Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

[disneysteve]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

poundwise gave a very good answer. Let me add one detail. If you advertise that you accept Paypal in your ebay auction listings, you MUST accept all forms of Paypal payments, including credit cards, meaning you must have a Premier or Business account.

[poundwise]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

poundwise gave a very good answer. Let me add one detail. If you advertise that you accept Paypal in your ebay auction listings, you MUST accept all forms of Paypal payments, including credit cards, meaning you must have a Premier or Business account.

Yes, in fact, this is a stipulation of having the debit card and earning 1% back on purchases. Good to point that out disneysteve. I believe they call it being a 'PayPal Prefered Merchant' or some-such wording.

In the end, if all this is confusing to you Cheetahwoman7, my advice is to open a PayPal Premier account.

With this, you can:

1) Accept payments for eBay auctions and other transactions, including credit cards

2) Earn 5+% APY on your account balance (if you opt-in to the money market)

3) Obtain a debit card (and earn 1% back on purchases if you agree to 'prefer' PayPal payment for your eBay auctions)


The only other viable option to use PayPal with eBay is to open a Personal account and then, in your eBay auction listings state something like:

"I accept money orders by mail and PayPal payments (sorry, no credit cards.)"

I believe you can opt-in to the money market with a Personal account, but you cannot obtain a debit card or earn the 1% on purchases. More significant, however, is that not accepting payment by credit/debit cards will potentially limit your success with auctions and etc.

[Great to be Debt Free]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

All of this is really helpful information, so thank you for that! My only concern anymore is that I don't know that I personally want to accept credit cards. I've come to a point that, whether or not I get the MOST money for an item is irrelevant if the person purchasing can't truly AFFORD it. That is, I struggled so hard with cc debt, and I was a bit compulsive with shopping and personally feel E-Bay can be addictive, that I may not want to allow people to overdo it and dig a bigger debt hole for MY little offering of whatever I may be selling.

Maybe that sounds silly, but I knkow the buyers remorse I felt when I looked back at some o fthe crazy purchases I made when I was already WAY in over my head. I don't want people looking at their purchases from me and feeling that sinking feeling for that reason. (I know, it's not the only reason people feel buyers remorse, but it does affect it greatly).

So, is it difficult to do all the e-bay stuff? Or is it really not so bad?

By the way, I really do love having you all to help guide all of us, as we guide each other -- I think this is terrific!

[disneysteve]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

My only concern anymore is that I don't know that I personally want to accept credit cards. I've come to a point that, whether or not I get the MOST money for an item is irrelevant if the person purchasing can't truly AFFORD it.

So, is it difficult to do all the e-bay stuff? Or is it really not so bad?

I think that is a very noble sentiment, but I don't think you can go into business worried about how others choose to spend their money. Someone sending you a check or money order might not be any better off than the person paying you by credit card. All you are doing by not accepting credit card payments is eliminating a huge portion of the potential buyers for your items. If you have a yard sale, do you ask people if they can afford the stuff they are buying from you?

Is ebay difficult? No, not at all, though it can be fairly time consuming. You need to find items to sell, clean them up, photograph them, write descriptions, post the auctions, answer bidder questions, send invoices, pack and ship items, post feedback, etc. It is all pretty easy stuff but still times some time and effort to do it successfully.

[Great to be Debt Free]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

DisneySteve, you are probably right. I was thinking I could just use the PayPal option and say moneyorders and PayPal, sorry no credit cards -- someone had posted that, I think. And right now I was thinking of just getting rid of things I have, not really buying or getting more to sell (we're moving across country sometime between Nov. and March -- company transfer). But you are right, I suppose. Lately I just worry about people -- I hear neighbors arguing; always about money, see people in line at the grocery that look so beat up (not physically, but emotionally) and I just wonder how much debt is contributing to our national state of emotions. But I need to be real, too, and I can't bear everyones burdens and I shouldn't assume they are always financial. I wonder sometimes if I replace my own past stress over debt with stress for other people -- I'm going to have to learn to live without it (stress) lke that at all! It is freeing!

[Roupey03]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

Man I was thinking about selling on ebay. I use paypal as a buyer all the time and I prefer it over any other method.

Thanks for all the clearification about personal and business accounts.

[poundwise]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

...I don't think you can go into business worried about how others choose to spend their money. Someone sending you a check or money order might not be any better off than the person paying you by credit card. All you are doing by not accepting credit card payments is eliminating a huge portion of the potential buyers for your items.

Also, don't forget about debit cards. If you don't accept VISA, you've eliminated the potential for folks to use a debit card as well.

Ultimately, you can't be responsible for other people.

[poundwise]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

So, is it difficult to do all the e-bay stuff? Or is it really not so bad?

The main advice I would give on this front is that if you sell on eBay, watch the fees.

1) I host my images on my own server space, not with eBay. This way I can use more images and etc. without paying fees.

2) Be prudent with the use of special features like highlighting and bold. Most of the time, these are wastes of money. Most people are using the search function.

3) The Gallery image feature is worth utilizing most of the time IMO.

4) Always include enough shipping and handling charges to cover your actual shipping costs plus materials.

5) Give a clear description of the item including any faults/flaws so as to minimize the potential for unhappy buyers. Dealing with this aspect of selling (online or otherwise) is always a pain that's best avoided.


Here is a great list of tips for buyers and sellers...

http://www.skipmcgrath.com/auction_sr/99tips.shtml

[Great to be Debt Free]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

Thank you so much!

[Cheetahwoman7]

Re: Tell Me Your Thoughts On PayPal

Thanks for all the advice! I'm still on the fence about PayPal. I did clear out to a minimum (under $100) my one account that's at separate bank than where I normally do all my business. It's ready to go if I decide to get a PayPal account. Maybe I'll just start with a personal account and see how I like it.

Thanks again,
CJ