I figure if somebody can’t wait for a check or money order to clear, they may be trying to pull a fast one so I won’t buy from them. Why should someone else get a cut of the transaction?
loathar
Actually, this is a really good point. I have recently got a couple of good deals on e-bay where Paypal was not accepted, only personal check and MO. I don’t mind writing a check and waiting for it to clear. What I really can’t stand is the MO or cashiers check only sellers. I just don’t have, or want to make the time to go to the bank/ PO to get one. It is not like they are any more secure for the seller as there are numerous stories of fake MO’s floating around.
Dave,
I sell on Ebay every now and then, and I accept the fact that they are charging me to use their service. I would do the same thing if I was providing a service. The worse thing about using Pay Pal to me though, is the fact that they are an Ebay company and they are double dipping into the transaction fees of the seller( the way I see it). And because of that, I choose not to use it. I know, they are providing more of a service and that should demand more of a fee. I understand that. And anybody else that chooses too use it, is more than welcome too.
But like I stated earlier, and this only my opinion, I feel that express handling should be paid by the buyer, not the seller. The service provided by Pay Pal is really an Express service. Yes it services both parties, making transactions much faster. But most companies that offer express services usually charge for them don’t they?
If I don’t use Pay Pal, will I lose a chance of making a bigger sale? Maybe
Will someone that chooses only to accept Pay Pal for payment, lose some bigger sales? Maybe
If I change my mind and decide to use Pay Pal to get sales, will I transfer the fee in a form of Shipping & Handling charges? Most likely, but I would state that in the auction so potential buyers know up front.
These opinions are strictly my own. I am not trying to get anyone upset or trying to start a flame war with anyone.
Like i ended my last post:
To each his own I guess.
I actually prefer using U.S. Post Office money orders. I feel that they are safer for me. If anyone passes a fake, then they messing with the Federal Gov’t. not just me. Receiving other types of money orders does scare me a little. It is so easy nowadays to print off your own and who would know untill it’s too late.
I think we’ve seen a lot of great opinions here on the subject. I think a little too much is being made of this, though. A few things to think about:
- PayPal was not originally ownd by Ebay (I think). Fee structures were in place prior to Ebay acquiring PayPal. Should Ebay cut a break to sellers who offer both? Maybe, but that’s a demand issue.
- Ebay isn’t the only use for PayPal.
- PayPal pays a discount fee for the credit card transactions, and so have to pass that on. Like a bank, they of course make money on those fees, because at therir volume, their discount rate is much better than what they in turn offer to sellers. Hey, they have to make a living, too!
- PayPal offers a comfort to buyers because they don’t have to provide a credit card number to everyone they buy from. This helps keep more buyers out there, which is ultimately good for the sellers. Doesn’t mean that sellers are inherently dishonest, there are still a lot of people that balk at putting their credit card number out there on the Internet. (That’s sometimes a good caution, BTW.)
- I’ll buy from you even if you don’t take PayPal, but I am less likely too because of the hassle. Sure, I’m in several places each week that sell money orders, but I have to remember when I’m there to get one, and my short-term memory isn’t what it once was. (Maybe a by-product of the 70’s - who knows?!?) Besides, ever stand in line at Wal-Mart customer service to buy a money order? It requires much patience and the ability to bite one’s tongue on occasion!
- I’d rather you just pack an extra dollar of two on the S&H (hey, why not share the cost with the buyer) than to specifically “punish” me for using PayPal. I’ve been in small retail stores that actually up-charge for a credit card transaction, and it’s tacky. If you believe the total is going to be high, pack several dollars. Just don’t rip us off. Most people have an idea about postage fees. I get really turned off when I’m looking at a $15 item that has a $20
Aggro,
I’ve used Paypal probably 400-500 times with zero problems, both buying and selling. It does cost you a small amount as a seller, but it’s relatively safe for sellers. I got burned for $75 on a fake money order. Some enterprising dude figured out you can scan a money order, print it on check paper and voila! I now hold all non- USPS money orders just like a check, 10 days before I ship. Paypal is simple by comparison, when I get the email from Paypal the money is there. I can ship next day instead of messing around, trying to get to the bank, etc… And I recently got a refund from an Ebay deal where I was the buyer, I notified Paypal, the seller refunded the money within a day. That probably wouldn’t happen without a trip to small claims court otherwise. And postal money orders? Don’t buy the claim that Postal Inspectors will jump on your case if there’s a problem, if it’s a one time deal lots of luck! You have to prove that there’s a true case of mail fraud before they’ll even look, and that’s after 60+ days.
Just start a savings account at your bank, and link that to your Paypal along with your credit card. If you do sell and don’t want to accept credit cards, you can get by with the basic PayPal acct., you won’t pay fees to receive money. Just state that in your auctions, Paypal but no credit cards, lots of people do it like that.
I’ll have to rethink about it now ( see the smoke?). If I don’t have to pay the fees, then it isn’t such a bad thing for me.
I guess my problems of using it stem from being too lazy to learn more about it.
The quick and dirty on Paypal transactions:
-
As Buyer: Use a credit card. If you don’t get what you paid for, and if paypal doesn’t recover funds for the dispute, you can do a chargeback and get your money back. Don’t pay with paypal funds alone unless you trust the person or don’t care if you lose your money.
-
As seller: Don’t sell without delivery confirmation. If someone files a dispute, you’ll need this to prove you sent it. Only ship without DC if you really trust the person on the other end.
Disputes are pretty rare, but this will protect you if one comes up… and there are certainly unscrupulous folks out there.
So long as you follow these two rules, you’ll find paypal enormously useful and convenient. I use it almost exclusively now.
Note that you need to find and display the Paypal logo WITHOUT the credit card symbols to make this ok. If you use the default Paypal logo, you MUST accept credit cards or risk suspension. You can look that up on the Seller’s board, there’s a thread near the top that explains the appropriate use of the Paypal logo in your auctions.
i have used paypal numerous times…I much PREFER auctions that accept paypal…i have found it no muss no fuss…and had excellent luck …in time you will find the ‘good guys’ and deal with them
I find it nice to use but I keep getting junk mail where I am told someone has added an email address to my account. This happened a few days ago again so I clicked on a link within the note and found myself on a screen where I was asked to enter my credit card information to verify my personnal information. I consider this a real attempt to sucker punch people as in ID theft. I blew this screen away but am now considering canning my account as I don’t beleive the system is secure. Hackers apparently access PayPal information and try to rip you off.
Bob
I’ve been buying and sellign on eBay for a few years now, almost always with PayPal. I have NEVER had any trouble with my payPal account, or any problems completing transactions.
Those emails are NOT about PayPal, and have nothing to do with PayPal. And they are ALWAYS 100% phoney, just delete them. You’d get those even WITHOUT a PayPal account. I get ones supposedly from banks that a) I don;t have an account with and b) don’t even have offices within 100 miles of me.
My latest favorite is the one supposedly from the “System Administrator” of my domain. Oh really now? Well, my registered domain is registeed by ME and 100% hosted on my own servers. And I don’t even have a user name “System Administrator” It’s not impossible to track these people down - if we actually DID something about these low-lifes who keep WASTING our bandwidth, the internet might improve. And that’s EXACTLY what this junk is - THEFT of services by wasting everyone’s bandwidth and procssing time. I don;t get much spam, but that’s because my spam blocking software gets it - that means it DOES waste my bandwidth being delivered to my mail server, and wastes my server processing and discarding it.
–Randy
[quote]
Note that you need to find and display the Paypal logo WITHOUT the credit card symbols to make this ok. If you use the default Paypal logo, you MUST accept credit cards or risk suspension. You can look that up on the Seller’s board, there’s a thread near the top that explains the appropriate use of the Paypal logo in your auctions.
[/quote]
If you’re referring to the Paypal logo that Ebay “auto-installs” on your auctions, just avoid listing it when you’re putting the item up for bid. If you’re not going to accept credit cards, I wouldn’t even bother to list it as an accepted payment method on the auction set up on Ebay. List in your text description that you accept Paypal, cash only. And if Ebay prompts you to add the link for Paypal, just refuse.
Being a US train fan in Europe, only Paypal allowed me to buy things on ebay. And no problems up to now (ca1000$ spent) all in intercontinental transactions.
My only experience with money transfer was a huge hassle: it took me a full 45 min to have the clerk make it right (I was probably the first one sending money from this office). The post address the seller gave me was not the one he routinely used , so it took 3 weeks (and 4 mails) before the payment was received. And all the fun cost me 20sfr = 15$ against 0 if he had paypal.
Clearly the seller will all the money of the sale price , but also I would like to pay only the selling price and not to have to add another 15% on the top of the 10-15$ S&H I have talready o add to any selling price.
Giving my credit card nr: forget it! I never saw you, I do not even know were you are…
So that is: no paypal, you will be without my money
seabstiano
CraigN,
Hmmmm. I wouldn’t mind paying a little more in the shipping and handling for those sellers that accept paypal. Just like I don’t mind paying a bit more when I buy something at the 7-11. Convenience.
The other half of the story: Many if not most of the online vendors work on a very narrow margin. for a lot of these vendors the 3% bite they get from PP really digs into their margin almost to the point that they make nothing from the sale. I want them to stay in business so I’ll stick to money orders.
I’ve used PP as both a buyer and a seller. Never had a problem.
From a seller standpoint, anything that makes it easier for a customer to buy from you is a plus. The fees are comparable to what I get charged for taking credit cards.
I can’t believe some of the ads I see on EBay where a joker sets so many restrictions on payment that you just click on by.
Mike Tennent
I used to pay with Money Orders, and then opened a PayPal account, and that is all I use now. I only buy, not sell. I haven’t had any problems with Pay Pall, but I have had Emails from both Pay Pal and Numerous others that want me to confirm my Information, or status of my account. If they are from Pay Pal, I usually forward them to Pay Pal’s Security section and they will confirm that they are not from them and thank me for sending it to them so that they can try to investigate where/who is sending them. I also get Emails that want me to confirm my address and email so that they can send me a gift/Prize/check for 10K, or what else you can think of. I have a Junk mail filter and a Spam filter, that catches these emails but I still have to delete them myself.
I get from 15 to 100 of these every day/time I log on to the internet and check my email. I check the sender while they are loading (dial up) and click on my tools menu and select “delete mail marked as junk” and they are gone. It is pretty good about not marking what I want to read. If it skips any I mark it as junk and after a few times, it catches those too.
Sam
Hi,
Sorry to hear of that. I would say this is only partially paypal’s fault as the way the payment was structured, it is very likely that the buyer was out to defraud. One way they can do it is to report a non-receipt of item and if there is nothing you have to show delivery (as it was an arranged pick-up), Paypal reverses the funds. I have been using paypal and ebay for 2++ years now. Whenever I sell a train costing 100++ and the seller deliberately not-ask for insurance, I’ll pay another US$2 out of my own pocket for registered airmail. Of course the buyer doesn’t know and true enough some of these guys complain of non-receipt of item. All I had to do was to email a scan of the receipt and I never heard from them again. If it was a genuine case of lost items, I’m sure they’ll ask if I can trace it with the postal service 
Regards.
That could be the reason and I never thought of this till now. I will wright them again asking if that is the reason, if so I have a signed receipt from the buyer when he came to pick up the truck showing he took possession of it. Thanks again.