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Alternatives to PayPal for online business transactions
11-11-2011, 10:32 PM
Oh god, PayPal is terrible. I'll do everything I can to get a wire transfer, but a lot of times clients will insist on PayPal (ugh).
I've never used stripe, but it looks solid. I'll certainly check it out.
I'm a big Bitcoin advocate though (Check out FlexCoin and the merchant how-to on the BC wiki). I think it's an ideal system for entrepreneurs who are attempting to internationalize and work abroad.
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11-12-2011, 07:14 PM
I have lost tens of thousands of dollars because of Paypal. No exaggeration. Two things about Paypal.
- Never leave ANY money in your Paypal account. Transfer it out immediately.
- Never use Paypal for recurring transactions. It is very difficult to fight chargebacks on Paypal. And it's very easy for customers to chargeback recurring transactions. Paypal will almost always rule in favour of the customer and not the merchant.
However,
- Paypal is very easy to implement whether you are using a Wordpress Plugin or a dedicated shopping cart.
So, if you want to get up and running in a matter of minutes, Paypal is really your only option.
For the long term, it is best to try and get your own merchant account from your bank.
p.s. I have never heard of Stripe. But, it looks interesting.
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11-19-2011, 06:22 PM
YMG.
The problems you are having with Paypal overseas is due to your IP address.
The best option for using Paypal (and Ebay) overseas is a VPS(Virtual Private Server) in the country your account is registered to. VPN, Proxies etc will only get your account limited. Always log into your PP account from the VPS.
Auctiva is good for Ebay(if you use Ebay) because it masks your IP address so you can log in from anywhere, but there are times you must log into Ebay directly, in which case use the VPS.
If you are an Ebay seller you should be setting up multiple fake accounts should you get a dreaded limitation.
Fake address(Find an address for an empty office building or something)
Virtual credit card(for verification)
Virtual phone number(that can be routed to your mobile)
Fake name(make sure it's a man's name, cos they might call you!)
A new bank account that you haven't used before with PP/Ebay
If you need any more advice give me a shout
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11-19-2011, 06:33 PM
Yep always best to leave a bit in there and don't take out huge chunks in one go, for example if you have £1000 in an account, take it £200 at a time
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11-19-2011, 06:38 PM
Quote: (11-19-2011 06:32 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:
Quote: (11-19-2011 06:22 PM)Deb Auchery Wrote:
YMG.
The problems you are having with Paypal overseas is due to your IP address.
I never had a problem with Paypal while living overseas. I always contacted them to let them know where I would be. I normally contact all my banks when I am accessing them outside the country.
Sometimes it's ok, depends on a lot of variables like what you are using Paypal for, the country you are in etc.
When I first started logging in from overseas I got regular soft limitations, where they wanted me to change my password or something. But this could cause very serious problems as any transfers that are taking place get reversed.
Also you could log in from a dirty IP address that a suspended user has used, IE Starbucks.
Would never, ever log in to Paypal from here in Ukraine
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11-19-2011, 06:41 PM
Quote: (11-19-2011 06:35 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:
Quote: (11-19-2011 06:33 PM)Deb Auchery Wrote:
Yep always best to leave a bit in there and don't take out huge chunks in one go, for example if you have £1000 in an account, take it £200 at a time
Personally, I just leave a reserve based on a percentage of my sales. I also have a debit card for my Paypal account and have been using that more and more lately.
Yep I used to have a Paypal Debit Card in the UK, but they stopped the service. Shame cos I could transfer to the card in less than 24 hours
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11-19-2011, 06:47 PM
Yep I told them for every country I visited, still got the limitations. Yes when you receive a Paypal limitation any transfers that are taking place get reversed
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11-19-2011, 06:48 PM
I use Entropay VCC for my Ebay and Paypal accounts
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11-20-2011, 09:51 AM
Yeah I heard about Dwolla literally about fifteen seconds before seeing this thread.
Good post.
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11-22-2011, 03:42 AM
Dwolla™ is really amazing. Sucks its only for US/Canada right now.
I need to know more about Entropay VCC - I have less idea on how it works and how much it costs.
Given that I've clients across the world, I need a sustainable and reliable option, which could be easy on my clients as well.
How about Moneybookers?
_________________________________
"To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail."
—Abraham Maslow
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09-11-2012, 01:29 PM
started looking into bitcoins, anyone experience care to help out? I know there are tons of exchanges but how do you pick a legit on? Also any way to use this to churn cc miles ?