Alternative to Paypal "Buy buttons" for European-based companies? • Hacker News Board

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

#21

Post by colin8chSE » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 5:06 PM UTC

Flam wrote: post #20

colin8chSE wrote: post #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 (…

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

We're in Beta and working with each new customer closely, getting their feedback and developing what we think is going to be fair pricing when we officially launch.

If you don't have a merchant account, our pricing will be around 7%, competitive with Clickbank, Plimus, Fastspring, etc.

If you already have your own merchant account, our pricing will start at about $70/month and $0.25.txn, competitive with Recurly, Chargify, etc. We're a payments gateway too, so you avoid those additional fees.

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

#22

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 5:09 PM UTC

hm2k wrote: post #3

You could give coinb.in a go if you wanted to accept via bitcoins rather than USD or EUR. http://coinb.in/

[deleted]

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

#23

Post by colin8chSE » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 7:07 PM UTC

ig1 wrote: 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…

PayPal, Amazon and Google can be great solutions, one confusing thing to keep in mind is that YOUR customers are actually THEIR customers, all the customer data belongs to them, not you. If you ever want to switch providers or you grow into needing your own merchant account, those customers are "locked in".

I'm the Founder at Simplified Ecommerce, and our goal is to help solve this unfair situation for startups and Entrepreneurs.

http://SimplifiedEcommerce.com/aboutus

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

#24

Post by grimen » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 8:02 PM UTC

Keep you eyes open on Merchii.com - launching the beta soon. Enables secure e-commerce on any website in a few minutes. The pitch on the site now is not the entire picture.

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

#25

Post by vampirechicken » Wed, Jul 27, 2011, 9:06 PM UTC

www.2checkout.com

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

#26

Post by saurik » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 5:09 AM UTC

econgeeker wrote: post #6

ig1 wrote: 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 was once temporarily limited (with threat of suspension) by PayPal, and was asked to provide documentation from Apple that I was legally authorized to act as a reseller for their products. However, as I do not sell Apple products, but instead sell products that are used with Apple products, I obviously do not need such paperwork.

In my case, I called them, had a kind conversation with a random customer support representative (as, at the time, I did not have a specified account manager), and it was cleared up: took about an hour, and I've had very little trouble ever since (I was once sent through "account underwriting", but that was not a serious undertaking).

I am very curious, therefore, what "went down" during your phone call with PayPal that made them start treating you so poorly: that has never been the experience I've had working with them. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say I /like/ PayPal, and go out of my way to use them for ludicrous things like paying contractors and employees.

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

#27

Post by Nicolas___ » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 8:55 AM UTC

antihero wrote: post #17

citricsquid wrote: post #7

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

Google Checkout? Amazon payment?

These are both great solutions, but there are strong geographical limitations for both of them (US or UK only).

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

#28

Post by Nicolas___ » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 8:57 AM UTC

econgeeker wrote: post #6

ig1 wrote: 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…

Your Paypal story is exactly what makes me want to partner with someone else.

Amazon and Paypal solutions sound great but they are both limited to US and UK :(

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

#29

Post by Nicolas___ » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 9:04 AM UTC

ig1 wrote: post #12

econgeeker wrote: post #6

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 problem is that many legit people with perfectly legit businesses have seen their account frozen for 180 days without any reason and without any human being to discuss the issue with. All they could do is wait and hope they get their money back at some point.

To some it might be just an issue, but to me it's a problem that would lead my company to bankrupt.

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

#30

Post by ig1 » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 11:52 AM UTC

Nicolas___ wrote: post #29

ig1 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 problem is that many legit people with perfectly legit businesses have seen their account frozen for 180 days without any reason and without any human being to discuss the issue with. All they could do is wait and hope they get their money back at some point. To some it might be just an issue, but to me it's a problem that would lead my company to bankrupt.

If you're doing regular sweeps into your bank account then you hopefully wouldn't have much money suspended.

I've also not had any problem getting someone to talk to, their European call centre at least seems relatively clueful and friendly. Although I've only spoken with them about raising limits, etc. and not about account suspension so obviously that case might be different.