we rarely withdraw unless its a business a/c so thousands of people have "money" in their paypal a/c that they want to "buy" things with.

Charging for using this convenient method would be wrong in my eyes, not from a business point of view,granted,but customers want to pay what they see, the retailer always gets shafted, you just need to build it into your sums.

 

That's my opinion too: from both sides. my shops accept paypal and paypal is used by webmasters and alike that have some money in their paypal account, easy to spend - much harder to convert to coins and bills.

and from the other side: money in my personal paypal account I tend to spend much faster online than using my CC or other ways.

 

PP is not just a payment method like all "bigger" ones they offer a full feedback loop allowing to have orders immediately flagged for shipping which as it is a pass back method also allows for preceise affiliate / conversion tracking so there is no hassle.

I now see echeque payments through PP - interesting 4 day hold untill payment clears .... will see if this triggers order release....

On P&P; I insist that our shops have P&P calculated in the price we offer.
Yes we may loose a wee bit on small orders BUT I would not pay £5 when leaving Tescos / Wallmarkt for the use of a trolley, would you?

Everytime I find an ebay seller that charges more than real standard shipping or VAT as an extra I simply blacklist them on my system.

Expat