PayPal Alternatives

Kiah

Kiah

Pit Bull Appreciation Society
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Joined
Jul 20, 2006
Messages
20,776
Due to a postal screw-up and the sheer stupidity of PP's CS department, my PP account is likely gonna be closed next week. Anyone have experience with alternatives? I know about Gpal (GunPal), which seems idea, but I've heard of some pretty big issues with them on AuctionArms, which leaves me wary. Any ideas?
 
dont do gpal its horrible. i have lots of buddies who are ffl's and sell a lot of stuff on auctionarms, gunbroker ect and it often times was taking them up to a month to get there money from gpal. they are a bigger scam than paypal honestly. as far as alternatives i don't have a good one for you but just wanted to make sure you stayed away from gpal they are horrid.
 
Thanks GS. I'd heard stories and was wary. Good to see a confirmation before I gave them a shot. Looking at some others right now.
 
Most folks do online banking these days and most banks will send money to anyone, anywhere in just a couple of days through their billpay systems. I haven't written a check in years nor mailed a bill.

As for Paypal, good manners prevent me describing them by using 'salty' language learned over a lifetime as a cowhand, logger, army vet, and so on. I dumped them years ago and won't do business with any firm or person for any product when they will/can only accept Paypal as the sole form of payment. No! I can find the product somewhere else.
 
USPS Money Orders. Any post office will cash them or they can be deposited at your bank.

Do not accept any other money orders, especially Western Union MOs. There are so many counterfeits Western Union will refuse to cash one of their own MOs and the only thing you can do is deposit it and wait 20 days to see if it actually clears.

Other alternative is you could look into setting up a website with a shopping cart feature that accepts Visa/MC payments.
 
Roger999 said:
Western union?
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I've heard bad things about western union. I've heard so many negatives and bad stories about them. I also am pretty sure, that once the money is sent, you can't trace it.

However I've never used it, but alot of people have told me to avoid it.
 
tyr_shadowblade said:
USPS Money Orders. Any post office will cash them or they can be deposited at your bank.

Do not accept any other money orders, especially Western Union MOs. There are so many counterfeits Western Union will refuse to cash one of their own MOs and the only thing you can do is deposit it and wait 20 days to see if it actually clears.

Other alternative is you could look into setting up a website with a shopping cart feature that accepts Visa/MC payments.
Click to expand...

I'll second USPS money orders. I pay a slight premium to buy a M.O. and get tracking when I send it, but I can follow it's progress across the country and know when it is delivered. When I receive them, I can cash them at the post office without waiting for them to clear. Most merchants and eBayers will gladly accept them, even if they don't list them as a payment alternative.

I don't do online banking of any sort, and don't use credit cards online. I buy a postage stamp and an envelope and mail my USPS M.O. payments and keep the reciept copy. This actual copy record has saved me a lot of hassle with utility companies etc. claiming missed payments. Plus you can get them replaced if they are lost or stolen (though it does take a while).
 
Old CW4 said:
Most folks do online banking these days and most banks will send money to anyone, anywhere in just a couple of days through their billpay systems. I haven't written a check in years nor mailed a bill.

As for Paypal, good manners prevent me describing them by using 'salty' language learned over a lifetime as a cowhand, logger, army vet, and so on. I dumped them years ago and won't do business with any firm or person for any product when they will/can only accept Paypal as the sole form of payment. No! I can find the product somewhere else.
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I didn't know that about billpay. I thought it was just for certain setups. Interesting. As for PP, I've defended them plenty, and if I can get this fixed will continue to use them as one payment source, but will certainly be adding others. Being essentially payment crippled over an address change (especially when I haven't even moved) is absurd.

Roger999 said:
Western union?
Click to expand...

No. Too many horror stories.

JCK said:
I've heard bad things about western union. I've heard so many negatives and bad stories about them. I also am pretty sure, that once the money is sent, you can't trace it.

However I've never used it, but alot of people have told me to avoid it.
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Like that.

tyr_shadowblade said:
Other alternative is you could look into setting up a website with a shopping cart feature that accepts Visa/MC payments.
Click to expand...

Ironically, I was gonna set up my PP account to "Business" this month so I could use their API and virtual terminal for CC processing. Guess I'll be looking elsewhere.

Codger_64 said:
I'll second USPS money orders. I pay a slight premium to buy a M.O. and get tracking when I send it, but I can follow it's progress across the country and know when it is delivered. When I receive them, I can cash them at the post office without waiting for them to clear. Most merchants and eBayers will gladly accept them, even if they don't list them as a payment alternative.

I don't do online banking of any sort, and don't use credit cards online. I buy a postage stamp and an envelope and mail my USPS M.O. payments and keep the reciept copy. This actual copy record has saved me a lot of hassle with utility companies etc. claiming missed payments. Plus you can get them replaced if they are lost or stolen (though it does take a while).
Click to expand...

I've always given the option of USPS MO. Problem is that a lot of people don't seem to realize that MOs from USPS aren't the same as a MO from Western Union or elsewhere. If I could deal with nothing but Postal MOs though, I'd be a happy camper. One quick trip to the PO, and I'm done.
 
Codger_64 said:
I buy a postage stamp and an envelope and mail my USPS M.O. payments and keep the reciept copy. This actual copy record has saved me a lot of hassle with utility companies etc. claiming missed payments. Plus you can get them replaced if they are lost or stolen (though it does take a while).
Click to expand...

If I'm sending a MO for over $100 it goes USPS Priority with delivery confirmation.
 
Joben said:
You might want to look at Google Checkout.

I haven't used it, yet but i've heard some good things.

https://checkout.google.com/sell/?gl=US&hl=en
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It does not have nearly the features that Paypal does, but it is decent enough. One thing that I do like is that they guarantee every transaction, not just the ones that fall under certain criteria.

They started out free, then introduced some reasonable fees, and now are at least as expensive as Paypal. The interface is spartan and you do not have a lot of the extra info you can get from Paypal. Also, if you ever need any sort of support, you are pretty much limited to emails. If they do not respond to your query, there is not a whole lot you can do.

Kiah, if you do a decent volume, you can always get a merchant account through someone and just run credit cards. I wouldn't mess with that unless you are doing at least a few thousand a month though, since the fees can quickly cut into your margins. I suppose that some payments are better than no payments though. :)
 
I prefer the check myself. It might be a bit slow but it's a whole lot safer than putting your credit card information all over the place, which makes me paranoid.
 
Joben said:
You might want to look at Google Checkout.

I haven't used it, yet but i've heard some good things.

https://checkout.google.com/sell/?gl=US&hl=en
Click to expand...

Considered it, but the time issue is a bit out there. Every single sale gets held for ten days, then 3-5 days for transfer. None of that includes weekends, so your looking at almost 3 weeks after someone pays to actually get it, unless they "decide" after two months that you can have it sooner (still a week). They also determine how much I'm allowed to make based on unknown rules. Google is awesome for a lot of things, but I have no interest some random desk worker deciding when and how much I'm permitted to get paid for my work.

storl said:
Kiah, if you do a decent volume, you can always get a merchant account through someone and just run credit cards. I wouldn't mess with that unless you are doing at least a few thousand a month though, since the fees can quickly cut into your margins. I suppose that some payments are better than no payments though. :)
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Yeah, considering a gateway at the moment, but not a full on MA. As for a few thousand a month, I don't think I'd still have fingers. ;)

Also looking at AlertPay. Fees are a bit high, but not horrible. Gonna visit my postmaster in the morning and see if he can explain the addy thing to PP. Hopefully that'll fix it, but I kinda doubt it. Everyone I've talked to at PP so far seems to be a kid fresh outta HS that can't comprehend anything outside of their script. :rolleyes:
 
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