How to get paid if leery of paypal - Virtual Assistant Forums

#1 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

O.K., I just read a thread about the best way to get paid. A lot of people responded use paypal. I got burned with paypal. I had a paypal account but had not used it in 3 years. I get my bank statement and they are charging me a fee for insufficient funds, which it turns out is a $ 3,700 purchase "made" by "me" through paypal. Needless to say it wasn't me so I had to close all my bank accounts attached to the paypal account because my bank said that they could guarantee me the "purchase" would try to go through again 2 more times. I would have gotten hit with more fees by my bank since they would only write off the fees one time. I saw people use something on google, any more info would be helpful. Sometimes people say no money orders, why...are they easy to fake?

Prime Admin Solutions · #2 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

I don't use PayPal; I feel that their fees are simply too high. I accept cheques or cash or Interac money transfer. Check with your bank, Interac money transfer is available in Canada through the major banks, but I don't know if it is available in the US.

Interac is done through on-line banking. The customer makes the payment to the Vendor and a message is sent to the Vendor via email. The Vendor receives and email and includes a link to click to deposit the money in their own bank account. I use it often to transfer money between the business account and my personal account (different banks). The beauty of this service is that the Customer pays the service charge ($1.50), not the Vendor. The service fee is the same whether the payment is $100 or $1,000.

Here is a link telling more about it: http://www.interac.ca/merchants/prod...es_ol_main.php

No one has used this payment method with me yet, but it's a viable option.

vainparadise · #3 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

Google Checkout is another option besides the ones Julia mentioned.

Prime Admin Solutions · #4 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

Originally Posted by vainparadise

Google Checkout is another option besides the ones Julia mentioned.

That looks great! It's about half the cost of PayPal.

Prime Admin Solutions · #5 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

Darn it! Google Checkout is only available in the US and UK - hope it's made available to Canada soon.

MoragB · #6 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

Another useful service for people with a UK bank account is NoChex - with a Merchant Account you can accept international payments.

anisemama · #7 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

That sounds like not so much a PayPal problem as it is a hacking problem. I'd keep an eye on all online accounts, and file a complaint with PayPal on that one.

Your Virtual Wizard · #8 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

I haven't heard of google checkout on a VA website but of course the idea of charging the client instead of the VA for payment process is appealing. I use paypal but I don't like the charges. It's very convenient though and my clients have paypal accounts so it works well for them.

I was thinking of adding google check out instead of paypal but I wonder how many clients would then simply want to start mailing checks to me instead of using google. I didn't want to get into using checks. That was my only thought.

Jan

ladygrn · #9 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

Thank you, Julia.

I don't like to use Paypal either. (Probably had 100 good transactions, but the one bad one was enough!)

I'm going to look into this Interact thing more closely.

Thanks again.

Gladys

#10 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

I had used paypal for a few years with no problem but when you have a problem, no one wants to handle it. When I called paypal about the transaction they told me it was my bank problem not theirs. The bank said the same thing.

Your Virtual Wizard · #11 (**permalink**) 10-26-2008

Carol13021 - Same thing happened to me. Paypal sent me to my bank and my bank sent me to paypal. Ended up being something Paypal had to do but it required faxing and many, many calls and emails from me to their customer service to solve it. Haven't had an issue since but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Prime Admin Solutions · #12 (**permalink**) 10-27-2008

I have a friend who just sold her gift basket business. She didn't like PayPal, had an issue with a customer and PayPal sided with the customer.

mkimble · #13 (**permalink**) 10-27-2008

thanks...Has anyone used Revolution money exchange?

uniquely40 · #14 (**permalink**) 10-27-2008

Hello

I am still having a bad experience with paypal, it's concerning a charge back that did not occur according to my customers bank, but paypal has it has a chargeback and my account has been blocked. I am so fed up with them and I can't close my accont with them until this mess is rectified.

Anyway, I am now working with two payment solutions, www.propay.com (a yearly fee is involved) and www.alertpay.com ( I need buttons for my website and they provide them without having a merchant account, transition fees are very high and no yearly fee). I am test driving both to see which is better.

#15 (**permalink**) 10-31-2008

Thanks for the tip, I am going to look into google checkout today. I'll let you know how I make out.