A New Way To Pay at GH

C

Craig Gottlieb

Joined
Mar 8, 1999
Messages
1,760
I'd been trying to figure out a way for the forumites to pay for the odd lots of special khukuris, closeouts, forumite specials, unlisted inventory, etc. Sending checks is definitely not the most efficient way to handle these transactions.

Then, I got a message from Mike Turber about paypal. Basically, the service allows you to pay me using your credit card on their secure server. The only difference between them and our secure server is that you can pay whatever amount you want (with our software, you can only "buy" things we have listed - you can't just send me money).

One bit of total disclosure: Gurkha House gets $5.00 every time somebody signs up to use the service (the money comes out of paypal's pocket - the service is totally free for all parties concerned). Of course, you also get $5.00 for signing up.

Click Here to join if you're interested. In fact, depending on the consensus, I may want us to use this service to pay the balance on all the WWIIIs. Any objections?



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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
Works for me...I've used PayPal for transactions with other makers and dealers and it has worked very well.

Jim
 
I don't have any problem with everyone else doing business with GH via PayPal, as long as that isn't the only way GH will accept payment. From my understanding, you cannot participate in PayPal without a credit card. So if PayPal becomes the only means GH customers have to pay, this will preclude anyone who do not use a credit card. Of course, I'm not telling you how to run your own business, but I hope GH will always accept money orders, if not bank checks or personal checks. In the wake of the hacker attacks on some of the biggest companies on the internet (Wasn't Amazon.com one of these? They have always assured people how secure their system is.) who have more money to throw into security design than most others, this says to me that giving private financial data over the internet is not as secure as they would have us believe.

I have a credit card, but I won't be using PayPal or similar service because I am simply not willing to take the security risks involved. I am otherwise very flexible: I can send a personal check, bank check, money order, or I will order using my credit card over the phone, even though I know that isn't 100% safe either, but that's where I draw the line personally. Of course, this is coming from the guy who views his census form as an invasion of his privacy so I realize most people don't share my 'extreme' views on privacy issues.

"Fraud protection is a trade-off...If you make it totally airtight, it becomes less user-friendly." --Peter Thiel, CEO of PayPal (from PayPal's website)

(Which is true-I'm not knocking him. I just think Mr. Thiel has opted more for "user-friendly." )

Chris
 
X-Head: Your views are certainly respected (and agreed with on many points). We will always continue to accept ANY form of payment - pay us in Macedamia nuts as long as you include instructions on how to easily convert it into more accepted forms of currency.

No, I do have a cadre of customers who WILL NOT use a credit card. Funny thing is that those MOs usually sit on my desk for about a week . . . but no big deal.

As for Paypal - I just didn't want people to get the feeling that I was trying to shape their behavior to make money off of them. I'm sure the $5.00 bonus will go away soon. When it does, I'll still advocate its use for "odd lot" payments (i.e. blems).

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
A lot of you have signed up for Paypal, so I guess it's not such a bad payment option. I think it will be the "preferred method" of payment for the WWIIIs. Check the post on the prices and you'll know how much to send.

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
I've got a question reguarding paypal. Does it get marked up as a cash advancement or some kind of transaction??

I'm just wondering cuz our visa has 2 diffrent interest rates depending on if it's a sale or cash advance.
 
Shrike: I checked, and it's just like making a credit card purchase (in fact, it IS a credit card purchase). I guess they've negotiated a pretty low merchant rate (the percentage we as merchants have to pay for each sale for the convenience of offering credit card payments).

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
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