|
Post by Southbomb on Dec 26, 2003 20:51:07 GMT 2
Hey Guys, Just conducting a study trying to figure out if paypal is really necessary. The fees are really killing me! -Matt
|
|
|
Post by mpanayiotakis on Dec 27, 2003 0:14:42 GMT 2
Matt, as a seller I seldom accept paypal payments but not because of the fees.. There's no option to withdraw any money to greek bank accounts so any money I have in my balance are practically worthless. I would prefer www.moneybookers.com over paypal any time since I can withdraw the money but not many people use that for the moment. I hope paypal adds a withdraw option for more countries in the future. As a buyer I prefer to pay via paypal because it's convenient and 90% of the sellers accept such payments. I think that, for now, you have to create a paypal account if you want to make deals using Ebay.. Michael
|
|
|
Post by QJ on Dec 27, 2003 2:17:39 GMT 2
Almost all of my auctions are paid by PayPal as my buyers feel this is the most safest and quickest way to pay. Even with my private deals, PayPal is very popular, especially from international buyers.
We all hate the high PayPal fees, even if someone pays me from a cleared PayPal balance I still have to pay the same fees as a credit card payment which is blantent greed on PayPal's behalf since they've already raked the fees previously.
I genuinely believe on average you get lower bids if you do not accept PayPal, and in my opinion the sellers who charge an extra surcharge % are only shooting themselves in the foot as buyers will simply bid less to compensate (this also applies to excessive shipping costs). If you weigh up the pros and cons with PayPal I think it's best to bite the bullet and absorb their charges.
To answer your survey though, I would have to answer the credit card and PayPal balance as I use both (obviously depending on what my PP balance is!).
QJ
|
|
|
Post by jonwiththewind on Dec 27, 2003 13:14:32 GMT 2
Let us not forget that Paypal is a SERVICE, and so of course there is a fee involved. (A bloody good service which I have not YET had any trouble with) I would simply say look at the alternative. Instead of spending approx. 5 minutes filling in a form online you have to go into town, visit a bureau de change, post cash sometimes (risky) and there is no comeback if it goes wrong. As a "for example" - I won a purple judge at the beginning of August this year cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=8106&item=3037898602and the Australian seller (Baskabar) insisted on an international cheque. I haven't seen the item yet OR had ANY email contact from him since the week after the auction ended. It has dragged on and on and on, and paypal would have stopped this (the point of my story!!) Interestingly, when I asked whether he took Paypal as a payment method, he said his bank wouldn't let him use it, as it was considered too risky !?! Perhaps I should have been suspicious then, but I had just won a quite rare item for a reasonable price....... Paypal is just SO much quicker/safer. It's all about how much you are willing to pay and you might decide that the other methods are better. If someone sets up a "paypal"-type online service and charges less, I will use that instead, but (like ebay) it seems that the one "big player" gets ALL the trade. Not exactly fair, but etc. etc. etc. etc...... ;D
|
|
|
Post by QJ on Dec 27, 2003 18:20:53 GMT 2
If someone sets up a "paypal"-type online service and charges less, I will use that instead, but (like ebay) it seems that the one "big player" gets ALL the trade. We already have two in the UK, NoChex and NatWest Fastpay, unfortunately they are not international, if they were they would certainly make a fortune. I agree that PayPal is providing a service and that they should levy a fee to use it but it's interesting to note that NatWest makes no charge to receive a credit card or cleared fund payment for personal users (only the sender pays a small fee; free if they are sending from a cleared balance and just 1.5% charge if funds are from their credit/debit card).....so it really makes you wonder exactly how much eBay are creaming. Also is PayPal actually safe? Are they governed by the same financial regulations like the banks which protect users money? QJ
|
|
|
Post by Southbomb on Dec 27, 2003 20:37:11 GMT 2
Sadly Credit Cards are winning the poll, as I was hoping the other two categories would win. Looks like accepting credit card payments through paypal is the only way to go. Paypal is indeed a service, but look how much money they are taking for every transaction. It really does add up! Thanks for participating in my survey! -Matt
|
|
|
Post by foxterrier2000 on Dec 28, 2003 2:00:26 GMT 2
@ Jonwiththewind: You may be interested to know, that the seller actually resold that game, to aldrin21.. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll ever see that Purple Judge
|
|