Hi Gang,
The question has been raging for years and I guess it's time for me to add my two cents about PayPal: are they vital to running an auction business?
My answer: probably 95% or more of all of my payments come in through PayPal. I would be absolutely NUTS not to use PayPal. It has become THE standard for eBay payments. However, there are a couple of things about PayPal that you need to know to protect yourself and your online auction business.
First of all, I do a lot of shipping overseas. If you are going to take payments via PayPal from international customers you need to be sure you cover yourself with the way you ship your package. What I'm getting at is have some way to prove that your package was delivered. Unfortunately USPS only offers one service that is effective (in my mind anyway) and that is Global Express Mail. This service is useful because it provides full online tracking capabilities. And it costs a heckuva lot less than using UPS for international sales. At the moment I'm looking into using FedEx and other services but I'm not at the point where I can give an opinion at this time.
My main problem with shipping overseas is with packages that go to France. For some reason I have had a bunch of packages lately that are not being delivered by the French postal system. And what is happening is that my customers are petioning PayPal for a refund and I have no recourse. PayPal stands completely behind the buyer and gives no recourse to the seller. You have to prove your package was delivered and if you can't, or can't provide tracking then basically you get stuck with a refund like it or not. Lately I've had packages returned, the USPS charges me for the postage again, and I'm out double shipping costs and the refund that PayPal gives the customer. When it costs $25 to ship overseas and you have to eat that cost twice it can get expensive.
If you read my earlier post about eBay fees you will understand why I'm not happy about this. Who is paying PayPal? It's not the buyers - they pay nothing. It's the sellers who support PayPal financially and it's the sellers who get the least amount of protection in a transaction.
So I guess the real moral to this whole diatribe is that you need to protect yourself when you ship your packages. If you ship in the US, use delivery confirmation. If you ship internationally you need some type of tracking. Otherwise it's just your word against the customer and the customer wins every single time
I'll be back with more on PayPal and their fee structure shortly!
Thanks,
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