PayPal alternative - paymate

[r]Evolution wrote on 8/18/2009, 1:11 PM
- I used to only use PayPal to take deposits & payments so my customers and I felt secure in knowing that I never had any of their Financial Info lying around.
- I used to also use PayPal for eBay until I sold an AJA IO and the buyer declined the transaction on his Credit Card. Despite having signed USPS proof of deliver, receipt, and a phone bill that showed calls made and received for 'Tech Support' to get it up and running on the buyer's system, PayPal still forced me to pay a whopping $800 to them for the transaction. (I did NOT receive the AJA IO back) Then indefinitely suspended my account.
- I signed up with Google Checkout but eBay's policy doesn't allow them to be an eBay payment method.

--- Essentially, I have had no way of taking online payments anymore. Until now!
http://www.paymate.com paymate seems to have been there since the early days of eBay but eBay bought PayPal and the rest is history.

paymate has been accepted by eBay and looks easy/simple enough for us all to be able to use as a payment method on our sites and auctions. The coolest thing to me is that the money goes directly into your Bank Account. No more sitting in PayPal's Account so they can Freeze your money.

So far paymate looks pretty cool.
If anyone else has any alternatives to PayPal... please pass them on as I would like to bring back online payment as a part of my workflow.

One drawback I see for most is:
Minimum requirements
* An established merchant selling on a website with an expected minimum of $36,000 in sales within the next 12 months.
* Or, If a seller on eBay then a minimum of 100 feedback points and an expected minimum of $36,000 in sales via Paymate in the next 12 months.

Comments

GlennChan wrote on 8/18/2009, 10:10 PM
- I used to also use PayPal for eBay until I sold an AJA IO and the buyer declined the transaction on his Credit Card. Despite having signed USPS proof of deliver, receipt, and a phone bill that showed calls made and received for 'Tech Support' to get it up and running on the buyer's system, PayPal still forced me to pay a whopping $800 to them for the transaction. (I did NOT receive the AJA IO back) Then indefinitely suspended my account.
That sucks. :(

Did they also freeze all the funds in your Paypal account?
TimTyler wrote on 8/18/2009, 10:45 PM
> If anyone else has any alternatives to PayPal...

Just get a merchant account at your bank and they can set you up with a recommended credit card payment gateway.
ushere wrote on 8/18/2009, 10:53 PM
not sure where you are, but can't you do direct debit?

leslie
[r]Evolution wrote on 8/19/2009, 4:31 PM
Direct Debit...
Would I need to have access to the Credit/Debit Card they are using?

I really like being able to take payment withOUT having to touch or hear their Credit/Debit card info. I definitely don't like/want this info lying around my place and customers always understood my reasons why, agreed, and complied.

PayPal DID freeze the funds in my account!
Luckily for me I always had the same PayPal workflow of withdrawing funds immediately so they only got like $25. I still get eMails telling me that my account is frozen and I can't close it till it's in good standing. They can suck, stick it, shove it, etc... I'm not going back.

http://www.paypalsucks.com and read the horror stories. I got off easy as the stories there are endless.

Simply put: I want a way to accept Credit/Debit payments withOUT having to touch or know their Card info.

ushere wrote on 8/19/2009, 5:08 PM
i use direct debit for both debit and credits. don't need any of my clients cc info.

i can also quickly check that the money has actually gone into my account, and just as easily send a confirmation that i've paid money into someone elses account.

rarely use credit cards nowadays for anything other than real world shopping / eating!
srode wrote on 8/19/2009, 5:58 PM
Paypal will always side with the buyer if they paid with a credit card and threaten a charge back - if they didn't - paypal will lose money on the transaction and they are in business to make money.

Turn the tables if the person pays with cash through paypal - they will always side with the seller if the seller has withdrawn the funds already for the same reason - they aren't going to refund money they don't have because they are in the business to make money and the refund will be a loss.

The paypal guarantee is really a farse - many users that have tried to use it will testify to that including my wife - exacly why I always pay with credit card through paypal and also why the default payment method is withdrawl from your bank account.
GlennChan wrote on 8/19/2009, 10:51 PM
1- A credit card is apparently safer to use than debit.

If there is a problem with debit, the bank will hold onto your money and you won't have access to it.
With a credit card, you file a chargeback and you'll have access to your money faster.

2-
The paypal guarantee is really a farse
Actually, I've benefited from it. Somebody sold me a pirated copy of a movie... I got my money back. This is probably because they were able to take money out of the seller's account.

---


Did they take $800+25 from you, or just $25?

If it's the first option, then they just outright stole $25 from you??? That would be disgusting.
[r]Evolution wrote on 8/20/2009, 9:25 AM
This is the only thing that makes me hesitant w/ Paymate.
* An established merchant selling on a website with an expected minimum of $36,000 in sales within the next 12 months.
Simply because some choose to pay by Cash, Check, or even Money Order bypassing the Paymate/PayPal/Online method of payment. Therefore, it may not show up as $36,000/yr via online payment methods. (I'm sure they have their reasons but I think it's weird they would have this prerequisite.)

I do have a Business Account w/ WAMU/CHASE and I'm gonna go in and talk with someone to see what their options are as suggested.

Direct Debit seems like it would be more-so for ongoing/scheduled payments (rent, car payment, etc) and not for a one-time payment for Video services but I'm gonna check into it with the Bank.

Since I immediately withdrew the $800... all PayPal got was the $25.
I can't afford to have Hundreds of Dollars just sitting in a PayPal account. I need that money to survive. Plus, I was told early on, NOT to leave my money sitting in PayPal as they like to do this exact thing.

It's funny to read this thread and see how people are saying to use PayPal in your favor. This means people are not only aware of the Shortcomings of PayPal but know how to work them and are working them. I guess there is no fail safe method but man do I wish people were simply just more honest.
Coursedesign wrote on 8/20/2009, 10:00 AM
I use Paypal for buying from merchants I trust, and in those cases I use immediate payment from my business checking account. This gives me a 1% rebate a few weeks later, and this seems to work.

For merchants I don't trust, it's credit card only.

I've had problems with merchants using both Paypal funds and credit card payments.

Paypal: When I wasn't getting delivery of what I paid for, they initiated a month-long process of attempts to communicate with the merchant, but I did eventually get my refund (after about 5-6 weeks).

Credit card: I just called my bank, they reversed the charge immediately. It was then up to the merchant to prove that the goods/services were provided before they saw the money again (assuming they had indeed provided the goods or services).

I offer trusted customers in remote areas who don't have credit cards to pay by Paypal for smaller amounts (<$100.00). More than that, have a nice day.

Two additional problems with Paypal for merchants:

1. If you don't have Paypal set up in your shopping cart system, you need to check your Paypal account daily to look for orders. They are absolutely not reliable when it comes to notifying you of incoming orders/payments.

2. Paypal is famous for having long outages, and for pretending they never happened. A few years ago, they had a 5-day outage and told each merchant and customer that the problem was just local to them. Since then they have had plenty more outages, and this just doesn't happen with Visa/MC/Amex processing.
[r]Evolution wrote on 8/20/2009, 4:37 PM
Unfortunately, I will NOT be allowed back into the PayPal portal without paying them $800 so they are not on my short or long list of possibilities. Once Bitten - Twice Shy.

With the info from this thread (which I hope is helpful to others who are looking to make or have made this be their lifeblood) I am on my way to finding healthy alternatives such as http://www.chasepaymentech.com & http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/ecommerce/landing.asp... but my research is still underway.
Jim H wrote on 8/21/2009, 9:59 AM
Funny, I just now filed a Claim against a merchant for a $200 tent I bought a month ago. I friend had just bought the same item and got it right away so I didn't do my due diligence on the vendor. Needless to say I never got the item and get no replies from the vendor. I tried to enter into the "Dispute" phase of the Paypal process but it immediately jumped me to the "skip the dispute and file a Claim" portion of the screen. I called Paypal and they were very helpful and explained that odds are this vendor is already in bad standing so they don't force you to sit in the Dispute queue. She also explained how they can reach into the vendor's balance or his bank account to recover the money. We'll see how that goes.

I have no qualms about revealing the name of this vendor "North Adams Outdoors" in case anyone is thinking of getting a good deal on a tent or GPS - seek a deal elsewhere.
[r]Evolution wrote on 8/22/2009, 7:04 PM
She also explained how they can reach into the vendor's balance or his Whoa! Now that makes PayPal even scarier.

These guys seem like decent alternatives. I notice I have a MoneyBookers Personal account which apparently came as a benefit of signing up with another site. The MoneyBookers account dashboard looks to have a one-click eBay implementation but I am yet to try it or know much about it.
MoneyBookers www.MoneyBookers.com
eGold www.e-gold.com