In your expereince does Paypal turn away buyers?

[instant-time]

Hi

just curious ...

I personally think it does !

I launched my e-comerce site 40 days ago , I only had paypal as a a payment option , Have had 2762 visitors and only sold one item at £300!

80% of my[products are priced between £300 -£1400!

So I am having HSBC secure payments online credit card facilities installed inthe new few weeks and google checkout !

anyone else found that paypal as an only option has curbed their sales and growth?

 

[Connexions]

Yes, ensure you have as many payment options as possible, well that is...paypal, moneybookers, googlecheckout and PROTX is what i always ensure a customer includes. I think that covers just about everyone.

 

[deniser]

Yes but if they are serious they tend to phone up and ask to pay over the phone instead.

I didn't get any sales until I had about 70-100 unique genuine buying visitors a day ie excluding people like me who visited your site just now to see what you are selling. You have about 70 per day but where are they coming from?

When buying at that price level, people need to feel secure that the product is genuine, that there is recourse if the product breaks down, that there is a suitable discount for taking the risk of buying online and that they can claim from the credit card company if there is a problem. So in the latter respect at least, Paypal would put people off.

With the type of products you are selling you will be more at risk of internet fraud so you are better of using a payment system which puts better fraud checks in place - as far as I can gather Paypal doesn't seem to use any checks at all and all the fraudsters get through it. I don't know about Google Checkout but have found the 3rd man system attached to my secpay account invaluable because they provide so much additional information about the transaction, the people who hold the card and the address they are delivering to so as to help you make an informed decision as to whether or not to accept the transaction.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

There are couple things to look at, but in answer to your main question: it depends. I think if you sell higher value products, consumers may want to have a 'direct' CC system. For smaller transactions sub £50-100, it probably isnt an issue.

As for non takers on your site, are there other reasons - price, competativeness, value, support, delivery charge? You must look at all options!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I doubt that having Paypal turns anyone off the site unless it's the only offering

The largest factor to anyone buying from your site is "Confidence", design and goods are miles away, if you just offer paypal then to most people who have used Ebay you are telling them you are a ebay shop offering goods on the web as well as ebay and maybe a bit dodgy

If you have a full PSP offering along withe the paypal option they are more likely to feel happy about the purchase

Confidence can be many things like, clear to find address, non mobile telephone number clearly displayed, goods described fully, Clear returns policy etc

 

[i234i]

i would say not always as it depends what your sellling.

ive got a friend who sells around £300,000 of goods per year with at least 60% markup all through Paypal and never has had a problem as the items are £6-10.

If i was buying anything that is £50 or up i would defineatly not buy if it was only paypal... but i have bought plenty when its 50+ even up to £1000 if they have Paypal Pro payments or protx aswell as paypal

Also i wouldnt buy unless i could find an address and/or tel number

 

Ignore Paypal at your peril,probably larger than all the rest put together.

PayPal has quickly become a global leader in online payment solutions with more than 153 million accounts worldwide. Available in 190 markets and 17 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global ecommerce by making payments possible across different locations, currencies, and languages.

To the OP if your not the cheapest you don't get the sale in that market.

Earl

 

[quikshop]

Ignore Paypal at your peril,probably larger than all the rest put together.

Size doesn't matter... well thats what I keep telling myself :redface:

Paypal does put some shoppers off but I think more than that, the Paypal shopping basket puts shoppers off in a big way when it opens up in a new window.

Unfortunately Paypal is so integral to eBay they share reputation. eBay's reputation is not great, plenty of people have been caught out by counterfeit goods and businesses should be warey of Paypal's awful, and I mean awful, chargeback and fraud prevention policy.

You can't ignore Paypal so offer it, but if you want a higher checkout conversion rate then use a UK PSP as your preferred payment option (Protx, Worldpay etc).

 

[instant-time]

There are couple things to look at, but in answer to your main question: it depends. I think if you sell higher value products, consumers may want to have a 'direct' CC system. For smaller transactions sub £50-100, it probably isnt an issue.

!

Would hsbc online payments be sufficent?

I believe that when you go to pay ;you are transfered into the hsbc website (same page )to enter your credit card details!

Wouldnt this give customers more confidence as everyone has heard of HSBC but not necessarily protx and as you are transfered to hsbc webite to make the payment this would give a customer the most assurance and confidence possible !

 

[MH1]

Rather than just thinking this is a paypal problem, could it be more of a peace of mind problem?

Do you have client testimonials to hand, a better idea of your history, experience and expertise in the field?

From your site a prospective buyer might think any guy in his back room could be trying it on, I'm not saying you are, but you are dealing in top end products so have to convey the confidence level to clients to allow them to part with their money.

 

Just as a matter of interest nearly every client that makes a purchase from us of over £200 will phone us before purchase and will often prefer to give there card details over the phone rather than online.

Earl

 

[Kernelpower_Ltd]

it depends what you are selling , but paypal does seem to be a turn off for alot of customers.

 

[matt.chatterley]

MH1 has a good point going - its probably to do with peace of mind. If prospective customers don't feel safe and confident shopping on your site - they won't.

Do you have a way to analyse what is happening in more detail? Typically if your payment system is causing a loss of confidence you'll see abandoned baskets in abundance (e.g. people getting to checkout, then bailing).

We do find that in general "integrated payment" which looks like part of the site (dedicated SSL, no redirects, etc) is far more effective in inspiring confidence, but it could be quite a complex mixture of many issues, as MH1 suggests..

 

[She Says]

I use paypal as my only payment method (customers can pay by credit card via paypal) on the new website and personally I don't think it has affected my sales. My items are under £20, hand made and unique to a certain degree and if people have had a query they have rung and chatted first.
I think like Sir Earl said, peace of mind might be the issue and the cost involved. I know I don't readily pay £300 + without being 100% sure the company is legit and trustworthy.

 

[Brightpearl]

I think you have to offer a choice of payment options. Customers used to using paypal may wonder why you don't use it when so many reputable companies do, whilst others who have had a bad experience with paypal may not buy from you if it's the only option. Like others have suggested, I think the lack of sales may have been due to peace of mind or a lot of other small issues, not just the payment option.

 

[instant-time]

I think you have to offer a choice of payment options. Customers used to using paypal may wonder why you don't use it when so many reputable companies do, whilst others who have had a bad experience with paypal may not buy from you if it's the only option. Like others have suggested, I think the lack of sales may have been due to peace of mind or a lot of other small issues, not just the payment option.

such as?

the site is;
instant-time.co.uk

 

[matt.chatterley]

The key reasons why I wouldn't purchase are probably (in no particular order):

1. I've already got a nice watch

2. You have a couple of errors on your page - in FireFox at least, and to someone tech savvy (I admit I am NOT an average customer!) this is off-putting. Seems to be to do with your Google Analytics tracker.

3. There was no clear way to pay without registering (which I often don't do unless I know I'm coming back - certainly wouldn't for a premium product such as a watch, as it is a rare purchase). I thought maybe 'google checkout' would do this however...

4. Your link to google checkout seems to be broken

5. Giving in and assuming I would have to register, there is no security (read: SSL cert) to protect my details when I submit them - the lack of the padlock by the time at which you are asking for semi-sensitive or personal information is definitely a turn off.

Then again, most of these are to some extent nit-picks! I think I'm going to back-up earlier posters and also say - you need more info about your company, what makes you trust worthy, and why you are good - information and content to help inspire confidence can be a powerful tool.

Good luck!

 

[First in Retail]

Paypal has issues, it normally is the starting point, not one to add later, paypal side with the buyer EVERY time so be carefull.

On the whole a good clean checkout with card services will do the job, dont go for the more the better, if you add google checkout, paypal and the rest of them it will just get confusing.

I deal with 2M via credit card and was going to switch paypal on, but we have decided not to, the risk to the seller is to great. There fees are a bit steep as well IMHO

Good starting point, but thats it.