PayPal Advice??

I had a non-knife related service business that I started using PayPal for so I could accept credit cards. I had a PayPal button on our website and whenever I sent them a confirmation email, there was a payment link in the email. Our sales increased almost immediately as people just preferred to pay using their Credit Card. At one time I figured it up to something like 30%. When you're talking 10-15k per month, that can add up to a lot of money left on the table. People want it now and if you give them time to think about it or find something else that catches their fancy, you can end up losing the sale. Out of thousands of sales, I never had a problem with PayPal. *knocking on wood*

While there are many alternatives to PayPal (Serve, Merchant INC, etc), unfortunately they are not as well know or well connected. Many are not well ran either (gunpal for example). Plus, it would require your customers to sign up for another service. In many instances this would require them to share a lot of personal and/or financial info with this new service. Do you think they'll do that or go find something they like just as well so they can pay with PayPal?

There are a few knife suppliers I wish would accept paypal. I'd certainly order more from them (Alpha being one). Many times I go online to order supplies late at night when everyone goes to bed the house gets quiet. If the supplier doesn't take paypal or at least have an online payment system, I usually go elsewhere because it's after hours.

PayPal does have its pitfalls. All you can do is try and make sure you're selling to a real person at a real address. One way to do this is only sell to people with a confirmed PayPal address. I think by now most people do, but there are still some that don't (I have one PP account that isn't confirmed). This will mean you may lose a few sales. You'll have to determine if it's worth the risk or not. Sometimes in business you get burnt no matter what you do. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Been there, have the T-shirt to prove it ;) Good luck and keep us posted as to the outcome please!
 
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I really appreciate the suggestions and comments so far. I am going to hang tight before I decide to ship... I am leaning towards refund and let them contact me as to why I am not accepting their business. If it was a valid Email I would not worry so much.

Stacy I tried to Google street the address and it is a residential area, with an actual building that looks like a 4 plex.
 
I've had some good luck with Amazon Payments so far. Free account, no fees, and allows credit card processing. I personally won't do business with Paypal because I feel that charging a fee on the sale, AND on the fraudulent chargeback, was dishonest enough to merit losing my business. But most of my transactions went just fine, and you do need some easy way for people to make payments. Money orders aren't easy, and there are still problems. It would be nice if Paypal or the credit card companies would support listed policies that people cannot just file chargebacks unless the product is clearly defective and the seller refuses to fix it or something. But that's likely never going to happen.
 
bladsmth said:
Maybe it is nothing and maybe it is everything - but Hangzhou is a Chinese cheap knife company.

The following is mostly for giggles:
If you have doubts about the address being a shipping drop, and the goods being sent to someone elsewhere with no trace, go on Google Street and look at the address. If it appears to be a normal home or business, OK. If it is a Chinese laundry/restaurant or Rent-a-box store, you need to contact the buyer for a more secure transaction by Postal Money Order....Or they can drive over to Utah for local pickup :)
Click to expand...

Also a city in China (Hangzhou). Might be best to reverse the payment and hold the knives...or at least hold the knives! Hopefully this person will reach out.
 
I just got an email from Quickbooks the other day about their card processing service, now 50 cents per transaction, flat rate. Or at least that was what it said prior to the fine print. I didn't dig deeper yet since I've been swamped, but it's a definite alternative to paypal if that's the case or if the percentage tacked on is reasonable. Of course, you're still vulnerable to charge backs. There's not much you can do except report the theft if your item is not returned. That's why I insure for full value and get confirmation on everything.

There will always be dishonest folks and scammers. There's no way around it. Just the cost of doing business.
 
Google wallet looks good- the only thing is that people want legitimacy, and that comes with being around for a while. So many sound e-products come and go because the parent company might suddenly decide to stop supporting it. Paypal is kind of an industry standard by now.
I used to do a lot of business with postal money orders- now it would take a half day away from the shop to arrange one. The joys of living in the sticks...everything possible is done online.
Somebody offering a single custom made product is kind of a special case, but when I order anything, I expect to be able to use Paypal or any other card. If the merchant hasn't set up their site to do that, it seems sketchy and I don't use them.
My $00.02, currently trading for $00.000002 on the Dow.
Andy G
 
Mudbug007 said:
There are a few knife suppliers I wish would accept paypal. I'd certainly order more from them (Alpha being one).
Click to expand...

I have a "Debit" card through my PayPal account (It is a MasterCard). Some companies don't take PayPal, but have never questioned my MasterCard Debit Card, including Alpha Knife Supply.

You might look into it.

Robert
 
Robert Dark said:
I have a "Debit" card through my PayPal account (It is a MasterCard). Some companies don't take PayPal, but have never questioned my MasterCard Debit Card, including Alpha Knife Supply.
You might look into it.
Robert
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I also use a Paypal Debit MC for suppliers that do not use paypal.
Makes things a lot easier for book keeping for me.
 
Robert Dark said:
I have a "Debit" card through my PayPal account (It is a MasterCard). Some companies don't take PayPal, but have never questioned my MasterCard Debit Card, including Alpha Knife Supply.

You might look into it.

Robert
Click to expand...

Thanks Robert. I have one also but I was talking more about suppliers taking PayPal online. Like Texas Knife, USA and Jantz do. It's 12:24 a.m. here and there's some G10 I'd like to order from Alpha. But I'll have to wait until tomorrow and by then, I'll probably get busy and forget about it. If I could get the same stuff for the same price at those other 3, I'd probably order it now.

But having a PP Debit Card is sweet, especially if you only use the account for business.
 
Thanks again for all the comments, Just a quick Update...

I have not shipped the knives, Last night I got an email asking when the knives would ship? I responded with some questions about the invalid Email listed with PayPal and the unconfirmed Address. I got a quick response saying he hasn't used that Email for a while. I told him I was concerned about getting ripped off by him. He told me he was a fan of my work and assured me he was an honest person interested in my knives.

His last message:
"Sure my friend, I am international student in US right now, I am Chinese. But I collect knifes not for sale. I really like your knife, do you have any other knife right now? I also really like the knife you put the pictures on the website. That email address is work but I not use that mail box too much. If you want to check, I can use that email send you a message. Thanks
Hang"

I am going to give him the benifit of the doubt and Ship the knives...
Ryan
 
Sounds legit. There are a lot of students here from other country's and they have money to spend.

I personally never ship a knife without direct contact with purchaser and is one reason I don't have a paypay button on my site. I ask for an email if someone wants to buy and payment details are worked out through email.

12 years here with paypal and never a problem...
 
Good luck. Still have a 50/50 feeling on this one.

Maybe a refund of the paypal and have him send some postal money orders? If I were a collector and fan of your work (not saying I am not :) )and in his shoes I would be willing to do that and wait the extra week or so to set that up.
 
Thanks again everyone for the comments, I wanted to give an update on this. After holding on to the blade for a week trying to open some type of communication with the buyer I received an email (From a different address) asking when I planned on shipping. I explained that I was trying to get a confirmed address. after a few email exchanges I sent the knives USPS Priority Insured, signature required.

Hang is actually a student in Kansas I have had long email exchanges (Different Email Address) about knives, he has a few on order and I am glad I took a little risk on this one. It could have easily gone a different direction but it didn't.

Thanks for all your input.
Ryan
 
Thats good, I take paypal and of course we all get a little tweaked about the fees but I couldent do without paypal now..I have had one "forced refund" theu paypal but it was us doing the forcing..Phillip had bought a G-shock from ebay on a whim..He is usally very good about researching purchases like that but this time he got in a hurry..Well turned out to be fake..He asked for a refund, seller said no..So he filed a claim with paypal and returned the watch with sig conf..As soon as the seller got it back he got the refund..Its a shame people use this to rip people off but theres always someone out there looking for a easy dollar..
 
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