Do you "Need" to accept Paypal - Online Shop

[JJWinst]

Just a question to see what everyone's thoughts are on PayPal - It's obviously a must have on eBay but in regards to shopping online do you think users want to see PayPal as an option?

Does it give customers a sense of security? I'm not sure..

I would much prefer not to use it on my website; I don't particularly like PayPal and would prefer to keep my eBay sales separate to online sales.

So my question is, Do you need PayPal on your website?

 

[finleydesign]

Completely personal opinion, some like some don't but no you "have to" have Paypal, also some customers prefer to use Paypal and others don't

Not the most useful answer I know, but theres no real right or wrong!

 

[JJWinst]

Obviously I know you don't 'have' to have it, but theoretically speaking do you think conversion rates go up/down with/without paypal?

 

[finleydesign]

Impossible to tell really, depends on product range type of customer etc, why not do both? then review after 6 months, see what your customers are swaying towards

 

[wayzgoose]

Useful to have there for those that have been house clearing on Ebay. They may not think of it as "real" money and be prepared to spend when they might not if it was a card option only.

 

[JJWinst]

Good point.

My only reason not to have both is that I don't particularly like PayPal. I hate the idea of being tied in to a provider with no other real option (eBay)

I would also prefer online sales to come through the bank rather than PayPal but that's just a preference..

Does anyone have any experience with new(ish) websites that accept both PP and Cards? What percentage use cards and what use Paypal?

 

[Faevilangel]

It's different per different stores but I have clients that only use Paypal, they don't pay any other way so you could potentially lose sales. I believe you can have the option for Paypal but make the other options a bit more visible.

You will never know how many people would use Paypal on your store without having the option imho

 

[Dato Capital Reports]

We had credit card payment at the beginning (late 2010) and some months after we introduced PayPal. Some months ago we introduced Google Wallet for Digital Goods as well. You need PayPal if you plan to sell for a wide international audience. Some customers like the sense of security PayPal offers in dealing with complaints, in some countries they have no option apart from PayPal, and there are customers (for example in the US) that only use PayPal for online shopping. PayPal can also process credit card payments. I can't give you exact percentage of PayPal sales but it's very significant. The disadvantage of PayPal comes when you have low price items as comission is very high.

 

[lynxus]

Not at all.

I personally feel paypal is just a nice to have.
Its a payment gateway and processor.

So..
You need to accept Card payments? handle subscriptions?
Then paypal will do it.

You dont NEED a paypal account to pay via paypal ( People just click the "I want to pay by card" )

So.
In my eyes,
Its win win..

 

[offthepegdesign]

I think paypal is always worth considering, as others have said it does feel very marmite. People either love it or hate it. I have a couple of clients who Paypal would work perfectly for who just dont want to use it. Even if its not the main gateway its often nice to add it as a choice for those who prefer it

I personally am far more likely to click BUY if i can pay via paypal.

 

[GraemeL]

See this thread also: http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/paypal-an-aid-to-sales.310160/

I introduced Paypal as an option. Customers buy 90% Worldpay and 10% Paypal.

 

[Paul Norman]

The issues is complex. There are, indeed, a (small) number of people who will only pay using Paypal. After many years of ecommerce experience, it is my view that it will marginally increase conversion on your site.

However, be aware of the increased risk to yourself. Paypal is much less secure for the retailer. You will suffer a higher level of chargeback than average.

That is why some very high volume sites don't accept it.

Personally, I would, but with the caveat above.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

We made the choice not to use Paypal when we started and never changed our mind ten years on.

I believe if you are selling impulse buy products it's probably the way to go, but with our range I don't think it makes any difference

With over 60,000 sales we have never had a request to take Paypal by our customers

 

[wayzgoose]

Very much a product thing I think. If I'm buying a new shed I wouldn't expect to see Paypal. Other ranges just "ask" to have the Paypal option. Same goes for chargebacks. If you're selling mobile phones or car parts beware. We added Paypal over 10 years ago to get the "not real money" brigade. We've never had a chargeback and it is now 50/50 with credit cards.

 

[k100danny]

Personally If you are a new business with no history people can be wary trading with you, and giving card details over the internet, I personally feel paypal eases this worry for a lot of people. I hate paypal, I hate that i have to pay their fees and accept their payments through ebay sales which costs me around 5 k per year BUT if i find a product online from a smaller business i don't know about and want to purchase it guess what i'm using to pay for it? Paypal. I feel much more secure even being an online retailer for over 10 years using this method for businesses i've never heard of.

 

[antropy]

So my question is, Do you need PayPal on your website?

Well let's look at it logically... by "need" let's assume you mean "will it increase sales?"

Assuming that you'd add PayPal as an option in addition to credit cards, would it harm sales? What are the chances that someone would be about to buy by credit card, but because they see you also accept PayPal, they are put off? Pretty unlikely.

And what are the chances that some people will only want to pay by PayPal? Considering PayPal is pretty widely used and lots of people will have accounts because of eBay. They may have PayPal credit from selling things on eBay or for other reasons. They may only buy online with PayPal because they know it's very safe - PayPal will refund them for almost any reason!

So it would seem that adding the option of PayPal would increase sales.

 

[Clodbuster]

antropy - I'm with you. I put Paypal onto my options because I was at a seminar where there was a question raised as to who used what and about 5% responded they would ONLY use PP for online purchases. Currently 22% use PP. Would they ALL pay by CC if the option was not there? - who knows.

 

[deniser]

We don't accept Paypal on one of our sites and we occasionally get people emailing or phoning to say they can only pay with Paypal. If that happens, we just email them a Paypal money request and they pay that way. So I don't think it is essential provided you are willing to accept it as a one-off off-site from time to time.

 

[JPMiddleton]

we occasionally get people emailing or phoning to say they can only pay with Paypal. If that happens, we just email them a Paypal money request and they pay that way. So I don't think it is essential provided you are willing to accept it as a one-off off-site from time to time.

... and how many of those customers who want to pay by PayPal don't bother calling or emailing and instead go somewhere else?

I would agree it's not needed for everyone, but the reality is (for us at least) that I want to make it as easy as possible for someone to checkout and make a purchase. If that means a slightly higher fee and a £50 sale over no sale, then i'm happy with the improved conversion rate but marginally lower profit. The way I see it, the more options someone has (within reason) the better.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

There is also that little matter that they can freeze any money in your account with them foe many months with very poor communications, which have been found to be the case on a number of posts on this forum, plus the extra costs and one sided customer support must also have a value

Never easy to say yes or no to this question

 

[RapidFormations]

It's a good option to have and it probably will marginally increase your sales. As suggested above, maybe best try with and without and compare sales figures for those times.

I often use paypal where possible just because it's quicker than typing in card details - there have been occasions where I've almost made an impulse purchase but I've ended up not buying simply because there was no Paypal option so I had to think twice. It's certainly a good option for a quick order process.

 

[Nuno]

I added PayPal to a site some years ago, (2008/9?) to supplement Worldpay.
Paypal took over 60% of transactions within 3 months and the average order rose 25%, (£8ish to £10ish).
I am lucky enough not to have had a chargeback since 2003 so can't comment on that. I have made quite a few refunds for slow or non delivery using PayPal and they have been quick and efficient.
Also; you can claim your money quickly, unlike some merchants who take weeks.

All in all, as posters above have said, what is there to lose?

 

[Ecommerce Web Design]

Offer as many payment options as possible, list your preferred ones to the top of the options so as to encourage shoppers to use this one.

Once your account goes over 10k they will freeze the account until they receive proper identification as the account is no longer a wallet but a proper bank account.

 

[ecoleman]

We removed Paypal for a while from our website and to be honest didn't see to much of a drop in sales. We removed because we didn't like the idea of Paypal freezing funds or accounts for unexplained reasons.

Eventually we did put paypal back on our site but only for orders below £50 to limit our risk. We do get customers using Paypal but I would't say sales have increased because of it.

I think you will find some customers will use Paypal if it's available, but will happily use a debit/credit card if it's not available. I would certainly not abandoned a sale because the vendor didn't accept paypal as long as certain conditions were met, such as a visible address, telephone number, legal terms and conditions etc.

 

[amphis software]

most of our customers pay with PayPal

Tom

 

[moo-tique]

Hi,

We offer our customers the choice, PayPal, or the option of paying by card using our Online Order Form. As long as you offer your customer the choice, they can then make up there own mind.

Dan

 

[RepricerExpress]

I setup a charity page through Squarespace for my wife's book to raise money for Christmas—everyone was given the option to pay via their credit card and the nice spiffing experience of the Squarespace cart or via clicking Paypal and landing at their page. 90% paid by Paypal which I found utterly surprising but there you go.

I don't think that ratio would be nearly as high for everyone—this was a £6.95 book that my wife was selling but my takeaway from it, is to give shoppers payment options where possible, and measure the results—always!

 

[Nochexman]

Hi JJWinst, around 40% of our merchants are exclusively Nochex.com, I believe, and among the merchants that also have PP on their website, I suspect the majority, by quite a long way, prefer to get paid via Nochex.com. So, our merchants would probably say that you don't need PP, though a large number do still feel some comfort from being able to offer it! Hope this helps!