Are banks better than PayPal?
 

PayPal is dinging me $60 per $2,000 wedding. Ouch! Are banks better than PayPal for taking cc?

Ever had a check bounce? Lost $4,000 once on bad checks! I never lost a dime with PayPal. CC fees vary but are very similar.

You might want to ask in advance how they will be paying and adjust your fees accordingly. Some of those who use PayPal, even in our own classified section, require the buyer to pay the fees. I don't like that at all, but it can save you money.

Good luck----Mike

I once lost $800 over a transaction that I think is secured from an ebay auction. I transfer the paypal balance to my bank account then shipped the item to russia. 3 weeks later, Paypal reversed the transaction as the buyer use a stolen credit card to pay. So stuff can happen with paypal. The safest way is taking money order or cashier's check :)

You will have to be careful what you put down offcially of the additional fee if you ask the buyer to pay for that. In California, it's illegal to pass that fee to the buyer.

There are those who pass counterfeit or stolen/altered money orders and cashier's checks also.

The best protection is that grey matter between your ears that makes you seek out additional information/clarification on potential buyers/sellers.

I also think it's not right to pass on a Paypal fee to the buyer. People didn't like it much when the gas stations started charging an extra 3 or 4 cents per gallon for 'credit' customers. They were passing on their credit card transaction fees to the customer.

-gb-

If it's a $60 fee, perhaps I could give a credit to those who write a check.

fees such as paypal, monthly bank charges, etc are part of the cost of doing business. This is very much the same as the cost of gasoline, car insurance, and any other related expenses. If $2000 does not cover your cost of doing business and leave the desired profit, raise your rates. yes it seems fair to charge the customer the extra, but in most of the united states, the laws are set up in a manner that requires you to spread the costs of credit card charges evenly to all of your customers.

I didn't think that was a law? As far as I could tell when I applied for credit card processing through Innovative Merchant Solutions (the Quickbooks CC people) they said it was a requirement by the merchant account. (i.e. raise the rates on someone for paying via CC, or charge them the fee, we'll cancel your account) but made no mention of laws.

It may be worth a read through of the TOS for (in this case) Paypal.

C

you will do as everybody does on ebay.
price the wedding 50$ and make shipment cost 1950$
i think there is no fee on shipment charges.

You know those fees are going to be deductible as business expenses right? I don't suggest being disingenuous on eBay. Technically that would leave you open to a lot of issues. The bad part about Paypal is that they have been known to close accounts for little or no reason. The good is that at least you'll get a decent return on interest in their money market account.

$60 seems like a whack, but it's only 3%. I'm going to look into whether my bank can give me a better rate without drawing blood. We'll see what good ol' Bank of Amigo can do.

That is when you are selling on ebay. What gets me is that they are all owned by the same company so they dip into your pocket 3 times. I understand they are providing a service but I think since they are all under one roof it should be a single fee. First they charge you to list the item, then they charge you based on how much it sells for (which is why people hide fees in shipping), then if you use paypal they charge you a 3rd time based on the whole total. I prefer to use Google Check out as it was free for nearly all of 2007 I processed a lot of sales without loosing a penny which was nice. They also had slightly better rates when they were charging, I will be keeping an eye one the rates to see if they go up after the year though.

While I too like to rail against eBay at times for their fees, you still can't beat what you get for them. No other auction site gets nearly as many people to look at your items or where you can find what you are looking for.

One thing you must learn is how to list items for the least fees. For example, on an item that you know will go for a high price, say over $50 or so, don't put an opening bid of $9.99. They charge you much more to list it than if you start it at 99 cents and the ending price is not changed. Don't put a starting bid that is one dollar less than your buy-it-now price! Don't put a reserve on an item that you know will sell for a reasonable price. Items that start with a low first bid and do not have a reserve cost very little to list, about 20 cents last I checked. Also, it costs just 15 cents to put that little thumbnail picture next to your auction listing and it is well worth the money. I have seen many items go for much less than they should have or that similar items did, because there was no gallery pictures. People don't have time to peruse thousand of descriptions, they look first at the picture.

I know eBay is trying to crack down on those who charge high shipping charges to avoid fees. It is just that with about half a billion auctions a day, it is very hard to enforce and would require hand scanning of the auctions.

Do I like PayPal fees? Nope! But, the alternative is usually much worse. With the price of fuel these days and the time you loose during your day, it is generally more costly to go and get a money order to pay for an item, or to take the money order to the bank when you receive it. Of course you could take a check!!! Bottom line with PayPal is that you do not have to use it if you don't like it, but in the long run it probably saves you money and it very secure. Remember, the guy above who got taken on the stolen CC order from Russia, would still have gotten taken if he just took the CC straight from the person or bank.

While I don't like the fees associated with PayPal, they are equal or about the same as CC companies. But they are easier in the long run, especially if you are the one who has to take them.

No matter what you take for payments, there is a risk, so be aware.

Mike

Yes, in your case, paypal cannot be beat. Banks charge similar rates but they also charge you a monthly fee to use their services as well.

The more you use paypal, the better the discount on the fees.

Yeah, I'd be careful about that high shipping bit on EBay - don't count on them having to hand sort the auctions, a simple spider/crawler could red flag every violator of the high shiping fee prohibition in a few minutes... now taking action on everyone who DOES that might take a while <wink>

Most banks are going to hit you for a monthly charge, the Paypal flat rate is not bad considering if your volume is not that huge.

You will not do better than PayPal for low volume transactions. It's the cost of doing business. A single bounced check could cost you more than several year's worth of PayPal fees.