Is there anything other than Paypal???

[blush_cosmetics]

Question for anyone interested...
Aside from Paypals lack of customer service and heavy fees, the service is most defanatly convenient. They have a monopoly on the market, everyone on Ebay seems to use it...all umteen thousand of us. An obvoiusly HUGELY profitable market. Well its about time someone opens up a credit "mid-man" and goes up against them, with a lower fee and better service. I wonder if its at all possible? Any suggestions?

Anyway, does anyone know if there are any other services out there that we can use other than Paypal, but similar? (asside from WU, Echeck and the usuals)

Just curious.
Thanks!
Angela

[cartoonsinabox]

Theres Greenzap.com I was thinking of using it. I suggest to take a look.
Regards,
Frederic

[bits-n-pieces]

HI Angela: I have had wonderful luck with Bidpay. Buyer buys a Western Union money order on line using his credit card. BP notifies us that the mo is confirmed, we mail the package and about a week later, the mo arrives in the mail. I hae had 2 glitches with them and got a real person on the phone both times and the problem was sorted out immediately. Great service for sellers - buyers do tend to balk because they have to pay the fee for the mo. If they only realized that they really do pay for Paypal, just that sellers have to hide the PP fees in handling or inflated postage.

[tobyshitzu]

There is nothing comparable. Greenzap has no chance ofbecoming anything other then maybe a brief penny stock promotion. If anyone had any thought of going against paypal they'd need $millions (not a coporate address that is a pob box in a gorcery store like greenzap) and would still be unlikely to break the paypal stranglehold on ebay.

[bits-n-pieces]

tobyshitzu..........there are some very interesting threads about greenzap that should give anyone pause about even considering using it. My reading is that the whole thing is potentially a giant scam. The "owner" is a know con artist who has been nailed many times for failed pyramid schemes. I always tell my Canadian customers that if they bank online then they can use Certapay.....it is super - but again the fee falls on the buyer, not the seller. I appreciate that part, but unfortunately many buyers prefer to unknowingly pay hidden PP fees rather than knowing up front that there is a cost to everything 🙂

[graysonac]

Bidpay's minimum fee is $1.95 USD - for PP to charge that amount, it would have to be at least a $55 USD or so payment. Keep that in mind for cost effectiveness 🙂

I used to do extensive business with Bidpay, and I agree - they're a top-notch company. But buyers never liked using it because it was slower than PayPal, and because it was costing them money.

Honestly, I can't see sellers being better off using anything other than PayPal - buyers like it, and the fees are reasonable. As long as you're recouping your fees through handling charges, it's as "free" to the seller as Bidpay. Personally, I try to keep my shipping/handling as low as possible, so I eat the PP fees most of the time, but it's a small price to pay, imo, for the service provided.

If you're really adamant against using PP, I'd recommend looking into accepting CC's directly.

[mark_karcz]

But does accepting ccards directly protect you anymore than using Paypal's service? You can still get into ccard fraud or chargebacks just as easily can you not?

[laird@ebay.com]

Hi All,

There was a Canadian person-to-person internet payment service called Certapay. But, it only worked between fellow Canadians. Interac and the Canadian banks just announced a new service called iDebit. No details out yet if the service will cross borders.

Cheers,
::laird

[phoebescollectables]

Article about iDebit.

http://www.digitaltransactions.net/newsstory.cfm?newsid=353

[computerstuffstore]

What about this one?

https://www.hyperwallet.com

[tobyshitzu]

Forget greenzap, THIS looks interesting!:

NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) this year plans to offer an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify its revenue and may heighten competition with eBay Inc.'s (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) PayPal unit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Exact details of the search company's planned service are not known, the report said, but quoted people familiar with the matter as saying it could have similarities with PayPal, which allows consumers to pay for purchases on Web sites by funding electronic-payment accounts from their credit cards or checking accounts.

A Google spokesperson contacted by Reuters declined comment.

For Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., a payment service could represent a significant expansion beyond online advertising, which generated 99 percent of its $3.2 billion in revenue last year, the Journal said. Online-payment providers typically take a commission on each transaction.

Depending on the exact details, Google's move could potentially threaten eBay's successful PayPal service, which generated $233.1 million, or 23 percent of eBay's revenue in the first quarter, the newspaper reported.

Rumors about a new Google payment service escalated following a panel discussion at a Piper Jaffray Internet conference on Thursday, the newspaper said.

At the conference, Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, a Morrisville, N.C. e-commerce consulting firm, said he believed the payment service would be launched soon, according to the newspaper.

In an interview, Wingo said he based his statement on questions from retailers with which his company works, according to the Journal.

Wingo said the retailers have asked him whether ChannelAdvisor would support the service, which some believe goes by the code name Google Wallet.

Link:http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsA...storyID=8827946

[recped]

I agree, perhaps only Google has the resources to go up against PayPal. Not only do they have the deep pockets but they also have innovative thinking, something eBay sorely lacks.

Ben
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915

[audioshack]

Wasn't there a major story in recent months that a major US bank was going to go head to head with PayPal? I believe it was JP Getty's bank but I haven't heard anything else of late.

The only advantage might be that fees might come down a little from PayPal's proposed increase that takes effect for a lot of us in August. I don't see that any bank would be any more "seller" oriented than PayPal. All crdit card operations know that they have the sellers by the canugas and that the buyer ultimately calls the shots.

[auctiondropnship]

Funny you commet on Google , it was anounced today that google is opening a payment service .

Todd

[auctiondropnship]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002340279_google18.html

[pretzel]

I recall offering Hyperwallet as a payment option, but that never caught on.

Practically everyone pays with PayPal now.

Nice to see the story about Google. PayPal needs some competition to bring down the fees.

[bits-n-pieces]

I believe at last report that around 23% of ebay's revenues are now generated by Paypal. Times have certainly changed. In the early days, ebay made money when we did - ie when items sold. Now I doubt that a signifigant portion of the revenue is from FVF. They have increased fees on the front end, made gallery virtually a necessity for selling many items and convinced hundreds of thousands of sellers to buy useless revenue cash cow features like "gift" icon, highlighting etc etc - - and now that they get an extra cut via PP of a huge majority of the sales, they are laughing all the way to the bank. Sellers are left to see an increasing portion of their decreasing profit margin being eaten by fees.

I offer both Bidpay and Certapay (which is for Canadians only) and some buyers will use them. Both are excellent services but the problem is the buyer has to pay to send the money. They would rather think they are getting something for nothing 🙂

[simonchan_ca]

I think everybody should band together and stop using Paypal. If everybody did that, we can see some changes. Until then... good luck

[belldandyrose]

wait wait wait...papyal is increasing their fees? is there a webpage i can read about it??