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Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

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Re: Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

#12
post #4

I did a pretty thorough review of the players in this market, and although there are alternatives they're all worse than Paypal. The chances of Paypal suspending your account depends a lot of what you're doing with it, if you're operating in the b2b space or if you're selling a product then you shouldn't have any problem. Most of the companies that have had accounts suspended have tended to be doing non-standard thin…

I've used amazon payments, google checkout, and paypal. Paypal ====== Note, I refuse to use the euphemism "freeze your account" because that is not what paypal does. Paypal steals people's money. PayPal will steal your money for all kinds of reasons, including the people who buy from you. You don't even have to be doing anything "weird" (unless selling people software online is weird.) When paypal stole our money, on…

I'm not sure I fully understand your story, but Paypal's normal policy for suspended accounts is that they'll hold the money for 180 days before releasing it to you (this should be in your suspension email).

Re: Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

#13

There's a reason people still use Paypal even after all the horror stories: there is no alternative.

And alternatives cannot gain ground because everybody uses paypal. It's a vicious circle. And one of my favorite examples for why monopolies are bad.

Re: Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

#14

There's a reason people still use Paypal even after all the horror stories: there is no alternative.

And alternatives cannot gain ground because everybody uses paypal. It's a vicious circle. And one of my favorite examples for why monopolies are bad.

I don't see where the monopoly is. Customers are free to switch to a better payment processor by just changing a few links on their website.

If someone offered European customers better service than Paypal at roughly the same price, I'm sure it would be popular. But it turns out that handling transactions in 30+ countries is pretty complicated and fraught with bureaucratic problems, which is why Paypal remains the only option.

Re: Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

#16
post #4

I did a pretty thorough review of the players in this market, and although there are alternatives they're all worse than Paypal. The chances of Paypal suspending your account depends a lot of what you're doing with it, if you're operating in the b2b space or if you're selling a product then you shouldn't have any problem. Most of the companies that have had accounts suspended have tended to be doing non-standard thin…

I've used amazon payments, google checkout, and paypal. Paypal ====== Note, I refuse to use the euphemism "freeze your account" because that is not what paypal does. Paypal steals people's money. PayPal will steal your money for all kinds of reasons, including the people who buy from you. You don't even have to be doing anything "weird" (unless selling people software online is weird.) When paypal stole our money, on…

Why didn't you withdraw the money from your Paypal account hourly/daily? That's what I'd have done :S

Re: Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

#18
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used amazon payments, google checkout, and paypal. Paypal ====== Note, I refuse to use the euphemism "freeze your account" because that is not what paypal does. Paypal steals people's money. PayPal will steal your money for all kinds of reasons, including the people who buy from you. You don't even have to be doing anything "weird" (unless selling people software online is weird.) When paypal stole our money, on…

I'm not sure I fully understand your story, but Paypal's normal policy for suspended accounts is that they'll hold the money for 180 days before releasing it to you (this should be in your suspension email).

the guy might be talking about reversing transactions. I probably get two actual customer initiated chargebacks a year, but maybe two or three times a month, paypal initiates an "investigation" which usually results in the transaction being reversed (though I often still get stuck paying the fees)

There is really no transparency, and from my point of view, they look pretty random, so it would be pretty frustrating, but it's usually on a $12-$20 transaction, so it's hard to get too worked up about it; they /are/ a bank, and one expects to get nickle and dimed when dealing with banks.

I email the customer and they make other arrangements to pay me (or sometimes they just re-send the payment and it goes through) so I'm only out the fees, but I have more leverage than the original poster, as, well, I provide a service that I need to keep providing, while the parent sounds like they provide a product, and once the user downloads it, they have no leverage.

If I was losing the whole amount, I could see how it'd be pretty frustrating, and how it would look like paypal is just stealing your money.

Re: Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

#19
For digital goods and subscriptions try Simplified Ecommerce. I'm the founder, here's the basics:

http://SimplifiedEcommerce.com/aboutus

Integrations as easy as PayPal "BuyNow" links, beautiful customizable payment pages, affiliate marketing like ClickBank and recurring subscription billing without any programming or complicated API's.

International companies are welcome and receive weekly settlements via Bank Wire (US companies settle with ACH/ direct debit to their bank account).

You can get started right away without going through the long, complicated pain of applying and qualifying for a merchant account. Then as your business grows if you get a merchant account, the transition is seamless, as easy as submitting your new merchant account credentials. All your integrations, products, subscription plans, affiliate relationships, custom payment pages, data, reporting... stay intact.

and YOUR customers' data is YOURS, securely stored in our PCI level 1 compliant tokenized vault and is fully portable.

I'd love to hear your questions and feedback!

Colin@SimplifiedEcommerce.com

Re: Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies?

#20

For digital goods and subscriptions try Simplified Ecommerce. I'm the founder, here's the basics: http://SimplifiedEcommerce.com/aboutus Integrations as easy as PayPal "BuyNow" links, beautiful customizable payment pages, affiliate marketing like ClickBank and recurring subscription billing without any programming or complicated API's. International companies are welcome and receive weekly settlements via Bank Wire (…

For the love of God, can your site give pricing info when I click on the pricing section??? Thank you
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