How reliable is paypal?

[silverlake77]

Hi everyone,
I get many payments via paypal and at times it is nearly impossible to cross reference the sale to the customer, and then with the bank statement to see if it has been payed in yet.
Which leaves me slightly worried that if for whatever reason paypal make an error and the funds i have withdrawn to my bank dont go in, i probably wouldn't know about it,(unless it a large amount).
Does anybody use paypal and can they put my mind at rest by telling me if its reliable or not?
Many thanks
John

 

[iboxsecurity]

Yes paypal has always been very reliable to me. Never had a problem, only issue is that it sometimes takes 5+ days to transfer and when its a fair ammount of money....i get very nervous waiting for it to deposit.

 

[silverlake77]

Thanks for the reply, Yes i know what you mean, it does get confusing also

 

[bubblewrap]

Hi everyone,
I get many payments via paypal and at times it is nearly impossible to cross reference the sale to the customer, and then with the bank statement to see if it has been payed in yet.
Which leaves me slightly worried that if for whatever reason paypal make an error and the funds i have withdrawn to my bank dont go in, i probably wouldn't know about it,(unless it a large amount).
Does anybody use paypal and can they put my mind at rest by telling me if its reliable or not?
Many thanks
John

I've now used PayPal for 8 years, both here and while I was in Canada, and I must admit, I've not had one single problem with them yet (knocking on wood).

I've yet to try googlecheckout.

Elie aka bubblewrap

 

[deniser]

I'ver used Paypal for my business for over 2 years and have never had a problem with my money reaching my bank account so I would rate them as very reliable in this respect.

 

[mikeleeds]

as above
No probs money -> bank account

However I notice densier's post is carefully worded, I would agree - PayPal for the most part are rubbish. When it comes to stolen credit cards they just rob the money back from you- despite it being THIER fault they allowed a transaction to go through that shouldn't.

They also abuse their power when it comes to taking money from your account for debts etc (Due to chargebacks, which they pass on an 8GBP fee for)

 

www.screwpaypal.com - paypal horror stories.

personally though, I love paypal. it ha sit's issues, sure but without the paypal online payment idea a lot of small businesses would have had to struggle with merchnat accounts on start up.

 

[Christiane]

I rarely have problems but only noticed a chargeback when I downloaded the data (I do it once a month to summarise the ins and outs). They don't tell you. Basically the bank had not honoured the payment so they took the money back off my account. I contacted the customer and it was sorted, she paid by card (not by Paypal).

Apart from that, Paypal is so widely used that it would be foolish not to offer it to customers, but always alongside another method of payment.
I get most of my transactions through protx.

Like others have said, money always reaches the account, be it in 4, 5, 6, 7 days... You never know when it will hit your account. Oh, and I empty my account every day if possible.

 

[NewVix]

Paypal can be reliable on a number of occasions its the shady ebook writers I don't trust!

 

[investmentsense]

Apart from that, Paypal is so widely used that it would be foolish not to offer it to customers, but always alongside another method of payment.
I get most of my transactions through protx.

With protx, do you have to have a separte merchant account? How do their chatges compare.

At present I use PayPal and pay only 2.3% fro credit and (bizarly) debit.

 

[Christiane]

Paypal is more expensive than protx/Streamline. Protx take 10p per transaction, Paypal takes 20p. The rates are with Streamline (merchant account) and I pay 1.6% per credit card and 24p for debit card. I get a lot more payments through protx.
You get this type of rates if you are a member of the FSB. Streamline send the money faster, usually 3 working days.

The reason Paypal has the same rate for debit and credit card is because they are not based in the UK.

 

[Goodegging]

i have had no complaints so far - no less relaiable than say chip pin, or other types of payments - everything is flawed to a degree no matter pay pal or not.

 

[NewVix]

I have noticed that a lot of online businesses now are switching from paypal to more "secure" payment options. This usually does not bother me when processing a payment, but what does bother me is the fact that some of these online site will promote there website eligible to make paypal payment and 2 days later remove the feature and say use another payment processor

 

[Dogwalker]

I've used them for about 3 years, and so far (touch wood) no problems.

 

[Textlocal]

I have been using Paypal Pro for over 2 years... no problems at all. It gives you the flexibility of taking Paypal payments and card payments - hassle free.

I have considered Google Checkout, but the poor user has to sign up to make a payment - which means a big potenial drop in sales for you!

Be careful with Paypal though.. they will ALWAYS side with the customer - not you. So, if someone uses a dodgy credit card and you dispatch the goods - then you will lose out when the owner of the card claims the money.

This is, of course, totally fair... but as a business you have to be aware of this and take precautions.

Hi everyone,
I get many payments via paypal and at times it is nearly impossible to cross reference the sale to the customer, and then with the bank statement to see if it has been payed in yet.
Which leaves me slightly worried that if for whatever reason paypal make an error and the funds i have withdrawn to my bank dont go in, i probably wouldn't know about it,(unless it a large amount).
Does anybody use paypal and can they put my mind at rest by telling me if its reliable or not?
Many thanks
John