Alternative to Paypal?

[littlegiant]

Hi,

I'm currently using the Paypal Buy Now buttons to sell stuff on my site. Things were going pretty good for a couple of weeks but then all of a sudden sales dropped down to nothing. I decided to test the payment process to see if there were any glitches and lo and behold, I discovered that the Paypal 'Review Your Payment' page is now throwing a Javascript error even though I haven't made any changes to the Buy Now button HTML code. I contacted Paypal about this but just in case this turns into a protracted "This is not me, it's you" debate about why the Javascript error is happening, I'm trying to set up a contingency plan to process payments on my site.

I have three questions related to this:

1) What do you think about using Paypal to process payments? I chose them largely because of branding and because you don't need to have a credit card to buy. This is important because my potential clients are definitely not accustomed to paying for things online.

2) Do you think a Javascript error is enough to put off someone from buying? I know it would scare me off.

3) Can you suggest an alternative to Paypal? I'm currently considering Google Checkout. Do you have any other suggestions? It would be really great if I could offer a non-credit-card option of payment.

Much thanks for your feedback.

[stymiee]

1) What do you think about using Paypal to process payments? I chose them largely because of branding and because you don't need to have a credit card to buy. This is important because my potential clients are definitely not accustomed to paying for things online.

Paypal is ok if you are small or don't have other options available to you. Otherwise I would always choose a true merchant account with a payment gateway first. Far more professional and powerful.

2) Do you think a Javascript error is enough to put off someone from buying? I know it would scare me off.

You are far pickier then most. Most people don't even know javascript errors exist. And a javascript error just means there is a javascript error. It doesn't mean anything is wrong or unsafe. It just means there is a coding issue that obviously is not important if the site is still functional. Heck, it could just be an issue with a status bar text changer which is trivial.

3) Can you suggest an alternative to Paypal? I'm currently considering Google Checkout. Do you have any other suggestions? It would be really great if I could offer a non-credit-card option of payment.

I've heard Alertpay is okay.

[wige]

1) What do you think about using Paypal to process payments? I chose them largely because of branding and because you don't need to have a credit card to buy. This is important because my potential clients are definitely not accustomed to paying for things online.

Paypal is probably not a bad way to go, especially if your customers are new to the web. Paypal inspires trust simply because people have heard of them. The marketing message of Paypal is so strong that the general public is inclined to trust them, regardless of how trustworthy they may be. In this case, branding and name recognition are to your benefit.

2) Do you think a Javascript error is enough to put off someone from buying? I know it would scare me off.

Yes. A technical user would probably not be uncomfortable with a javascript error, but it does not sound like that is your target demo. The general public needs a lot of convincing before they will trust your site enough to order. The media at large is full of coverage of data theft, malicious hacking, etc. These users don't know one type of error from another. Any error message, especially in the checkout process can scare away users.

3) Can you suggest an alternative to Paypal? I'm currently considering Google Checkout. Do you have any other suggestions? It would be really great if I could offer a non-credit-card option of payment.

The only other option I could think of would be Google Checkout - again, name recognition is important - or setting up an Ebay store. I think, but I'm not certain, that the Ebay stores use paypal.

[SnerdeyWebs]

Keep paypal use an Oscommerce Template and open the doors of merchant accounts with other services so your web site can offer all kinds of payment methods!

I'm sure it's something related to your site, computer or ?? but Paypal has been working fine for us daily

[ArthurNYC]

Paypal is ok if you are small or don't have other options available to you. Otherwise I would always choose a true merchant account with a payment gateway first. Far more professional and powerful.

Sorry but that is wrong. We process in excess of 10,000 transactions monthly and offer all major CCs AND Paypal. Over the past years we have seen Paypal use increase (much to the displeasure of my merchant banks) to over 18% of transaction from 12 just 18 months ago.

In general, most major merchants offer at least 2 payment options (there was a recent article about this in internet retailer).

A few years back, Paypal was the choice of small merchants but now it is a second option for almost all major merchants.

Arthur

[creditwrench]

I'm looking for an alternative too but I haven't found one that issues a debt card one can use in most if not all ATM machines. I really like that feature.

It is almost a must because it allows me to make purchases at gas pumps and just about any other place that accepts cards too. And of course that way there is no waiting for the funds.

So those features are important to me.

And yes, Ebay and Paypal are bed partners since ebay bought out paypal a while back.

I also like the feature that Paypal has where they will not enter into disputes unless they involve purchases that require delivery of physical goods.

[clumberman]

Paypal is probably not a bad way to go, especially if your customers are new to the web. Paypal inspires trust simply because people have heard of them. The marketing message of Paypal is so strong that the general public is inclined to trust them, regardless of how trustworthy they may be. In this case, branding and name recognition are to your benefit.

Yes. A technical user would probably not be uncomfortable with a javascript error, but it does not sound like that is your target demo. The general public needs a lot of convincing before they will trust your site enough to order. The media at large is full of coverage of data theft, malicious hacking, etc. These users don't know one type of error from another. Any error message, especially in the checkout process can scare away users.

The only other option I could think of would be Google Checkout - again, name recognition is important - or setting up an Ebay store. I think, but I'm not certain, that the Ebay stores use paypal.

I agree that Google Checkout has good alternative name-recognition and, were I setting up a new web site, I would almost certainly use them over PayPal. Don't forget that eBay =owns= PayPal, just one more Evil Empire, behind the one in Redmond. Don't =ever= forget that nearly all merchant processors give you, the merchant, absolutely ZERO protection against fraud, even when you do everything right and =they= authorize a transaction...and even less if it's an international order.

Lyle Knox
FGW Auction Manager

[mohsho]

I am using PayPal for memberships and conference fees for a couple of academic organizations. I find it very frustrating to work with. I would look into Google Checkout in a heartbeat if it was available in Canada. When I first setup PayPal for one of my sites, PayPal decided to do an "update" of sorts and the first day I launched my online payment system, it was broken because of some undocumented changes that they made. It's tough to do business when relying on a company with business practices such as this.

[webreporter]

Paypal just has way too many hoops for your customers to jump through. If you have a business checking account, I highly recommend that you employ a credit card processing service that works online. Then I recommend that you build a shopping cart on your site that works with the credit card processor.

I used to use PayPal until I reached a point where I was going to tear my hair out. One too many times I ran into the problem where the customer had once used PayPal but forgot their password. That was enough to make the customer change their mind about buying my services.

Online shopping is often an "impulse buy", so you don't want to throw any hurdles toward a shopper with credit card in hand. If they run into issues with the payment method, they might just say "Screw it" and move on. No one in business can afford to let that happen.

There are literally hundreds of companies out there that process credit cards and will deposit the money into your checking account within two to three days of the transaction. There are some that even do both process the cards as well as incorporate a shopping cart.

Recently I was contacted by a prospect who wanted a shopping cart on her site, so I did some research and found these sites:

Ecommerce Software, Ecommerce Solution, Online Store, Web Store, e-Commerce, Web Services, Ecommerce Company
Shopping Cart Software Ecommerce Solutions
Shopping Cart, Secure Online Shopping Carts, E-commerce websites
Shopping Cart Software & Ecommerce Solutions Products

You can get as simple or as complicated with these as you see fit. Bottom line: Take control of how your site sells your products.

[Kate Lennon]

My advice is to avoid PayPal like the plague.
I was using PP on my two main websites for two and a half years without any problem. Then, one day, I received an email from them informing me that my account was "under temporary suspension" until I sent them "verification" of my personal details. Among other things, they wanted proof of address (ie, the address I had provided them with when I first signed up with them), and proof of telephone number (the number I had given them when I signed up).
As I was no longer living at that adress (having moved to a different country a year previously), I obviously could not provide them with verification that this was still my address (and obviously the phone number wasn't valid anymore, either).
I emailed them and explained that I was no longer at the address I had given them when I first signed up with them, and asked them how I should go about updating my details.
About a month later (and several repeat emails from me), I received an email from them to say that there was no option to update these details, and unless I could verify that I was still at the address and phone number I had used when I signed up with them, my account would be permanently suspended.
I replied, pointing out the impossibility of proving that I currently lived at an address that I had left over a year ago.
I received no reply, and a message suddenly appeared on my payment processing page to say that the account had been deactivated pending verification of the account-holder's details (which must have gone down great with potential customers).
Despite numerous emails to PP over the following weeks (they didn't reply to any of them), my account remained suspended.
I had just over 500 euros in my account when they closed it, and when I tried to transfer this money to my bank, I found that I could not. The whole thing had been blocked. I also tried sending it to a friend who had a PP account, but again this was not possible.
That was two years ago. They still have my money. I stopped emailing them after more than six months of being ignored. I got through to their "customer service" on the phone once, and it was like talking to a zombie. All the guy did (he was obviously reading from a "cue card" - was repeat over and over that my funds would be "unfrozen" and my account "reactivated" when I provided them with the verification details they had requested.
The conversation went like this:
"But I am no longer at the address or phone number I was at when I signed up with you."
"Well, you need to have a current address on your account."
"So why can't I update my details?"
"This is covered in our conditions. Would you like me to send you a copy?"
"I'm not interested in reading your conditions. I'm just interested in getting my money back."
"I'm afraid you can't transfer money while your account is suspended. If you send us the verification information we requested...."
Etc.
But it actually gets worse. Not only did they suspend my account, they also terminated the recurring billing payments I was set up to receive every month from my advertisers. I lost most of these accounts.
And it gets even worse. The also closed the accounts of the people I'd sent money to over the previous year! These people (mainly programmers etc., who had carried out work for me) had their PP accounts "frozen" solely because they had received payments from a "non verified" account (even though, obviously, the account was not suspended when the payments were sent).
After that, I vowed never to have anything to do with PayPal again.
A few months ago, however, I needed to pay for some urgent programming work, and the only payment option this guy had was PayPal. Reluctantly, I submitted the payment - and it was rejected! Seems that, not only has PP stolen my money, froze my account (and those of the people I did business with), they have also "blacklisted" my credit card details to prevent me from using PP to make payments online!
I now use Verotel on one of my sites, and 2Checkout on the other, and so far I have had no problems with these.