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More Paypal nonsense

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Re: More Paypal nonsense

#41

Post by dangrossman »

SCdF wrote: post #39
dangrossman wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've yet to see a "PayPal horror story" that didn't fit into one of the "any payment processor in the world would consider this high risk and temporarily or permanently freeze the account" slots. If this discussion with the customer service rep did occur as written, it's the most ridiculous one I've seen yet, though. It's a major customer service fail even if the original reason for freezing the account was valid.

Can you explain how the OP's situation is high risk?

Any change in average processing volume and ticket size is a red flag at any payment processor. An individual/business suddenly getting a ton of "donations" is going to look suspicous. An individual/business that hasn't told their processor their plans, and gets a ton of "donations", is going to have to convince that processor the donations are really donations and are going to end up going towards what they said they'd go towards -- because if they don't, all those donors may charge back the payments, the fundraiser may disappear, and the processor is on the hook for all the costs.

OP's situation is pretty weird. If that conversation actually occurred, it wasn't handled well at all, and PayPal may well have done a lot wrong here. That doesn't mean it wasn't a high risk situation when PayPal initially froze the account to stop it from getting riskier.

I also think the OP's wrong about losing fees on everything twice even though the payments were refunded. When you refund something through PayPal, PayPal refunds its fees to you, even if it was a credit card transaction.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#42

Post by alapshah »

DanI-S wrote: post #14
bphogan wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because buyers keep demanding sellers use it. If you're a buyer, it's about the most painless thing out there. I got forced into it by a client once for that very reason. Unfortunately PyPal froze his account with about $20k in it. We switched to a real merchant account and everything went uphill from there.

Is there a current best alternative to PayPal that you would recommend?

Samurai is really good http://samurai.feefighters.com priced similarly to paypal at 2.3% + 30 cents

You really need a true merchant account plus gateway.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#43

Post by _yobq »

brianr wrote: post #3

These horror stories are so common that I have to ask: why does anyone still use PayPal? I ask this in the most constructive way possible... is there a set of use-cases that PayPal is still the best for? Is it a lack of awareness of alternatives? International availability? Something else?

There is no good alternative. Existing alternatives require additional user signup, and the fees are the same.

The Internet needs a good Paypal competitor.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#44

Post by dangrossman »

brianr wrote: post #16
sp332 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mainly international payments. Plus, customers are more likely to already have an account with them, and no one feels like signing up for a new payment system just to buy something at your store.

I'd be curious to know how conversion rates vary when you have Paypal vs. a merchant account (or something like Stripe) vs. both. Anyone have any data?

I have several websites; some sell products, some monthly subscriptions, some target consumers, some businesses.

Universally, on all of these sites, customers choose to pay with PayPal more often than credit card. For the most part, my payment pages are a secure credit card form with a "or Pay with PayPal" button to the right of the form. More people choose to click through to PayPal than to just put their card in to the form already on screen.

The preference for PayPal is larger outside the US among my customers.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#46

Post by pyre »

dangrossman wrote: post #25
geuis wrote: post #18

At the risk of being perceived as the devil's advocate, let me ask a question. I've heard of dozens of stories about Paypal along a similar vein. "They locked my account for unreasonable reason X and now are keeping the money". Most of these stories seem anecdotal. Can someone point to a rigorously documented set of cases where both Paypal and the customer's side of things are reviewed? Over the last few years, all o…

I've yet to see a "PayPal horror story" that didn't fit into one of the "any payment processor in the world would consider this high risk and temporarily or permanently freeze the account" slots. If this discussion with the customer service rep did occur as written, it's the most ridiculous one I've seen yet, though. It's a major customer service fail even if the original reason for freezing the account was valid.

I'm curious as to why this person would be told "oh, you have to do this," only to be told, "oh, you're not supposed to do what we just told you, and it's your fault that you did that."

It's like a page out of the "let me jam a pineapple up your ass" book of customer service.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#47

Post by dangrossman »

CaveTech wrote: post #5

It really perplexes me as to how paypal can get away with withholding money from people. What is stopping them from simply picking accounts at random and saying, "actually, I don't think you deserve this money, so we'll keep it."

When PayPal terminates an account and holds the funds, they're returned after 180 days. The same as any merchant account that's terminated. It's to cover potential chargebacks, which can come in months after the fact -- though they really shouldn't do that when the only payment the frozen account received wasn't funded by a credit card.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#49

Post by chucklarge »

jfruh wrote: post #30

Yikes, are you really only allowed to use "donate" buttons if you're a nonprofit? I use them as a "tip jar" on my blog. What's the options for for-profit when you're giving money for nothing in particular?

This was probably a bit rhetorical but have you contacted Paypal to ask? Maybe they could help since some of the policy seems a bit grey. These bigger Paypal stories come up every 6 months or so. I have my own issues with them and certainly am no cheerleader but I do wonder if these groups get clarification before they start their campaigns. I would guess they might not have followed some policy/regulation correctly which gets them shutdown, especially if they are a large, worldly popular website that takes donations.

Re: More Paypal nonsense

#50

Post by sp332 »

geuis wrote: post #18

At the risk of being perceived as the devil's advocate, let me ask a question. I've heard of dozens of stories about Paypal along a similar vein. "They locked my account for unreasonable reason X and now are keeping the money". Most of these stories seem anecdotal. Can someone point to a rigorously documented set of cases where both Paypal and the customer's side of things are reviewed? Over the last few years, all o…

The problem isn't so much being cut off as having no recourse. PayPal didn't just freeze the assets temporarily, pending investigation. They arbitrarily decided that this organization shouldn't be allowed to access the customers' money. No appeal or review is offered. That's the horror story.
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