Payment Services discussion

[Mike Hughes]

I have a regular chat with my Sellerdeck representative about what's happening, upgrades and ClearAccept and after our last chat I thought I should take a look at how my customers like to pay.

Looking back at the last 100 orders or so I found my split of payment methods were more or less (this is using PayPal as my PSP):

34% PayPal Mobile (I think this is using the PayPal app) at 2.9% + 30p
22% PayPal Checkout at 2.9% + 30p
22% Direct Card Payments in PayPal at 1.2% + 30p
22% Direct Card Payments on my checkout page at 1.2% + 30p

PayPal is set as the default on the payment choice and I don't know if this is why half of all card payments are made via PayPal rather than on my site. What do you think? I know I have a tendency not to trust putting my credit card details onto a site's own pages but maybe I'm old school on this. Actually, I know I'm old school but I guess I'm wondering how many customers think the same way and what other people's experiences are?

I don't think ClearAccept offer the option of transferring to to their site for payments do they?

I also discovered how seamless Google Pay was a few days ago. I was using my iPad to make a purchase and must have been logged into my Google account but when I saw Google Pay as a payment option I thought I'll give it a try and went to get my mobile phone expecting to have to do some sort of verification on it. But no, I just clicked the Google Pay option and that was it, payment was taken and I was passed straight through to the order confirmation page. Has anyone else tried this and is it always so simple?

Anyway, I though it would be good to share our PSP experiences and what we find works and what doesn't.

Any thoughts?

[Buzby]

With regards to the Clear Accept being embedded. We have had no issues with this at all.
When customers were concerned with Sellerdeck Payments they would follow up with a phone call to pay. Phone to pay is massively down with Clear Accept, so confidence seems to be higher.

With Clear Accept you don’t get an order when a cart has been abandoned as it won’t log an order until card details are entered. This saves us having so many unpaid orders. You do still receive an order on a declined card though so you can contact the customer.

Prior to Clear Accept we used to have some numpty order 5 times a day in the hope we would actually send something out to him without him paying. Clear Accept stopped this; no payment, no order generated.

The negative with this is you obviously can't follow up genuine cart abandonment. Not too much of an issue for us as cart abandonment conversions were always low.

[Mike Hughes]

Thanks Jason,

So you don't offer PayPal at all? I do sometimes wonder whether it's important or not. i.e. if you don't offer it then the customer will just go and get their card* rather than abandon the order.

*Or even easier, just let their browser autofill the card details. Does anyone do this?

[Buzby]

We tried Paypal for a few months this year just for the Pay in 3 which we thought may help our higher priced items sell, before deciding to stop after a charge back.

We had a charge back for item "item not as described" basically customer ordered a ring and it didn't fit and they wanted the next size up. They demanded we arrange collection rather than them returning it or they would do a charge back.

All they stated to Paypal was "item not described" we sent pages of info in our defense, copy of emails asking for a different size etc. They stated they had returned it and gave a fake tracking number of 1234567890. Despite it so obviously fraudulent, Paypal ruled in their favor. Within days they placed another order for a larger size which we of course cancelled.

We decided we couldn't use Paypal if they are not even going to treat us fairly.

[EdHarrison]

You were unlucky there Jason, I have been exclusively with PayPal a few years and love the simplicity.
I can access all transaction logs in one place for accounts and transfer funds in seconds to my bank when required.
I have had very few cases but touch wood won all of them.
I will be sad to see PayPal cards go as it has been brilliant for me.

[Mantra]

PayPal is set as the default on the payment choice and I don't know if this is why half of all card payments are made via PayPal rather than on my site. What do you think? I know I have a tendency not to trust putting my credit card details onto a site's own pages but maybe I'm old school on this. Actually, I know I'm old school but I guess I'm wondering how many customers think the same way and what other people's experiences are?

How are you taking direct payments on your checkout pages i.e. is the code to do this embedded (like ClearAccept) or is checkout linked to a third party payment service provider site to complete card data entry?

[Mike Hughes]

It's PayPal cards / commerce platform. It's embedded on the checkout page like ClearAccept and then processed invisibly in the background by PayPal.

[Mantra]

It's PayPal cards / commerce platform. It's embedded on the checkout page like ClearAccept and then processed invisibly in the background by PayPal.

Does Direct Card Payments in PayPal use a different method whereby the script is not embedded on the checkout page?

[Mike Hughes]

Does Direct Card Payments in PayPal use a different method whereby the script is not embedded on the checkout page?

Yes, this is where they get taken to PayPal and pay using their card there rather than on the checkout page.

I have to admit I don't know whether this is them entering their card details directly on a capture page or just selecting the payment option (from bank account / card ) within their PayPal account. All I really know is that it is shown as a 'direct card payment' option in the payments and the fees are less than the usual payment checkout option.

[mje]

One of many things that set Actinic, 20 plus years ago, then Sellerdeck apart from other options was a customers ability to choose from several payment options when building and maintaining their website, your business banking provider for example if that suited you.

Shortly, if you wish to continue without a rediculous increase for a support contract, widgets etc, you have no option other than to switch to their in house card payment system. Processing costs are similar, but the back office admin looks time consuming, availability of your money delayed and of course the extra inconvenience of VAT to account for.

No doubt it works very well in Sellerdeck, I signed up, but not installed it yet, my only experience is the “support” when raising a ticket was disjointed and very slow on this particular occasion.

We had numerous “potentially account closing” communication issues with PayPal as a company when I was very ill for a period in 2022, but my customers like PayPal, it’s a brand that’s known and trusted world wide. Consumers like the protection PayPal gives them, and whilst as a merchant that can cause a headache or two, I’ll always use PayPal when buying something myself online, so can’t have it both ways.

Removing a customer’s ability to choose is, in my opinion is the wrong path to tread, especially as historically the options were numerous.

[Mantra]

Initially I decided not to opt in for PayPal payments due to the high fees applicable at the time compared to the merchant service provider fees being charged and I did not want customers switching over to use PayPal for ease and convenience given the very prominent select button presented by Actinic / Sellerdeck when first available.
The fees that appear now to be applicable for Direct Payments in PayPal are very competitive.
I understand that Sellerdeck may not be withdrawing support for all types of PayPal payment and I would be interested to know if when using Direct Payments in PayPal the customer is transferred to a secure third party payment service, which Paypal payment method is used in set up and if this part of PayPal is to be retained and supported by Sellerdeck?