PayPal ?

[JTRS]

Following on from another thread in which I stated that I didn't have and would never use a PayPal account, I just wondered how many people here use PayPal.

Yes it's a convenient way to send money, but my reasons for not using them are quite simply because PayPal are a law unto themselves. Whilst they may act like a bank they are not a bank and as such are not regulated.

Their complaints/disputes are arbitrary and I've seen quite a few examples of some very weird business practices that left me shaking my head.

They have a huge connection with eBay, yet they do not seem to work with eBay, for example, you sell something on eBay, the buyer PayPals you the money, you send the goods. The buyer receives the goods and posts you positive feedback (goods as described, quick delivery, would use again) and then 2 weeks later they decide they don't want the goods anymore. They inform PayPal that the item wasn't received, PayPal initiate a chargeback and unless you have a signed for delivery then the buyer gets a refund as well as your goods. If you haven't Googled PayPal Horror Stories, then you might just want to have a quick look and also if you are a user of PayPal I'd also read the terms and conditions you have signed up for and agreed to accept.

PayPal are great when everything is going smoothly, however, come the day that things go awry is the day you find out just what rights you don't actually have, hence why I would never use them.

JTRS

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I dont use ebay because of the reasons mentioned however Paypal I use quite often to send money to other people and take money from clients. They take a fair cut of credit card transactions paid to you however for low volume amount of transactions I think its the most cost effective.

It doesnt cost you anything to have an account so if you don't use it then nothing is lost. You could just do BACS everytime you want to send or receive money but thats another trip to the bank for which some people is a fair old drive.

[Jonathan Ford]

I have PayPal on my website for me to receive payments, and used it for the first time ever a couple of months ago to subscribe to this site. Since then, I've only used it twice, on both occasions to pay a bill. I've added it purely for the convenience of myself (I live 10 miles from the bank and work 30 miles from it. Getting in to the branch is a royal pain in the arse, seeing as they don't open on Saturdays), and my clients.

In terms of eBay, the only thing I've ever bought on eBay is a car, which I paid cash for, so can't really comment.

[Charlie Brown]

I live off eBay.

Just checked - I've made 23 PayPal transactions in December alone.

[Vectis]

Disassociate eBay from PayPal and treat them as A.N.Other Payment Gateway and they fulfil this role very well.

I've used it heavily for several years with something like 75%+ of all my business transactions coming this way, both on individual payments and subscriptions and I am yet to have an issue.

Yet bolt eBay into the equation and I've had several problems.

At the basic level, fees are 3.2% + 20p (IIRC) which is a fair tad more than a merchant account with a card machine, but then you have the convenience of it all being online and under the client's control. They never have to share their card details with you and you don't have the overhead of taking care of all of the DPA nonsense that goes with it, so for me it's a no-brainer and I've no intentions of looking elsewhere.

When I first noticed the level of transactions coming this way, I jacked up my prices by 2%. And don't forget that the fees are tax deductible, so there's 20% minimum back in any case.


Tried Nochex and Google Checkout and binned both.

[Pe7e]

:agree: