Is PayPal any good ?
- Thread starter OMGVape
- Start date
depends on what you're selling.
many businesses have had bad experiences with Paypal as they're notorious for suspending and closing down business accounts for no apparent reason. This was bought up on Watchdog a few years back and PayPal still continue to treat customers in such a way. I came across a business, which was using PayPal successfully for more than 3 years and then PayPal suspended their account, holding onto more than £100k in sales revenue for more than 18 months until it was eventually resolved, and it was a mistake on PayPal's behalf all along. Unfortunately, this is very common
many businesses have had bad experiences with Paypal as they're notorious for suspending and closing down business accounts for no apparent reason. This was bought up on Watchdog a few years back and PayPal still continue to treat customers in such a way. I came across a business, which was using PayPal successfully for more than 3 years and then PayPal suspended their account, holding onto more than £100k in sales revenue for more than 18 months until it was eventually resolved, and it was a mistake on PayPal's behalf all along. Unfortunately, this is very common
Upvote
0
Is paypal any good?
That's like asking if Paris is any good, or if a 12 string guitar is any good.
Very subjective and depends what you are wanting.
Paypal is a large company and there is a lot of consumers using it. I have used it for many years without much of a problem - they've ruled against me a couple of times on chargebacks including totally bogus one that should not have gone to chargeback.
Pricing is OK but shop around, you may find a company suits your business better.
There are stories about lots of large companies, if you listened to bad stories about companies you wouldn't take card payments, wouldn't use mail services, wouldn't use couriers and wouldn't buy from suppliers. Oh and wouldn't have utilities or banking facilities.
That's like asking if Paris is any good, or if a 12 string guitar is any good.
Very subjective and depends what you are wanting.
Paypal is a large company and there is a lot of consumers using it. I have used it for many years without much of a problem - they've ruled against me a couple of times on chargebacks including totally bogus one that should not have gone to chargeback.
Pricing is OK but shop around, you may find a company suits your business better.
There are stories about lots of large companies, if you listened to bad stories about companies you wouldn't take card payments, wouldn't use mail services, wouldn't use couriers and wouldn't buy from suppliers. Oh and wouldn't have utilities or banking facilities.
Upvote
0
Generally speaking yes, Paypal is good. We run it our website and it equates to around 40% of all transactions. People like it as it speeds up checkout process.
There are obviously multiple ways of accepting payments online to increase conversions i.e. Apple Pay etc
Upvote
0
We offer Paypal as a payment service alongside our main payment provider on our website. I think in general customers see the name Paypal and feel like they can use that payment method with ease and their details will be secure. We also use it if we need to send a customer an invoice for an item not in our shop, and it means we aren't having to send our bank details in an email. We find it a useful payment method to offer and find about 30-40% of sales that we do are through Paypal.
Upvote
0
I have had paypal on my small lowish volume website for about 8 years now, and customers love it. There are a few that would rather use another method of payment, so I added Stripe. Stripe gets about 30% of sales whilst paypal gets the rest apart from a few direct bank transfers. The button to pay without an account was small, but they have made that part larger now, but it is still a bit hard to find and some people do still miss it. I do use the send invoices function very rarely and it is handing if someone calls and alters an online order.
If you are a large seller paypal may not be cost effective as better rates can be available, but then long term contracts need to be signed.
If you are a large seller paypal may not be cost effective as better rates can be available, but then long term contracts need to be signed.
Upvote
0
I have been using PayPal for more than 10 years now, for all my businesses and never had any major problems with it (have to be careful with new accounts and large sales though as sudden increase in sales trigger security checks in their system so it's best to send them an email if you're expecting your first large sale).
in eCommerce, on average I get 50% or so sales via PayPal and rest - via card processor. So it's VERY important to have PayPal as a payment option available on your shop. I also personally like to shop on websites which accept PayPal as it's easy, quick login process, no need to enter card details etc.
in eCommerce, on average I get 50% or so sales via PayPal and rest - via card processor. So it's VERY important to have PayPal as a payment option available on your shop. I also personally like to shop on websites which accept PayPal as it's easy, quick login process, no need to enter card details etc.
Upvote
0
@OMGVape Paypal is a useful payment gateway to have on your site. different people have different preferences for payment. There are many benefits for customers using paypal as a form of payment which is why some people like it as a payment option. The downside is that they can be a law unto themselves for sellers, although we have not experienced this. And they can be expensive, 3.4% under £5K payments taken a month. So it can depend on your monthly sales figures.
Upvote
0
If you have suffered from "many" than you are doing something wrong or have a dodgy clientel.
Moving your money out doesn't help, you just end up with a negative balance.
PayPal is great but, if you have the turnover, having a merchant account may be cheaper.
Upvote
0
Upvote
0
I agree, but all in all, sometimes they can be very annoying. They a channel tho, and an important one.
Upvote
0
I am a PayPal user and I can say that for me it works fine. However, I want to make it clear that I use it for personal purchases only! I haven't had problems such as malfunction, account suspension, etc, so I can't speak about their customer service either. The one thing that bugged me was this huge thing with eBay and PayPal. Considering the fact that most of my purchases are from eBay, I have to start thinking about other ways of paying online. I came across some alternatives but since I am not familiar with them, I am not sure to which one I should switch. Have you heard or used any of them? 
Upvote
0
It is very foolish to leave large sums in online accounts. The provider is often not a bank and is not bound by banking regulations. They can disappear tomorrow.
Upvote
0
PayPal is a great payment solution. It has a number of different methods that make the checkout experience easier for clients.
What is also good is that they allow for recurrent subscriptions. I believe selling vape stuff, you will be willing to not only sell the customers the device + cartridges, but, ideally, sign them up to receive certain number of cartridges every week / month. So PayPal has natural features for that.
What is also good is that they allow for recurrent subscriptions. I believe selling vape stuff, you will be willing to not only sell the customers the device + cartridges, but, ideally, sign them up to receive certain number of cartridges every week / month. So PayPal has natural features for that.
Upvote
0
S
Scribe Copywriting
I use Paypal for my invoicing (B2B clients). I think it's a brilliant service.
The invoice always arrives in the recipient's inbox, looks professional, and makes it really simple for clients to pay (they can do so via card or PayPal by clicking links on the invoice, or they can just pay by bank transfer using the details I include in the invoice notes). It took me about a week to set up, and from memory the first payment took a while to reach my account, but since then it's been really fast and convenient.
The invoice always arrives in the recipient's inbox, looks professional, and makes it really simple for clients to pay (they can do so via card or PayPal by clicking links on the invoice, or they can just pay by bank transfer using the details I include in the invoice notes). It took me about a week to set up, and from memory the first payment took a while to reach my account, but since then it's been really fast and convenient.
Upvote
0
R
Ross McElroy-Gray
Paypal is great for us. depending on your sales volume they may not be the cheapest payment gateway but they are a global trusted brand and having their logo on your website will always make potential customers feel more confident,
Paypal express checkout can be easily integrated if your platform allows and is by far quicker for customers as they can order with one click using their paypal account (save them typing in all their details)
You are also given "seller protection" which is very good for any disputes
They have also just released a service called paypal working capital. This is only available if you have £50k per annum in sales going through paypal and you don't have any rolling reserves which you will have for the first three months after setting up.
Paypal will lend you up to 30% of your annual sales upfront and you only pay back a percentage (which you choose) of each sale until it is paid back. And the fee they apply is a lot less than any bank loan. For example the first time we did it as a trial we applied for £15k with 20% of each sale. The fee was £1k and it was in our account in less than five minutes. All done online without having to talk to anyone or any paperwork to sign. It is a brilliant service and you only pay back a percentage of what you sell. Great for businesses with seasonal sales or expansion plans,
Paypal express checkout can be easily integrated if your platform allows and is by far quicker for customers as they can order with one click using their paypal account (save them typing in all their details)
You are also given "seller protection" which is very good for any disputes
They have also just released a service called paypal working capital. This is only available if you have £50k per annum in sales going through paypal and you don't have any rolling reserves which you will have for the first three months after setting up.
Paypal will lend you up to 30% of your annual sales upfront and you only pay back a percentage (which you choose) of each sale until it is paid back. And the fee they apply is a lot less than any bank loan. For example the first time we did it as a trial we applied for £15k with 20% of each sale. The fee was £1k and it was in our account in less than five minutes. All done online without having to talk to anyone or any paperwork to sign. It is a brilliant service and you only pay back a percentage of what you sell. Great for businesses with seasonal sales or expansion plans,
Upvote
0
N
Nochexman
Actually, I think PayPal are selective about e-cigarettes and vaping. We get a lot of business periodically from businesses that have had their accounts closed.
Upvote
0
I've worked with Payoneer and Skrill. Payoneer got me banned for no reason (literally - no warning, no explanation, no nothing. I even got some money taken from my account when it was banned, and couldn't return it). But most of the people I know who've used Payoneer have had a great smooth experience. Skrill is very easy to use, but since it's strongly associated with gambling, I wouldn't advice to leave any money hanging there. They're very good as a third party.
Upvote
0
I have a business to business website, the majority of customers use stripe, however surprisingly some still use paypal. I have had my account for years though and it used to have lots of low value transactions so it is in good standing. I have heard horror stories. A friend of mine got her account locked a few years ago as she had little history then one reasonable large value transaction (just over £500. It took a while to sort out but we did sort it out in the end. Stripe have been excellent though.
The beauty of stipe is it is easier for the customer to order and for you to take cards over the phone, the fees are also much lower, however the drawdown is 5 days.
Paypal, you can withdraw the cash almost immediatly but the fees are higher.
The beauty of stipe is it is easier for the customer to order and for you to take cards over the phone, the fees are also much lower, however the drawdown is 5 days.
Paypal, you can withdraw the cash almost immediatly but the fees are higher.
Upvote
0
If you are in an industry with a very high rate of returns, eg. clothing, the greatest advantage of Paypal as that they refund your transaction fees on the customer refunds so if for example, your rate is 2% (the rates vary depending on volume) and you refund 50% of products bought, it effectively reduces your rate to 1%. If you compare this to a conventional gateway and merchant account with charges of say 2%, they will charge you again for each refund effectively doubling your rates to 4%.
So you need to take returns into account when comparing processing rates.
Apart from that, other advantages are:
1. very good invoicing systems where you can create online invoices for customers with logo and create different templates and select which one you want to use - useful if you run different websites
2. very good seller and buyer protection provided you comply with the conditions.
3. the money goes daily from our Paypal account to our bank account. We asked them, however, to leave a GBP500 float in the account which then has the advantage of
4. refunds going instantly to a customer - compare this to Stripe where it can take 5-10 days for a refund to hit a customer's account
5. they are very easy to get hold of on the phone and speak to and willing to help you solve any difficulties or special requests you might have
I have been using Paypal for sales since 2003 and they were terrible in the old days for various reasons (I stopped using them at various stages in between) but they have changed so much in recent years to improve that they have turned out to be a really good company for those who operate honestly and follow the rules.
So you need to take returns into account when comparing processing rates.
Apart from that, other advantages are:
1. very good invoicing systems where you can create online invoices for customers with logo and create different templates and select which one you want to use - useful if you run different websites
2. very good seller and buyer protection provided you comply with the conditions.
3. the money goes daily from our Paypal account to our bank account. We asked them, however, to leave a GBP500 float in the account which then has the advantage of
4. refunds going instantly to a customer - compare this to Stripe where it can take 5-10 days for a refund to hit a customer's account
5. they are very easy to get hold of on the phone and speak to and willing to help you solve any difficulties or special requests you might have
I have been using Paypal for sales since 2003 and they were terrible in the old days for various reasons (I stopped using them at various stages in between) but they have changed so much in recent years to improve that they have turned out to be a really good company for those who operate honestly and follow the rules.
Last edited:
Upvote
0
Latest Articles
-
The Most Dangerous Moment in Business Is When Everything Is Going WellThey Saw It Coming. They Did Nothing. The Lessons Every Business Owner...- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
AI and Your Business: Useful Tool, Not a Magic WandThere is no shortage of noise around artificial intelligence right now...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
Companies House WebFiling security incident: what happened, what to check, and what to do nextCompanies House has confirmed that its WebFiling service suffered a...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
Spring Budget 2026: A Quiet Update for UK BusinessesChancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the UK’s Spring Statement on 3 March...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
Practical Ways to Make Your Small Business More Resilient (Especially When the Unexpected Happens)Running a business means juggling plenty of things you can plan for and...- UKBF Editor
- Updated:
