posted on September 16, 2001 01:05:54 PM
If a seller already accepts cc's from another business outside of eBay, they may be getting better rates (i.e. lower fees) than PayPal or Billpoint. I'm sure the bookkeeping/accounting is easier also with one account rather than a menu of ways to take cc's.
When I checked with my bank, it was cheaper for me to use the services you mentioned than to set up a merchant account, etc. But you may sell enough that it would be worth it for you.
posted on September 16, 2001 03:38:35 PM
>>Do they know something we don't? What is the cheapest way to accept credit cards? <<
>>If a seller already accepts cc's from another business outside of eBay, they may be getting better rates <<
Why is everyone so obsessed with doing things the cheapest way, rather than the best way? There is a reason why some sellers would rather have their own merchant account.
1) They make the decision whether to accept a payment or not. With the payment services, you don't know anything about the other party. You are trusting Paypal, Billpoint, Paydirect, C2it etc to validate the card. Paypal has gotten pretty good at it but still not perfect. At least they send you the confirmed address, so if the customer asks you to ship elsewhere, you can suspect a problem. C2it accepts responsibility for stolen cards, so you are safe. Paydirect sends all charges to you and Billpoint does such a terrible job I consider them criminally negligent. (Folks have shipped at Billpoint's direction to John Smith in Chicago only to learn that the card used belonged to Bill Jones in NY.) When the card turns out to be stolen, you wont even know who to contact.
2) When there is a problem and the customer does a charge back, the merchant bank contacts the seller. If you accepted the card, you will be contacted and given a chance to dispute it. If you went through a payment service, you have to depend on them to fight for you. Billpoint and Paydirect won't bother. They will just charge it back. Paypal may or may not try. C2it claims they will fight for you. Since I have not seen any complaints about C2it charge backs, I will take them at their word until I hear otherwise.
I wish folks would have the common sense to consider the value of what they want instead of just the price.
posted on September 16, 2001 06:57:56 PM
how do these large sellers accept ebay bidder's credit cards on theie web site??
do they give them a screen to fill out ?
since the ebay bidders are not buying anything from that site,there has to be a standalone screen unrelated to any product for sale on their website.
also would they ebay bidders have to key in their cc info every time they buy from these sellers??
posted on September 16, 2001 07:08:10 PM
Yes, the buyers have to fill in their CC info. Believe it or not, some folks actually insist on this. They feel that this is safer than using a payment service. I often ask them why they feel that giving their CC info out to ten different sellers is safer than giving it once to Citibank. I point out that now their info is in at least ten different places and that these sellers will then pass the info on again to their processor, so it might wind up on 20 different places. I point out that there are fraud sites pretending to sell items for the sole purpose of collecting CC info to sell to scammers. But some folks still insist on sending me their CC info directly. Some have even sent all of their info in one unprotected email. Somehow they think this is safer than using a payment service. There is no protecting some folks from themselves.
posted on September 17, 2001 08:21:37 AM
these sellers could have their brick and mortar shops and have been accepting cc in these stores ,which mean they have commerical bank account and merchant account.
if so,this is no different than walking into their land store and buy something with your cc.
