Only using Paypal a viable option?

[Badger_Monkey]

Hi,

I just wondered if there was really any benefit to jumping through hoops to get another gateway & merchant when we have PayPal express in place and working?

With our first months income we are in the 2.9% plus 20p bracket with PayPal, so I guess this can be beaten by a competitive other source, but is there any evidence of PayPal as the only option being a turn off for customers? Any feedback I've got so far is along the lines of "I'm glad you offer PayPal", and only one slightly(!) suspect character in Indonesia has asked for a different payment option.

If you don't have a PayPal account you can just put your card number in and use it like any other checkout, so I do wonder if there is any people who turn back at that point and if so, why would they do that.

Anybody care to share their experiences? thanks!

 

[MrsPWN]

I have Paypal and Nochex and I recon the split is 50/50.
No way of knowing if everyone would use Paypal if it was all we had, but setting Nochex up wasn't difficult at all.

 

[Elam]

2 Checkout is an alternative and works with most carts. They don't except everyone or every business (happened to me - most bizarre they approved one, but not the other domain) - but weekly payout at cheap rates.

I also use SWREG - instant acceptance - but pays only 4 weekly - so your cash flow has to take the burden.

Can't comment on NOCHEX -

Hope that helps a bit.

Elam

 

[Kuji_Shop]

I wondered the same thing and did have just PayPal for a few days. At checkout, PayPal is the only option and customers generally don't know that they can still pay if they don't have an account, so this lost me a few sales. Even explaining on the payment pages didn't really help.

It needs to be as simple and obvious to customers how they can pay. So now there are two options, PayPal and Credit/Debit (Nochex) whereas before just PayPal showed up.

I have found it's probably 50/50 now with Nochex.

 

[darren atkinson]

Hi,

I guess it depends if you can live with their rates?

For my ecommerce site we have a very high average transaction value so even a small percentage change in rates meant a massive difference in transactions fees.

We did start out with PayPal at first because it was quick and easy to setup but once we got established I switched to Streamline as a merchant account and Protx (now SagePay) as a payment gateway, the fees dropped massively.

I have never experienced it but have heard stories of PayPal locking people's accounts with little warning and holding on to funds etc... So this might be something to be wary of.

Hope that helps,

Darren

 

[Baobab]

Paypal is good for me so far

 

[Badger_Monkey]

Thanks people.

I might add Nochex as it looks easy to set up, just to asses if it helps - of course, it seems to have exactly the same rates as PayPal so it would just be adding an option and seeing if it adds sales. I can then chase a cheaper provider if I feel its an option we need to have.

I always planned to have another option, but have been turned down for two different providers due to my personal credit history left us with only one at launch time - Its just a pain having to jump through hoops to apply and then wait two weeks to be told that - I was weighing up weather it was worth it to keep chasing.

I guess it will be easier to get better rates when we are more established as well, and can show a few months of turnover - at the moment some of the quotes don't seem that much better than the rather high PayPal TBH.

cheers.

 

[Kuji_Shop]

Nochex is very easy to set up and they offered me help integrating it for free to make the checkout look like my site.

Another note, I got my set up costs for half price because I asked...

 

[andygambles]

Your customers can only use the "Guest Checkout" feature of PayPal 10 times maximum (not just on your site) before they have to sign-up.

It may therefore be worth signing up for PayPal Pro Hosted which costs £20 per month but makes the checkout page more customisable and makes it more obvious that they can pay with just a card.

 

[Badger_Monkey]

Nochex is very easy to set up and they offered me help integrating it for free to make the checkout look like my site.

Another note, I got my set up costs for half price because I asked...

Damn, just paid full whack! :redface:

 

[businessguy206]

I agree with Darrens point - very well made.

But there are small businesses running only on Paypal - and very few customers ever ask about other payment options, if they do, you can get Nochex, or Google Checkout, which are similar to Paypal in the sense that they have no monthly fee.

 

[Badger_Monkey]

I added Nochex today.

so far use has been: 100% Nochex, 0% Paypal.

Just a small sample so far though!

 

[PayPoint net]

Nochex / PayPal pro are very good options to test. You could also try and work with a provider that doesn't have a minimum contract term. That way you can test it out for awhile to see if there is a significant uplift in sales. If you find you are are not getting value for money then you could cancel the account.