posted on September 16, 2001 02:59:26 PM new
and opened a paypal account. I feel like such a weak person. I just couldn't take another buyer getting all pi$$ed off because I dont' take it. I'm not advertising it in my auctions though! I will remove the NO PAYPAL, but I will not encourage it, either. I've got hte lowest level account, cause I cannot even begin to understand how that debit card thing works to save you money.
posted on September 16, 2001 03:24:07 PM new
Just be sure they can't deduce your paypal payment address from your auction listings, or someone will paypal you before you've had a chance to tell them that you don't accept credit or debit card payments....
If what I wrote above confuses you, you'd better read the past few weeks of threads at the AW and OTWA paypal boards, with special emphasis on the paypal seller protection program's loopholes.
Good luck.
Edited to add: Oops, you don't qualify for the seller protection program anyway. Just be sure you understand that if you get more than $100 a month in credit or debit card transfers, you will be forced to upgrade to premier or business, with all the fees those entail.
[ edited by icyu on Sep 16, 2001 03:29 PM ]
posted on September 16, 2001 08:42:09 PM new
You might want to consider putting a minimum amount that's OK for PayPal payments. I've recently put in my auctions that I won't accept PayPal for items costing less than $25.00. Don't know what, if any, impact that will have but their fees are eating into my already miniscule profit margin!
posted on September 16, 2001 09:08:32 PM new
blueyes29
I have put in my EOA notices that I do not want to accept it for under $15.00 and has it helped a lot. I still get people that have to pay that way and may include 50 cents without asking to cover the charge. I do believe most adults using the service understand.
posted on September 16, 2001 09:19:39 PM new
I never upgraded to a business account. I get roughly in a slow month $700 in PayPal a month. I do NOT advertise PayPal at all in my auctions. I do state in my EOA that non credit card transaction may use PayPal. Each month I come close to using up the $100 in credit card payments I am allowed. But to date only one time did I go over the $100 and I was given the opportunity to accept it and upgrade or decline the payment. I declined it. The bidder was not happy and gave me my one and only neg. That was in Sept 2000.
Lots and lots of winners ask me to explain why no credit cards and I simple tell them. Many offer to pay the fews...but what they do not understand is that it is fees on all transaction from here on.
posted on September 16, 2001 09:47:51 PM new
Yeah, blueyes29, that's what I meant in my previous post.
You can open a first (or second) personal account and accept only non-credit/debit card payments--ie paypal balance transfers or eChecks. You can even accept a few credit card payments if you keep that total under $100 per 30 day cycle.
Say something innocuous in your TOS about other payment options may be acceptable, then let the buyer know in your EOA that you WILL take C.C. if they cover the fees, otherwise use eCheck or balance transfer.
But be sure the aggressive or overly-helpful buyer can't guess your paypal user address and send a payment before you can email them your EOA notice.
posted on September 16, 2001 11:08:39 PM new
icyu wrote - "then let the buyer know in your EOA that you WILL take C.C. if they cover the fees"
On a personal account there are NO fees!
According to PayPal rules, ebay rules, and most state laws, You can NOT charge extra for someone using a credit card if you accept credit cards. You can offer a discount for paying cash nut NOT a charge for using a charge card.
cin131 - Please no the rules before you make a decision to charge extra for any service. I know of a few sellers that were suspended from ebay for "extra PayPal fees".
posted on September 16, 2001 11:36:20 PM new
richierich: Sorry I didn't make myself more clear on this. Yes, there are no fees for accepting a c.c. on a personal account IF you keep the monthly total of c.c. payments below $100/month.
I meant my other advice more generally: If you have a Premier/Business account, you can deal with the c.c. fee surcharges by following what I said earlier.
Sorry, richie, but in the real world that's how it works: You phrase your EOA message in such a way that the buyer can volunteer to pay your PP fees. Of course you don't call them "paypal credit card surcharge fees"; you name them "handling fees" or some such euphemism instead. Many times, your buyer will even thank you for the favor.
Or he can use an eCheck or his existing paypal balance and transfer those $$ to your second, personal paypal account.
So, cin131, by all means real all the rules at ebay and paypal and the California department of credit card correctness or whatever, and then use common sense.
posted on September 17, 2001 05:16:49 AM new
Thanks, guys for all the advice! I appreciate it. How can they pay me with paypal, WITHOUT using a credit card???
posted on September 17, 2001 06:05:42 AM new
yes you certainly did cave and should be ashamed of yourself. if someone wants your item they will bid, paypal or not.....theres yahoo paydirect, bidpay.com and payingfast.com, emoneymail.com and on and on and on.........i offer those 4 and my sales are just as steady as they have ever been. i will accept paypal if someone ask and it is less than my monthly balance of $100 paypal has for recv. payments on personal accts. But my auction state i do not accept paypal. i have done over $4000 in sales this month 50% used one of my online payment options, none of which was paypal...bidpay, paydirect and paying fast got all that business, approx 16 transactions.....YOU DO NOT NEED PAYPAL TO MAKE IT ON EBAY!!!!
posted on September 17, 2001 07:20:22 AM new
You can be paid without them using a credit card in several ways: PayPal fund; echeck; Instant Transfer. I think that's it. Those types of payment have NO limit and on a personal account are totally free.
Credit Card payments have a $100 per 30 day limit. If you reach the $100 within the 30 days you will be given an option to accept it and become a business account or decline it and stay a personal account.
Yes winners do not all read and some will pay by PayPal and use a credit card when you asked them not to, that is why the $100 cushion is nice. But most of my buyers read, I only reached the $100 once and I have done this seen PayPal started charging.
I do offer them other credit card options: Payingfast.com (I like this one) and c2it.com (a pain in the backside). (But c2it gets me FREE listing with AW on promotions and bidders rarely use it so it is worth it to me.
posted on September 17, 2001 07:29:45 AM new
I don't think you need be ashamed of yourself, but soothsayer is right about one thing: You do not need PayPal to succeed on eBay.
Look. Buyers love PayPal. And why shouldn't they? Usually it's ultra-convenient for them since they're bidding from their work computer anyway. Of course they're going to want to use it!
However, they will use other payment methods. Trust me on this. We don't take credit cards or electronic payments AT ALL and we did over $100,000 in business on eBay last year. This year should be double that.
posted on September 17, 2001 06:21:18 PM new
Regarding the paypal charging once we hit $100...
In my listings I state "PayPal balance transfers are welcome. For credit card payments I prefer Yahoo's PayDirect. Thank you." Some have asked and I explain that "Perhaps 30 cents plus a percentage might not seem like much on your particular item but it really adds up on the lower cost items I sell."
Anyway, paypal keeps track of it for me -- well I do, using their system. Inevitably there are those that send paypal payments via credit card. What I do is "file" (not "file all" the cash, transfer and check payments, but leave the cc ones showing on my Overview page. It allows me to take a quick gander and see where I stand on the $100. Oh, and you should know my "calendar month" begins on the 22nd -- don't know why, but you might ascertain when your month begins too.
You must work through PP's TOS and how their system works, especially the setting of preferences and the services NOT available with a personal account. At this point, there's really no substitute for doing your homework at their site and at the AW and OTWA boards.
That said, the following is how I understand the system to be working today; but PP changes their TOS frequently, and some things work differently in reality than they do on "paper":
If you have a premier/business account, you can set your "Preferences" to filter credit card payments, or you can fiddle with those preferences to fine-tune your acceptance parameters.
The last time I looked at a personal account, you weren't given any preferences to set. If that's still the case, you'd be totally at the mercy of the buyer's choice of payments. This is why I wrote that you must be sure the aggressive/helpful buyer can't guess your personal account's name, or eventually he'll send a budget-busting credit card payment before you can "consult" with him in your EOA.
When you get a credit card payment that puts you over the $100 per 30 days mark, you will be given the option of upgrading to premier/business (and pay the fees), or rejecting the payment. Later, you can ask PP to downgrade your account back to a personal one, but you can only request this once.
Your most conservative move would be not to mention paypal at all; this forces the buyer to ask, and you can impose your will. But I say again: be sure the buyer can't guess your PP account name. Downside? A lot of buyers will not bid on any auction which doesn't explicitly say that PP is accepted.
Or you could say something vague in your TOS like: 'Other payment options considered, contact me before bidding'. Upside? You will expand your pool of bidders if they are smart enough to understand what you're trying to say about possibly accepting PP.
Or you could spell out your requirements for accepting PP: 'Only eChecks and existing PP funds are accepted', for example. But here again, you risk the arrival of a credit card payment--you wouldn't believe how many [insert your favorite adjective] buyers simply will not read, remember, or ever understand what you are mandating in your TOS.
janice: I would think your calendar month begins on the date your PP account was activated...?
posted on September 18, 2001 04:28:36 AM new
As a buyer, faced with the choice of buying identical items from different sellers, the seller who offers PayPal is going to get my bid every time over the seller who doesn't offer it.
If needed I will bid more for the PayPal sellers item if I have to.
You ask why?
Simple. It is more convenient for me.
Why should I have to piddle about buying a money order, posting a check etc. I can win an auction and pay for it there and then from the comfort of my own chair and computor.
The point that all you stingy sellers are missing is that sellers using PayPal will usually more than cover any charges they incour by the higher number of bids they are likely to get and the higher selling price of their item.
Wake up to yourselves and stop fretting about trivial penny pinching.
posted on September 18, 2001 09:36:55 AM new
Yes, cin131, you may use my wording if you like for the paypal/ yahoo thing. The other idea shared, to keep your email account hidden, is good too. The one I use is not readily apparent to bidders. I try to be as accomodating as possible -- this should be a pleasure experience both for the bidder (getting what they want) and me (earning money to pay bills), so I'm not big on "rules" -- basically, it's send me your payment and I'll send the goods. Simple. I like that.
Anyway, I think most folks who bid on my items are savvy enough to understand my desire to keep expenses low. Good luck to you in all your auctions.
posted on September 18, 2001 12:58:34 PM new
I don't accept paypal or billpoint, but this past week I tried something new- I offered gift certificates from target.com as a payment option. I actually had a buyer take me up on it and the transaction went smooth as silk- he paid online with his credit card, I got the giftcard from target promptly. I can use it online or at target stores. I don't see any way for the customer to successfully do a chargeback with this method (if I'm missing something I'd appreciate any info you may have.)
might not be practical for powersellers to do all their auctions this way, but since I've gone back to having a day job and I only sell a few things here and there, it works for me...
the cash, transfer and check payments, but leave the cc ones showing on my Overview page. It allows me to take a quick gander and see where I stand on the $100. Oh, and you should know my "calendar month" begins on the 22nd -- don't know why, but you might ascertain when your month begins too.
The other idea shared, to keep your email account hidden, is good too. The one I use is not readily apparent to bidders. I try to be as accomodating as possible -- this should be a pleasure experience both for the bidder (getting what they want) and me (earning money to pay bills), so I'm not big on "rules" -- basically, it's send me your payment and I'll send the goods. Simple. I like that.