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You really shouldn't use Paypal. I have used a lot of payment systems etc. and none comes close to the awfulness that is Paypal.

by Dah00n 5y ago

MikeDelta 5y ago
Given your experience, which ones would you recommend as alternative?
analog31 5y ago
I use a PP merchant account, here's why. I have a side business that makes a little electronic gadget for an obscure hobby. For the most part, my customers are not techies. PP is the only [0] payment processing system that does not require me to maintain my own custom web server, either physically or in the cloud. All of the other services work like this: "Just put this code on your server, to accept payments through our service." But much as I love programming, I don't trust myself to make my own server work with 100% uptime, no surprise fees, or gaping security holes. With PP, I can use a totally static web page for my business, with a "button" that calls PP's server. Or somebody can even just send the money to me with a note about what they're ordering. Some customers get really confused and I can kind of hand hold them through the purchasing process. Perhaps a second benefit is the whole buyer/seller protection racket. I have had zero problems with buyers, but I think the buyer-friendly approach lets people be a little bit more confident about sending their money to some unknown person on the web. The fee is X percent, so I know that I need to sell Y more units to make up for it, but I think the reputation of PP on the buyer side probably generates those sales for me. Of course I've read some of the horror stories on the seller side, but they seem to be mostly related to selling digital or intangible goods (for lack of a better term). Also, I figure that someone who's already selling a digital service has got the whole web server thing figured out. [0] I occasionally go out there and look for an alternative, and if my claim is outdated, I'd love to know.
- easrng 5y ago
  Stripe has Payment Links now which don't require any sever. https://stripe.com/payments/payment-links https://stripe.com/payments/payment-links
- hakfoo 5y ago
  There are plenty of gateways that offer a rudimentary hosted cart, where you just give people a link into the payment funnel.
fairity 5y ago
In many cases, you'd be making a big mistake not offering Paypal as a payment option in your checkout flow because it increases conversion rate in many industries. For my business, we split tested only offering credit card checkout versus a credit card AND paypal option. The latter converted ~8% better over a statistically significant sample size. For most businesses, this lift in conversion rate is a huge deal and largely covers the incremental transaction fees.
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
Tell me where I can pay just 10c on a US$1 transaction (say, $7k of them each month), and I'll be right there. Promise!
- Dah00n 5y ago
  Luckily most of the world isn't in the US. I can't even remember a single business that use it around here so easy to avoid.
foobarbazetc 5y ago
There are like… I don’t know… 5-10% of people who refuse to use anything but PayPal to pay for things online.

You really shouldn't use Paypal. I have used a lot of payment systems etc. and none comes close to the awfulness that is Paypal.

by Dah00n 5y ago

You really shouldn't use Paypal. I have used a lot of payment systems etc. and none comes close to the awfulness that is Paypal.

MikeDelta 5y ago

Given your experience, which ones would you recommend as alternative?

analog31 5y ago

I use a PP merchant account, here's why. I have a side business that makes a little electronic gadget for an obscure hobby. For the most part, my customers are not techies. PP is the only [0] payment processing system that does not require me to maintain my own custom web server, either physically or in the cloud. All of the other services work like this: "Just put this code on your server, to accept payments through our service." But much as I love programming, I don't trust myself to make my own server work with 100% uptime, no surprise fees, or gaping security holes. With PP, I can use a totally static web page for my business, with a "button" that calls PP's server. Or somebody can even just send the money to me with a note about what they're ordering. Some customers get really confused and I can kind of hand hold them through the purchasing process. Perhaps a second benefit is the whole buyer/seller protection racket. I have had zero problems with buyers, but I think the buyer-friendly approach lets people be a little bit more confident about sending their money to some unknown person on the web. The fee is X percent, so I know that I need to sell Y more units to make up for it, but I think the reputation of PP on the buyer side probably generates those sales for me. Of course I've read some of the horror stories on the seller side, but they seem to be mostly related to selling digital or intangible goods (for lack of a better term). Also, I figure that someone who's already selling a digital service has got the whole web server thing figured out. [0] I occasionally go out there and look for an alternative, and if my claim is outdated, I'd love to know.

easrng 5y ago
Stripe has Payment Links now which don't require any sever. https://stripe.com/payments/payment-links https://stripe.com/payments/payment-links
hakfoo 5y ago
There are plenty of gateways that offer a rudimentary hosted cart, where you just give people a link into the payment funnel.

fairity 5y ago

In many cases, you'd be making a big mistake not offering Paypal as a payment option in your checkout flow because it increases conversion rate in many industries. For my business, we split tested only offering credit card checkout versus a credit card AND paypal option. The latter converted ~8% better over a statistically significant sample size. For most businesses, this lift in conversion rate is a huge deal and largely covers the incremental transaction fees.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago

Tell me where I can pay just 10c on a US$1 transaction (say, $7k of them each month), and I'll be right there. Promise!

Dah00n 5y ago
Luckily most of the world isn't in the US. I can't even remember a single business that use it around here so easy to avoid.

foobarbazetc 5y ago

There are like… I don’t know… 5-10% of people who refuse to use anything but PayPal to pay for things online.