Paypal... am I missing out not having it as a payment option

[mac-man]

Been getting quite a few calls from Paypal asking if I want to add them as a payment option... telling me how much business I'm losing out on by not having them onboard.

It'll be an add-on via Paypoint.

Is it worth doing? All I ever seem to hear about Paypal are the negative aspects.... basically they don't give a flying fig about the seller and will grab your money at the merest sniff of reverse charge claim.

So... is it worth it?

[Duncan Rounding]

Yes, as a payment option. Like it or not as a merchant, buyers do like paying with Paypal.
Add it for a while as a secondary payment option and see how it goes.

[completerookie]

personally, (as a seller) I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, like thay say, far too quick to listen to the buyer and giving a refund, and never ever seems to listen to the reasons behind the refusal.
having said that, as a buyer, I love paypal, seems I can get a refund even when the seller refuses to listen.

when you start selling £1000+ items and they give refunds willy nilly, then for me, no way will I ever use them

kev

[chickenhouseman]

Customers like paypal, approx a 25% of our orders are paid that way.
Whilst i steer away from companies that only offer paypal i do personally use it quite a bit for purchases whan it's an option. We can often see transactions where the payment has failed by card but they've had another go and paid by paypal. This seems to happen more since verified by visa started. If you count these as missed sales because they customer would go away and find a site that offer paypal it does start to add up. It actually seems to be growing in popularity. Once you have your sales volumes up the charges are not much worse than the card processors and they are normally a couple of days quicker to get the money into your bank account.

I've had no more problems with chargebacks than with card payments.

Why do you want to add it as an option via paypoint when you can add it directly to actinic? i guess paypoint would charge you a processing fee?
Do you offer other options such as pay by cheque or send card details seperatley? The best way to take money is by whichever method the buyer is happiest using.

[Mike Hughes]

[This post was a reply to deleted (?) post about whether paypal made sense or not - No idea why it was deleted ]

As with all aspects of fraud you have to make up your own mind on how likely a target you are and set your procedures accordingly.

Likely targets: Expensive, desirable, easily flogged, typically small and not signed for, etc.

So:

Prescription glasses: low risk
Apple Ipod/ipad: High risk

In your case (pool and exercise stuff) it's all quite bulky, probably sent signed for, and there's not much reason for someone to want to get an extra one on the side. So probably low fraud risk in general.

On the other hand, I always think people tend to use paypal for small transactions and pull out their credit cards for the expensive items. So whether you'll see much demand is another matter.

In general though, Yes Paypal is good to have and like others I haven't found it problematical.

Mike

[Duncan Rounding]

[This post was a reply to deleted (?) post about whether paypal made sense or not - No idea why it was deleted ]...

I deleted a number of posts including the one above as the user was actually spamming his signature.

[Jacky]

[This post was a reply to deleted (?) post about whether paypal made sense or not - No idea why it was deleted ]

As with all aspects of fraud you have to make up your own mind on how likely a target you are and set your procedures accordingly.

Likely targets: Expensive, desirable, easily flogged, typically small and not signed for, etc.

So:

Prescription glasses: low risk
Apple Ipod/ipad: High risk

In your case (pool and exercise stuff) it's all quite bulky, probably sent signed for, and there's not much reason for someone to want to get an extra one on the side. So probably low fraud risk in general.

On the other hand, I always think people tend to use paypal for small transactions and pull out their credit cards for the expensive items. So whether you'll see much demand is another matter.

In general though, Yes Paypal is good to have and like others I haven't found it problematical.

Mike

I find Paypal really good - our website is not very busy, mainly for information purposes - but I have far more problems with HSBC E payments than Paypal, which always go straight through. HSBC E payments frequently get stuck in pending area as Balance Outstanding - I can't figure out why - but I would stick with Paypal, without any doubt!

[Paul Bulpit]

Five egg's worth

For what it's worth I think....

Paypal is used by low value buyers, those with eBhey accounts flogging a bit of tat. It is easier for them to to re-apply their funds to a small purchase elsewhere than to withdraw it to their bank account. The regulars have also come to learn that if they dispute the transaction, PayPal comes down on their side first, worry about the consequences later.

We have 'disputes' over orders (mainly, late delivery when we charged for express) - 99% are paypal and the buyer is very quick to complain to PP who bounce it. Very difficult to argue against, even when we want to put our side of it.

In completerookies case I imagine he is using it to process card transactions - why? it is the most expensive form of payment processing known to man. His problem is that he is transacting with Paypal experts (almost tempted to say, fraudsters exploiting the system).

In my case I would say that the odd dispute is countered by the extra sales - but I can't prove that.

[Paul Bulpit]

Yes, as a payment option. Like it or not as a merchant, buyers do like paying with Paypal.
Add it for a while as a secondary payment option and see how it goes.

Deliberately added after my last post.

Duncan's first sentence - yes, for low value purchases.

Second sentence: make it low key, secondary, do not draw attention to the option, hide it in small print, offer it by email later to those who elect not to pay online......