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When to Use PayPal vs. Merchant Account

feefighters.com

81–86 of 86 posts

Re: When to Use PayPal vs. Merchant Account

#81
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you guys got the ability to support non-American businesses yet?

Sadly, it would be really hard to do this around the world, as each country has it's own completely different setups when it comes to credit card processing. It seems like you're in China, which would be a really hard market for us to enter. We are expanding though, and will be in Canada in the very near future.

We're actually BVI, although I'm Canadian. Looking forward.

Re: When to Use PayPal vs. Merchant Account

#82
post #71

It's staggering to me that these companies are clipping the ticket for 2-3% for ALL credit card based commerce in the world. That's a lot of money.

True... There are actually a number of players involved. I should've linked to this earlier - we have an ebook that explains in detail how this works: http://feefighters.com/ebooks/what-is-credit-card-processing...

Re: When to Use PayPal vs. Merchant Account

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you're selling software, there's no reason you should ever have a chargeback happen against you. Just make sure your policy is to refund anybody for any reason at any time. I remember reading a JoelOnSoftware article where he talked about running 4 years straight with zero chargebacks using a policy like that." This is a fairy story. We have a no questions asked 60 day full refund policy. We have at least one cha…

Here's a link to the fairy story in question: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/customerservice.html

Thanks for the posting the link. Fog Creek is fanatical about customer service and it shows in their chargeback rate. As alluded to, 0% is entirely possible, and it comes from being fanatical about offering refunds.

We actually can back that up - Fog Creek is a FeeFighters customer!

Re: When to Use PayPal vs. Merchant Account

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you're selling software, there's no reason you should ever have a chargeback happen against you. Just make sure your policy is to refund anybody for any reason at any time. I remember reading a JoelOnSoftware article where he talked about running 4 years straight with zero chargebacks using a policy like that." This is a fairy story. We have a no questions asked 60 day full refund policy. We have at least one cha…

Here's a link to the fairy story in question: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/customerservice.html

This is not a customer support issue. It's a fraud management issue. No amount of fanatical customer support can stop people from using stolen credit cards to order your software. It is a digital good, delivered instantly over the Internet.

Most people, when noticing their card has been stolen, will simply request chargebacks of every unrecognized item on their bill. The vendor never hears about it, and has no idea it has happened, until after the chargeback has taken place.

Re: When to Use PayPal vs. Merchant Account

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do get back to us in about 6 months to let us know how your merchant account is performing in regard to chargebacks. In my experience, we never win with our merchant bank, yet almost always win with PayPal.

What sort of business are you in that you're fighting with your customers over chargebacks? Couldn't you interpret this as something being horribly broken with the way you handle refunds? If you're selling software, there's no reason you should ever have a chargeback happen against you. Just make sure your policy is to refund anybody for any reason at any time. I remember reading a JoelOnSoftware article where he tal…

We're not fighting with customers, we fight with banks, and it's not like it's a daily occurrence. And perhaps it's because we don't sell software. You might want to get that "contempt prior to investigation" thing you have checked out, as you have no idea what our return policy is, or what our customer base is like.

Anyway, I am just sharing about the differing experiences we have had with PayPal and with our merchant bank.

Re: When to Use PayPal vs. Merchant Account

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sort of business are you in that you're fighting with your customers over chargebacks? Couldn't you interpret this as something being horribly broken with the way you handle refunds? If you're selling software, there's no reason you should ever have a chargeback happen against you. Just make sure your policy is to refund anybody for any reason at any time. I remember reading a JoelOnSoftware article where he tal…

We're not fighting with customers, we fight with banks, and it's not like it's a daily occurrence. And perhaps it's because we don't sell software. You might want to get that "contempt prior to investigation" thing you have checked out, as you have no idea what our return policy is, or what our customer base is like. Anyway, I am just sharing about the differing experiences we have had with PayPal and with our mercha…

I didn't mean any hostility in my post. Sorry if it came across that way.

But regardless of who you're technically fighting with, it's still a matter of you trying to keep money from people who want it back. I can't come up with very many reasons you, as a business, would ever want to do that. All you'll accomplish is making those customers angry enough to tell the world how much they dislike your business, and they'll still get their money back through the chargeback.

Seems like a losing proposition.

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