advice We need a formidable alternative to PayPal

[Haroon Basha]

PayPal is famous because it is easy, handy and instant but their charges are really bothering a lot for small traders. PayPal is like a Cancer, we have to live with it unless and until a formidable alternative or competitor is born afresh. PayPal deducts nearly 5.5% as their commission, then our bankers add their own charges plus if we use the Credit Cards, the card issuer charges at their Selling rate and we receive the funds in our bank account, the banker credits the funds at their Buying rate only. Thereby we lost nearly 10% just to receive funds from one account to another. Horrible indeed, but the tragedy is no one is there to question their excessive charges. There is general feelings among the PayPal users that the commission rate should be reduced.

 

[singhhooda]

PayPal is famous because it is easy, handy and instant but their charges are really bothering a lot for small traders. PayPal is like a Cancer, we have to live with it unless and until a formidable alternative or competitor is born afresh. PayPal deducts nearly 5.5% as their commission, then our bankers add their own charges plus if we use the Credit Cards, the card issuer charges at their Selling rate and we receive the funds in our bank account, the banker credits the funds at their Buying rate only. Thereby we lost nearly 10% just to receive funds from one account to another. Horrible indeed, but the tragedy is no one is there to question their excessive charges. There is general feelings among the PayPal users that the commission rate should be reduced.

Yes, it has been several years and still no one is able to break the monopoly they have created in the market.

 

[wwwweb]

Hopefully a crypto currency becomes the norm across here soon.

 

[LamsuanlunT]

I agree. A couple days ago I was to make payment for a website for $1063 which comes roughly to INR 74,000, add to that bank's forex fees of some $2500. That's a total of about INR 76500 whereas Paypal's currency exchange rate showed INR 78000+. Now Paypal always charge txn charges from the receiver's end, but even at the sender's end there's a difference of INR 2000 for which one can register 3 dot coms at godaddy without discount. Although a convenient method, their fees are too high and there actually are hidden fees in such cases as above.

 

[MapleDots]

Best way around it I found was to become a credit card merchant. In other words get your own credit card machine. I don't know if that is possible in your neck of the woods but I can sell and bill your credit card directly from my office without a middle man like paypal. I can also put funds directly on your credit card via a credit card credit.

It works great for me, but you have to have an actual business licence to set up for that.

As far as getting a viable option to PayPal, I heard eBay is switching to something else.... maybe that can be pursued.

 

[Haroon Basha]

Best way around it I found was to become a credit card merchant. In other words get your own credit card machine. I don't know if that is possible in your neck of the woods but I can sell and bill your credit card directly from my office without a middle man like paypal. I can also put funds directly on your credit card via a credit card credit.

It works great for me, but you have to have an actual business licence to set up for that.

As far as getting a viable option to PayPal, I heard eBay is switching to something else.... maybe that can be pursued.

Good suggestion @MapleDots, you please shed more light on credit card machine, it may be helpful for many. Thank you.

 

[MapleDots]

Good suggestion @MapleDots, you please shed more light on credit card machine, it may be helpful for many. Thank you.

It's called a merchant account, this is what I use...
https://www.costcopaymentprocessing.ca/index.html

They will have the equivalent for the USA under costco.com

Each country will have something similar as well.

I have a number of online stores and process almost 2 million per year so I just add my domain sales to the same merchant account and use it for most of my transactions.

I also use Paypal a bit for namepros but the fees are just stupid.

 

[wwwweb]

Good suggestion @MapleDots, you please shed more light on credit card machine, it may be helpful for many. Thank you.

I don’t know if this an option that works for domainers from India.

Basically you are looking for a low cost micro payment processing option without being fee heavy, and forex steep, crypto is the tech behind this. There is a lot companies trying to beat pp, so far nobody has succeeded.

 

[ecomslice]

Revolut , look them up

 

[wwwweb]

Revolut , look them up

Good idea, but many major countries unsupported at this point.

 

[-EM-]

Skill (moneybookers) has been around for many years and they support crypto currency.

 

[vast]

There are many companies in the space that technically do the same thing as PayPal, but that's the point of perception - PayPal is the default option for micro-transactions. Similarly, Bitcoin is the default crypto-payment option in spite of many other cryptocurrencies out there. Even here, in such a progressive community, PayPal still dominates, while crypto is just a secondary option. Epik's Masterbacks were an interesting alternative for small transactions, but they haven't become popular (probably because they weren't promoted )

 

[golan]

First, Stripe. Tooooo bad you can use them from a handful of countries only. Not even whole EU.

Second, 2CheckOut. That's what i use for domains at least for the first time buyers. The fees are high like paypal, but there are tons of advantages:
+ They are always on the seller side in case of any dispute
+ Payout to your Payoneer or wire
+ Buyers still can pay with Paypal with very tight and strict fraud control.

 

[Furquan]

Here is the one solution for people from "IN" who would like to own machine to do there own transaction like @MapleDots

https://www.mswipe.com


*I used to work here & still hold some interest

 

[biggie]

who is we?

paypal has been very good for domainers for long time
I've been using it from day 1

all of these services below: sedo/namedrive/fabulous/parkingcrew/domainhop/parkingpanel/parkingplace/parked/voodoo/bodis
/internettraffic/goldkey/smartnames/whypark/etc/etc, sent me some $ via paypal

and now, you say, it's like cancer?

imo….

 

[MapleDots]

Here is the one solution for people from "IN" who would like to own machine to do there own transaction like @MapleDots

https://www.mswipe.com


*I used to work here & still hold some interest

Those Terminals look pretty sweet, I have two of these, one is wired in with a pin pad and the other one is wireless that I can use anywhere.

I like the small form factor of the ones from India, they look very nice.

Mine looks like this, the wireless one is on the left and my wired on are the pictures on the right.

I am actually a bit surprised that more people don't have merchant accounts, it is very easy to get and all you have to do is register as a business. I assume it's similar in India?

 

[xynames]

PP is very expensive for international transactions but the only way I am aware of to get paid via credit card where the chance of a successful claim of unauthorized charge by the payor is very low. To keep this risk lowest must make sure to be paid directly from a verified and confirmed PP, to your verified and confirmed PP.

If you get paid from international via a regular credit card and via your regular credit card processor and the buyer claims unauthorized charge you will almost always lose the chargeback dispute.

 

[MapleDots]

PP is very expensive for international transactions but the only way I am aware of to get paid via credit card where the chance of a successful claim of unauthorized charge by the payor is very low. To keep this risk lowest must make sure to be paid directly from a verified and confirmed PP, to your verified and confirmed PP.

If you get paid from international via a regular credit card and via your regular credit card processor and the buyer claims unauthorized charge you will almost always lose the chargeback dispute.

I have never lost a charge back but I traditionally don't sell outside of North America.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

An important topic, and thanks for starting the thread @Haroon Basha . I think those of us who live in North America are spoiled by more favourable treatment in PayPal compared to countries where they add a surcharge.

Big players can take out a merchant account directly as @MapleDots indicated but not a realistic option for most of us.

I actually like registrar marketplaces that allow you without costs to use the funds for their own services. Most of the funds I get from domain sales (well all essentially) I put back into other purchases, so I am happy with this arrangement.

Does a Square account work? (I have never used their service although my daughter does)

To some degree we just have to accept some transaction costs for handling funds - I mean there are real costs. Just good to have competition to keep them reasonable for all.

Bob

 

[theodore_zhou]

If you Can use alipay or wechat,alipay is always free from member to member.and from your alipay to your bank account is Also 100% free.
Wechatpay is free from member to member.and when you draw money from Wechat to your bank account,it charged 0.1%.

 

[theodore_zhou]

Always instant.just no chargeback function If you pay to others.both alipay and wechatpay.
We in.china has always alipay and wechatpay took bank function and a cashless world.

 

[xynames]

I have never lost a charge back but I traditionally don't sell outside of North America.

First of all: we’re talking ONLY about card not present transactions (internet):
There are chargebacks (disputed transactions) and there are chargebacks (cardholder did not authorize charge - fraud). If you’ve never lost a chargeback then you’ve never had a stolen card used on you (or a card where the card user claimed it was stolen).

 

[BaileyUK]

I am actually a bit surprised that more people don't have merchant accounts, it is very easy to get and all you have to do is register as a business. I assume it's similar in India?

these swipe machines seem to be becoming fairly standard kit for the average UK household these days, even my mum now has one (all for just private personal accounts and credit/debit cards - machines are issued by your bank for a nominal charge)

 

[vast]

I actually like registrar marketplaces that allow you without costs to use the funds for their own services. Most of the funds I get from domain sales (well all essentially) I put back into other purchases, so I am happy with this arrangement.

I think exactly the same way - it's pretty convenient to keep small amounts of money within the same ecosystem with zero fees. At the same time, payment processing with cross-account funding option integrated with the domain services at one platform is currently missing in the industry. And that would be really a win-win - customers would get a zero-cost payment option, and the provider of this solution would sell more services. Unfortunately, Epik currently doesn't allow Masterbucks payments between accounts - hopefully they could re-evaluate this and market this service under the new angle, or maybe some other player will emerge in this area.

 

[Haroon Basha]

PayPal is famous because it is easy, handy and instant but their charges are really bothering a lot for small traders. PayPal is like a Cancer, we have to live with it unless and until a formidable alternative or competitor is born afresh. PayPal deducts nearly 5.5% as their commission, then our bankers add their own charges plus if we use the Credit Cards, the card issuer charges at their Selling rate and we receive the funds in our bank account, the banker credits the funds at their Buying rate only. Thereby we lost nearly 10% just to receive funds from one account to another. Horrible indeed, but the tragedy is no one is there to question their excessive charges. There is general feelings among the PayPal users that the commission rate should be reduced.

PayPal have multiple policies with regard to receiving and sending payments, they charge less for US account holders and charge more on international clients. They give Friends & Family option only to selected countries. PayPal must understand that their service is used mostly by small traders, online buyers and sellers, hence they should reduce their present charges at least by half. Otherwise, the day is not far when a new worldwide online payments system, exactly similar to PayPal, will be comping up soon.