I'm going to start accepting payment on my website. Has anyone had good/bad experiences with using Paypal for accepting payments? Are there better alternatives?
I think paypal has come a long way. Sometimes when people want to pay with a credit card, but not create a paypal account, they get confused.
True, that's why you can specify the options pretty well 1. Pay with credit card (Visa/MC/Amex) (Paid via Paypal, no Paypal account necessary) 2. Pay with your Paypal account
Paypal is a great place to start. Their fees are reasonable, and they offer a variety of integration methods. Once you volume reaches 1 - 2k / month, I would look at switching to a traditional merchant account, but for a new venture, paypal is great.
How is the paypal credit card payment option set up? Can you only place the buttons onto your site requesting a specific amount or do they also let you accept credit card payments over the phone and let you get the payments processed thru them?
Starting with Paypal saves the initial hassles concerning setting up a merchant account. Definitely start with Paypal and then explore other options when your volume gets bigger.
I use them for my e-commerce site, and it works extremely well. You get an e-mail notifying you of each payment, and it's really easy to integrate it. If you want PM me and I'll send you the URL. Ian
I regularly use PayPal and ClickBank. I was a huge fan of PayPal, reasonable fee schedule and I like have the ability to either use my debit card or simply transfer to my checking account. But I do know people who have had huge problems with them (accounts frozen and canceled) and I did have one problem this summer that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Longtime client (over a year) complained about a payment (curiously one of 3 made that month--why that one?). I demonstrated that this was a long-standing relationship and that the service he paid for had been delivered. He still got his money back. It was only $48 I think BUT the item in question was a reseller situation so I was out that money not to mention the time involved in tracking down and providing all documentation not to mention the aggravation and worry (was the customer going to get money back for other transactions as well?). I do still use PayPal but I don't keep much money in the account (easy to do and doesn't cost you anything to transfer to your bank account) and I have my ClickBank and StormPay accounts ready to go into use and for backup (not all countries can use PayPal). One problem in four years (I think that's how long, maybe longer) isn't that big a deal I guess but I wasn't happy with the way any part of the matter was handled so I just wanted to be up front with someone just starting out with them.
You just wait until some idiot decides he wants the goods and the money too... He will wait until he receives his order and then call his credit card company and do a chargeback and there wont be a damn thing you can do about it. Paypal will take the money out of your account and refund the scamming idiot. I know because I was just scammed out of $70 bucks.
I've had pretty good results with PayPal, though I have heard of some horror stories (so knock on wood). Overall, I would recommend PayPal, especially when starting a new site, since it is simple and no upfront fees. There are of course better choices out there, but most of those accompany fees and are targeted for mid-high traffic ecommerce sites. PayPal is definitely the best option for beginners and fresh sites.
Paypal is really good..but its high time that they reduce basic fees ( 3.9% + $0.30 ) If smaller payment processors like moneybookers can sustain by having very low fees with a cap, why cant they do it ?
well if you can withdraw money through paypal then its good for you on other hand there are money bookers and plimus best of luck