posted on December 11, 2001 07:47:04 AM new
2+ years ago my business had a merchant account. Then I found out about PAYPAL.
Shortly after that I canceled the Merchant account.
Life was good.
After many PAYPAL transactions as a buyer & seller I had one bad one. (last March)
The claim was resolved to their satisfaction but not to mine. (I lost $60)
So I went looking at the alternatives once again.
Guess what.....
I closed my PAYPAL account Saturday.
I just finished cuttng up my PAYPAL Mastercard.
I got another merchant account & am processing online on my own thru my website.
Why?
I did a simple cost analysis.
For the first 10 months of this year I had processed almost $24000 thru PAYAL.
I paid out $560 in fees to PAYPAL.
If I processed that same amount thru my current Merchant account It would have been $565.
The differences....
1st I can also accept AMEX & DISCOVER. (MERCHANT)
2nd I have a customer service group that gave me a phone number where I can reach them easily & anytime. (MERCHANT)
3rd I have a group behind me that will fight for me if there are any chargebacks. (MERCHANT)
4th I do not have to deal with ongoing & continuing changes in policy (PAYPAL)
5th Subject to all banking rules & regulations. (Merchant)
6th I can email my customers a link to make their payments automatically.
7th My customers retain all their rights thru the credit card purchase.
In the end it just made so much more sense.
Customers can use the same credit card they could have used to sign up with PAYPAL to pay for their purchases. Funds are automatically deposited into my account.
As for PAYPALs buyer protection program & recent rules changes.....
I am a bit leary after finding out that all new signups basically agree to let PAYPAL access their bank account should a bad transaction occur somewhere down the line.
While this is basically the same as is for a merchant account PAYPALs track record in freezing accounts & inability of customer service to do much more than use canned responses & tell the customer to wait for the claim to go thru investigation bothers me & obviously many others ALOT! I would much rather deal with a customer service unit that will respond & FIX a problem in a reasonable amount of time rather than a group that basically only responds when they really have no other choice or the claim has been in for 30 days.
In my time in business on the net I have learned a few things.
The biggest of which is that as an online company the only way you get to make an impression is with your customer service since they are the only people your customers actually deal with.
If your customer service looks bad the whole company does reguardless of whatever statistics you want to present to do otherwise.
My last comment goes out to Damon specifically.
While I tire of your canned responses I must admit that you for the most part have been helpful. It is just sad to see your talents (& I know some do not agree with me here)
wasted by the methods PAYPAL uses
posted on December 11, 2001 01:46:50 PM new
I'm glad you have found something that works for you.
How much are the fees to maintain your Merchant account itself?
It seems you have to have a pretty good business income to be eligible for a merchant acct and I would be interested in the criteria.
We currently have a business acct but we don't have enough business income to satisfy our bank to make the switch to a Merchant acct. .. actually, we could probably do it now, but starting out we didn't qualify.
posted on December 11, 2001 02:35:41 PM new
PayPal has buyer protection? Really??? Since when? I have been scammed by a felon and PayPal has told me to "Shove it! We don't care about your problems because as long as the seller sends you something, be it crap or PIRATED SOFTWARE VIOLATING U.S. LAWS. Go talk to the felon, even if he has ignored you and is no where to be found. We don't care if he has defrauded you, we will not refund you because we can keep 2.9% for ourselves. By the way, did we tell you that we do not tolerate fraud? Thank you for bending over and using PayPal. Next!"
posted on December 11, 2001 10:12:46 PM new
bestattic,
Fee's for merchant accounts aren't really that bad... we have two merchant accounts...one with our local bank and one with an internet type merchant account. If your interested in getting one goto www.bankcardusa.com and they can explain it to ya... Discount rate is 2.35% ...our other account is 1.8% ...25$ monthly minimum fee (basically charge $1000 a month to actually pay $25.00)...We offer all payment methods to our customers..But we'd prefer them process through us as we have better "chargeback" rights than with paypal..we get a chance to defend ourselves...G'luck =)
posted on December 11, 2001 10:14:37 PM new
It is a U.S. felony to sell pirated software to unsuspecting consumer. He has not been caught right now. No court can prosecute him because he is anonymous. He has my money through Paypal. I've reported the pirated software to Keystone Learning Systems, who acknowledged this finding. I've been told that you are committing a felony, if you sell illegal replicas of copyrighted software. I was bidding on an auction that stated "USED" software. When I e-mailed the seller and asked if they were authentic and original, he said "Yes". When I received the product, I found that they are cheaply made burned CD that costs about 50 cents each. Why would I pay $608.50 for this? Now the seller is no where to be found. Why? Because authorities are looking for him.
posted on December 11, 2001 10:37:03 PM new
sorry, not so simple. the proper authorities are slow on their investigation. also, it will cost me about $2000 for a subpoena, which is required to get paypal to release the criminal's record. right now, i don't have $2000. local police also do not have jurisdiction over internet fraud. any suggestions? fbi?
posted on December 12, 2001 08:30:47 AM new
i bet he has no money in his paypal account now.
is he still selling on ebay,have you reported to ebay ??
it sounds like he should be booted off ebay.
how do you know it cost 50 cents to produce a cd??i always wonder how buyers figure what the cost is ,likes they have been in the seller shoes all along??
ebay insurance will cover a portion ,learn your lesson and buy from reputable store,not individual sellers.
another suggestion-how about your local congressman??
posted on December 12, 2001 09:33:51 AM new
Well if everyone follows stopwhinings advice we might as well just shut down the internet.
no sense in keeping it open. Everyone should just stop buying online.
Some of us have been in business online for a while. We are not out to screw people over.
If you personally are so afraid of dealing on the net then don't.
Just do not go around telling people that they should run down to walmart instead of making an online purchase via website or ebay.
posted on December 12, 2001 11:12:37 AM new
despite this, i would still buy online from reputable companies and individual sellers by using reputable merchants. i just won't ever use paypal again.
as for how much money is left in the the felon's account, i don't know. paypal has refused to do any investigation or specify. besides, it's only a "quality of merchandise" issue.
okay, so i'll just go suck on my lollipop, but it's kind of hard to do so when i'm bent over.
-- arurenu
"you mean paypal is not my pal?"
posted on December 12, 2001 12:24:56 PM new
i should refine my message to say dont buy from individual or even company in cyberspace or alley or street corner or sunday flea market if you cannot afford to take the risk that you may lose it all.
i am in the market for a new camera,will i buy on ebay NO WAY!!!!!!!!
The first one i bot was from an ebay seller and it took 36 hours to install the software.
i am sure there are good cameras and good sellers on ebay,it is just i do not want to get out of bed in the middle of the nite and flip the page on my pc monitor .
same goes for all these people who got scammed,do you want to risk another incident like the one you just went through,is it worth the hassle??
by the way,walmart and sam club are online too.
posted on December 12, 2001 12:32:17 PM new
yeah, walmart is cool. they have things online for cheap.
i purchase products after i have researched whether they are good or not. afterwards, i ask myself if i can afford it. this is why i go on ebay. this is why i want at least some sort of fraud protection in place. of course i would never send that guy a cashier check or money order. i assumed paypal and credit cards have fraud protection.
and again, despite this incident, i would continue to use ebay. i used yahoo auctions before in the past and i had many safe exchanges, even via writing personal checks to someone with very good feedback. this is just one bad incident and i will use it to remind myself to ALWAYS check the feedback and ratings of a seller.
-- arurenu
"you mean paypal is not my pal?"
