What Payment Option Is Best?

Hi

I just sold a couple items on ebay. Both were booklets Superman and Canadian hockey team 1972.
Over $8 and only got $5 on them which is a good percent. For face to face. But with paypal and ebay. What is best payment option? I would also like to list over $300 a month at 1c to get my name out and get the Top rated on this new account. I took a 2 year break.

Who would be willing to pay with a chq for a $5 item?
Is Google checkout better to deal with?

I personally very like what paypal does for buying and selling but I personally dislike the way they treat people and don't trust them.

In the past some people have either said they would like to change to chq's and others like paypal for points on Visa or MC. I guess I could get a Visa/MC chq. Also I don't worry about if the chq clears on low priced items. Because all they have to say is they didn't receive it.

Joe

I personally would never trust any seller asking me to send a cheque unless they want to send me the goods first lol! ;)

As a buyer, I strongly prefer paypal. It is quick and easy, and the order is instantaneous and I get my stamps quickly. If a vendor requires a check, I must find my checkbook, actually go out to a post office to mail it, and then wait for it to arrive and then for the check to clear. The gap between my purchase and my pleasure of adding the stamps to my collection is much, much larger.

Buyer=Paypal

I ran out of checks at least 5 years ago and didn't order replacements. I mostly used checks to pay the bills, but now can pay them all online.

As a buyer I definitely like paypal. As a seller I can live with it.

As a buyer or a seller paypal all the way.

We use our own Merchant Account and Skrill...Haven't touched Ebay/Paypal since 2007 as far as accepting payments..... They are not a bank and are not governed by any banking laws. Their dispute resolution policies including freezing of funds/entire accounts that are not involved with a dispute are not policies we as high volume sellers would accept. So we found alternatives and do quite well :) That said I would not send a money order to a seller I did not know. We do use Paypal for sending money on occasion.

If you sell on ebay, you have to accept PayPal for payment. You CANNOT advertise that you accept checks, money orders or cash in your listings. If a buyer comes to you and wants to pay with an alternative form of payment, it is up to you to accept it or not.

We haven't sold on ebay since they made Paypal pretty much a requirement. At that time they did offer us the option of using a merchant account but they wanted proof of it...and by proof they wanted me to fax over 3 months worth of transactions. There was no way we were going to violate our own privacy or the privacy of our customers by doing that. I think some sellers are able to now offer Skrill and Propay though they have to have amassed a certain amount of feedback first and in order to do that...yes you have to have Paypal (or if still allowed, satisfy their MA proof requirements) They never allowed Google Checkout (or Checkout by Amazon) but I think Google Checkout was shut down a few months ago?

for the buyer....PayPal is the best. They guarantee the buyer gets the mdse purchased.
Sellers can ship anyway they like....just get it to the buyer. PayPal requests tracking to cover
shipments. Selling stamps.....this is a expensive situation. Either you pay for tracking, or risk the buyer not filing a complaint.
In 20+ years of buying (thats plenty items)....I have not received 2 items....either 1st class or insured mail.
1 I think the seller just did not send (no proof)...
Items do arrive....I think that some buyers, once they find out that they can get refund if claim non-receipt, file a claim and get a refund.....stamp buyers are the most honest.
My wife used to see misc items....WOW! I guarantee about 20% claimed non-receipt, broken, etc...made her quit selling on ebay
Ranting here.....

Have used PayPal for buying and selling for many years. Zero problems!

Kevin I would agree that stamp buyers are honest for the most part. Other than an issue with someone from Israel and a couple in South America we haven't had any issues in the last several years. Most credit cards will protect the buyer in the same manner that Paypal will but as a seller, we don't want a payment processor playing judge and jury when it comes to claims of authenticity...and instructing a buyer to destroy an item etc. We deal in high end antiques as well as other items where fakes are a problem. Buyers attempt to pull switches not frequently, but often enough that we have to be weary of it. In the end no option is perfect, and nobody ever has a problem...until they have a problem and then it boils down to what trouble that problem will cause. Paypal reserves the right to freeze your entire account and all funds in it for 180 days or more. That is something a merchant account could never do. They can freeze funds associated with a disputed transaction...or close your account but that's it. People who leave hundreds of dollars in Paypal are in my opinion asking for trouble. And if you are an ebay seller who invests time and money into building an ebay store and they limit your account for several weeks/months, you are out of business and if auctions with bids are involved and buyers can no longer pay for their items, you end up with piles of negative feedback and soon find yourself kicked off. It has happened to several good sellers that we know of because some red flag was tripped by Paypal security. Perhaps it is my backround in finance and contract law that has me more paranoid than some... but when I see language in a TOS that a traditional Merchant Account could never get away with, and I realize that since Paypal is not a bank nor covered by banking regulations in the United States (I believe it is in other countries), there is no way we'd allow the volume of transactions and dollar amounts we do to flow through Paypal. We do fine without it and don't have to worry.

PayPal all the way.
The anonymity and the distance between yourself and the buyer/seller is essential to maintain the integrity of the transactions and also their is backup and accountability should their be an issue of fraud, theft, scam, etc.

I prefer Skrill for buy and sell stamps. It is more easy to use and we can deal with safe way.

Many users didn´t know it yet. But it is strongly used for Delcampe members.

I think in one year it will be website prefered for make deals inside Internet.

As a buyer - PayPal is great - since NO fee!

As a seller, PayPal is OK. There is a 3-4% or so fee, and I never have had a payment problem or any security or banking issues.

I figure that the selling venue fee plus PayPal is less than most consignment, bidboard or brick/mortar auction house fees. Also, don't need a physical space (store, etc.) to rent for selling, so it's OK.

Checks are OK, as long as you wait for them to clear before shipping the stamp, so main drawback is the transaction completion time. In all the years I have sold items and received checks, only one had bounced (and successfully worked it out with the buyer including bounced check fees).

-dave

I quit selling on ebay when they forced me to accept Paypal. I was a Powerseller at the time and selling on ebay was taking too much time away from real work and family, so the Paypal deal was a convenient last straw. I stayed away from selling on ebay for several years and I just started selling again this year. I am still not crazy about Paypal, but I have no choice. It does save me time. It is an additional fee which ultimately comes from someone. I either raise my prices and cut my margins. It's a little of both. The main thing I miss as a stamp collector is getting mail from all over the world. Some buyers would take the time to get hand cancels and most would use better stamps. I of course still get that on lots I buy. Five years ago I would get 100's and sometimes over a thousand pieces of mail in a month. As a stamp collector that was fun and Paypal has eliminated that.