Thread: Payment methods

How do you handle payments with private parties? ie what form(s) of payment are you willing to use? Assume the other person is a private seller with no feedback whom you do not know.

Paypal-sellers
Paypal, cash, postal money order-buyers.

I have gone to paypal only for anyone I don't actually know or haven't dealt with before.

As much as PayPal scares me (due to the horror stories), I'm PayPal exclusive.

Paypal Only !

Originally Posted by firemanemt89

Paypal Only !

Same here. I must have some good luck...I've never had an issue with them.

Prefer PayPal, but also accept Money Orders. I ALWAYS wait for clear payment before shipping items

USPS Postal Money Orders are great because there is absolutely no waiting for them to clear. Any clerk at any post office can cash your USPS Postal Money Order on the spot.

I haven't had any PayPal problems in the 5+yrs using it so prefer to be payed this way or accept payment this way to speed things along. I also accept USPS Money Order and on occasions if its something unique or I had problems finding an item I will pay via USPS Money Order if the seller is not a PayPal fan or client.

USPS M/OO or Paypal. I try like hell not to take credit cards over the net or phone if I can avoid it, just because.

i prefer money order or cash in person. paypal ripped me off when they linked my account to one out of CA with a negative balance just because the emails were similar. that account was -$250 and took all the money i had in my account to pay off the other one. and its still a negative balance. i told them to remove my account and i would never use paypal again.

USPS money order only for me wether buying or selling.

Although I've never used it, a missing option is C.O.D. - Collect on Delivery, or Cash on Delivery as it was once called.

Originally Posted by shues

Although I've never used it, a missing option is C.O.D. - Collect on Delivery, or Cash on Delivery as it was once called.

Didn't think that still existed.....

Paypal as c.o.d. doesn't work for long distance sales.

I use paypal.

you forgot onebip

Electronic Payments:
Google Checkout (Now Google Wallet) - Most Reliable Fee Structure, Best Chargeback Protection
PayPal - Best Ease of Use
Virtual Credit Card Terminal with Gateway (Website Only)

Phone Payments:
Virtual Credit Card Terminal

Physical Payments:
Credit Card Terminal
SquareUp - May Replace our Credit Card Terminal Soon (Paypal has a similar product out)

There is too much fraud in Money Orders and sending someone out to the Post Office to cash them is a hassle.

-Jared

Paypal but Recently started using SquareUp to process payments and email/text the payment conformation to the buyer.

I traded some radio parts for 2 silver 1 OZ coins, but paypal and money order, cash on pick up and personal checks.

i used to only do USPS money orders (or any money orders), but now I do paypal OR usps M/Os ONLY whether buyin or selling.

Over 90% of users take paypal... the site uses paypal for paid memberships... I am aware that paypal has it's issues.... including fees...and other things (google it)... however, for purchase security it can't be beat. Sending a MO or cash is just not something I can recommend anymore. In fact, I have some new transaction dispute services in mind for the new classifieds, and they will require that a payment method with it's own dispute process is used.

Originally Posted by shues

USPS Postal Money Orders are great because there is absolutely no waiting for them to clear. Any clerk at any post office can cash your USPS Postal Money Order on the spot.

not entirely true, I have a smaller rural post office and they dont generally have a large amount of cash on hand, if they sell stuff , and its at the end of the day sometimes they can cash them, but they can check the numbers on it to make sure that its not stolen, and then I just deposit them into my bank account. I have never had an issue with a USPS money order,

Something else to consider:

https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/personal/money

If you have a website, it can also work there.

https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business/cba


I'm not sure how the fees compare to Paypal.

Originally Posted by Shawn L

not entirely true, I have a smaller rural post office and they dont generally have a large amount of cash on hand, if they sell stuff , and its at the end of the day sometimes they can cash them, but they can check the numbers on it to make sure that its not stolen, and then I just deposit them into my bank account. I have never had an issue with a USPS money order,

Correct.....and the counterfeit market in postal money orders has exploded. The post office doesn't have the resources to investigate. Postal money orders are less secure than cash in an envelope, which is a horrible idea too. I will only accept physical payments for $20 and less, which I see as an acceptable amount to loose in order to ban a potential threat. Truth be told the site [read me] has "lost" several hundred dollars and purchased numerous items solely for the purpose of "trolling con-artists".

I only use electronic verified/secure services for items over $20. The fees and the "big brother-isms" are worth the ability to get my $500 back if I need to.

Originally Posted by JohnMarcson

Correct.....and the counterfeit market in postal money orders has exploded. The post office doesn't have the resources to investigate. Postal money orders are less secure than cash in an envelope, which is a horrible idea too. I will only accept physical payments for $20 and less, which I see as an acceptable amount to loose in order to ban a potential threat. Truth be told the site [read me] has "lost" several hundred dollars and purchased numerous items solely for the purpose of "trolling con-artists".

I only use electronic verified/secure services for items over $20. The fees and the "big brother-isms" are worth the ability to get my $500 back if I need to.

+1 John, Postal money orders have really been counterfeited recently. The last one I recieved took almost an hour at the local post office just so they could verify it and decide on whether or not to cash it. I know the counter people at the PO very well, and it was from a member here in good standing, so wasnt much worry on my end. Just alot of hassle for the PO employee's, who explained that there have been alot of them recently and they are working on changing the way the MO look and the system to check on them. My local post office is in a city of around 10,000 people and they told me they have had thousands in counterfeit Money Orders come thru.

Originally Posted by BackYardSales

Something else to consider:

https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/personal/money

If you have a website, it can also work there.

https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business/cba


I'm not sure how the fees compare to Paypal.

I don't think there are any fees unless you mark that it is a cash advance. If it is for goods and services then there aren't any. I've seen mention of people using it as a way to rack up points on credit cards (mods - if this sentence is against the rules please remove).

Originally Posted by shues

USPS Postal Money Orders are great because there is absolutely no waiting for them to clear. Any clerk at any post office can cash your USPS Postal Money Order on the spot.

Good point, never thought about that. But the Post Office in my town is only open from 9am-12pm and 1pm-5pm. I don't know many people that are available to go there during those hours.

I know this is an older thread, but I would really like to hear opinions on weather amazon and/or Google wallet are worth using. I have squareup for in person cc payments but I am working on my website and want to use a payment processor that is not a PITA to deal with like paypal can be at times. I have a business paypal already but I am not too sure if I should continue using it or move over to the previously mentioned. What do you guys think.

Originally Posted by MEVS06

I know this is an older thread, but I would really like to hear opinions on weather amazon and/or Google wallet are worth using. I have squareup for in person cc payments but I am working on my website and want to use a payment processor that is not a PITA to deal with like paypal can be at times. I have a business paypal already but I am not too sure if I should continue using it or move over to the previously mentioned. What do you guys think.

Google Wallet was great until a couple months ago, we started with Google Wallet (then Google Checkout) in 2006 as part of a beta, we didn't pay transaction fees for the first two years, and then they were a flat 2.00% for a while, but they went to the same fee scale as paypal several years ago. Their seller protection is second to none (if the order passes their checks), the money is yours as long as you follow the rules (capture funds withing 72 hours, tracking number provided, signature confirmation on orders over $250). They will fight the chargeback, and if they loose, Google eats the lose.

This is great, but it poses two problems that have become worse recently:

1) They can take forever to authorize an order. It used to be less than 3 hours, then 6. I've seen orders take 12-24, and heard of it taking over 72 hours for other merchants (which is outside their window for payment guaranty).

2) They decline orders. A couple months ago they started declining upwards of 80% of international orders for some merchants as well as high rates of declining domestic orders, even when the customer is a repeat customer with a Google Wallet account that is more than 1-2 years old. They have also taken a lot longer to decline orders, 2-3 days in some instances.

One more note, Google Wallet is not a two-way system. You can't just send a payment to someone, you have to go through a website, shopping cart button, or emailed invoice. The upside of that is that received funds go into your bank account in a few days, you don't have to move it from Google to your bank account.

Haven't used Amazon Payments, our eCommerce solution doesn't support it.

-Jared