PayPal? A good way to go, or not?

[rarvin]

I am using PayPal currently on my hosting site. I was just wondering if anyone has had any bad experiences with them. If so, are you still using them?

Thanks for the feedback in advance.

[Chicken]

I've used PayPal for payments (not for hosting though) and haven't had any issues. It works.

[Barbara]

I've used PayPal to pay for hosting accounts at a couple of different providers and have never had a problem.

[nameslave]

I use PayPal too, but I won't say I "like" it. It NEVER gives me the sense of security and trust that is so needed for a money-related institution.

[Greg]

Originally posted by nameslave:

I use PayPal too, but I won't say I "like" it. It NEVER gives me the sense of security and trust that is so needed for a money-related institution.

Same here, we use it but not many clients pay via it, most prefer to pay via 2CO, but some pay by it.

[Rincewind]

I use paypal. I've also used many other payment processors such as *********, ccnow, 2checkout, worldpay. Some people have had problems with using paypal. However, I suspect that many of them forgot that paypal is not a bank account. It's a system for sending/recieving payments. Don't leave money sitting in you account. I your suppliers also take orders via paypal then it can help allot with your money management. The money comes in form customers, a portion of that goes to your supplier and you withdraw the ballance. Where as with other providers, you have to recieve the money, build a ballance, transfer than to you bank, pay your suppliers via your credit card and then finally pay your credit cards from the money in your bank. That's a much longer route, more paperwork, more potetial problems.

[Operator]

Originally posted by rarvin:

I am using PayPal currently on my hosting site. I was just wondering if anyone has had any bad experiences with them. If so, are you still using them?

Thanks for the feedback in advance.

If you want to read bad experiences:
http://www.paypalsucks.com

I've use them and I have encountered some problems. It seems as if PayPal is never on your side when you are the seller. I sold some virtual goods to a buyer once. Once I transferred the license to his name, he immediately did a chargeback. Since it was virtual, there was nothing I could do to prove that I had actually sent him the item.

Hence, I lost. :(

[Corey Bryant]

It all depends on your clients - who you cater to. Some people have paypal where they keep some play money in. I always recommend for some clients - get a paypal account. It all depends on who they are trying to cater to. if it is the younger generation - I definitely recommend it. Paypal will open up an account for just about anyone & they do not check an age.

[Dave]

PAYPAL is great! They are probably one of the only 3rd party merchant solutions that have a feature of your company name appearing on the customer's credit card bill. I believe they also have an update, that does not require your customers to be signed up with PayPal to send you money.

[rman2003]

I offer PayPal Subscriptions as a payment option. So far clients seem to prefer it over a traditional merchant account or 2CO. So, no complaints here.

[Felix]

In January, I began accepting paypal payments to my website.

I do admit that I don’t feel 100% comfortable with their buyer and not seller’s protection. However, Paypal has been good to me so far, and it seems that the vast majority of my clients are appreciative that we offer paypal as a payment processor. I

[AffordableHOST]

The vast majority of our orders go through our regular merchant account. We do still accept paypal for those who prefer to use that. We do very close to five figures worth of transactions per month with Paypal...and have only had very minor problems a couple of times. I do make sure we deposit into our bank account each night.

--Tina

[serversolutions]

are they any other payment provides like paypal

[Corey Bryant]

Probably not as popular. And when you say like Paypal, I think of Stormpay, etc.

There are a couple of other aggrgators / third party solutions like www.mypaysystems.com & www.2checkout.com

[Dixiesys]

Paypal is one option we give, most orders are through our merchant account, however I've found that those who want to pay with Paypal often will ONLY pay with Paypal and will keep looking.

I've also found that if Paypal is your only option you lose quite a few sales to people who don't want to use it. So it's a good option, but wouldn't have it as the only option, no way, no how.

[linux-tech]

Yeah, paypal is great, as an option, however forcing clients to sign up for something else (paypal) just to use your service isn't really an option. It can result in a good bit of lost business.

I use paypal for those that prefer it, and for those that don't have it, I offer visa/MC through auth.net, which seems to work just perfectly so far.

[HostCentris]

Sure, paypal is great. But you should consider in accepting Credit Cards, such as 2checkout.com. If you only accept Paypal, you will force your customers to put their credit card information on a third party (Paypal), which is not good. Spend some time researching. We at Hostcentris, LLC started accepting Paypal, and Credit Cards with 2Checkout (also a 3rd party). Now we accept Credit Cards through Linkpoint.com which is a Merchant Account. It's much faster than 3rd parties. Consider spending some money to start up your business. All business need money to start.

[hostzodiac]

I have used PayPal for four years with no problems. While some have given it a bad name (mostly sellers, not buyers) because they had a bad experience with PayPal or simply tried to use it as a bank account (which you shouldn't) it is by far the most popular third party billing company out there and anyone can sign up within minutes for a merchant account with them.

PayPal is great if you are just starting out and need a credit card payment processing solution from the ground up and with no money up front.

For your customers who already use or have PayPal it works really great as you can offer 'subscription-based' payments where you bill your customers/clients monthly or yearly and they are automatically billed unless they manually cancel the hosting account. This reduces much billing headaches on your end. Subscriptions only work with current and valid PayPal account-holders though.

If your customers/clients do not want to use 'subscription-based' hosting you can simply setup a one-time billing option (such as an annual hosting plan) and while PayPal will be the transaction processer for your sale your customer will not have to sign up with PayPal to get your hosting services.

A note of caution though. PayPal IS NOT a bank account. When you receive money in there quickly move it to your bank account or if you have a PayPal debit card cash it out. That way in the strange event PayPal ever did 'freeze' your account (been with 'em four years and no problems here) you don't lose your money.

As others suggest always have another non-paypal backup such as PayQuake or 2CO.

[AustinSmith]

Paypal is becoming used more and more each day, And i believe some people come acustom to using it purchase things over the internet. But i also feel you should have multible gateways besides Paypal.