I’ve been using them to make payments since 2003 (I think).. Using them to process payments since last July (processed hundreds of payments since then) I agree with Martha. When things are going well, they’re great. Quick, easy, well-known and recognized so there’s a good branding thing going on with clients. But when things go bad (e.g., chargebacks, etc) they retreat into their shell like a frightened turtle.

Also their customer service/technical support is beyond pathetic. In fact, they’d have to improve 500% just to get up to “pathetic”… (*chuckle*). I’d consider myself lucky if I managed to get a canned response a month after I requested help. I have long since given up on asking them for help.

And yes they are very unprofessional. Their landing page for a Buy Now button (and possibly for other payment forms) was throwing a Javascript error for over a month before they got around to fixing it even though it was well documented on the Paypal developer forum (we even pointed out exactly what line in their script was throwing the error). As anybody in online sales will tell you, trying to get people to buy stuff on the internet is like trying to get a squirrel to come over and take a peanut out of your hand. The slightest wrong move and they run like the wind. So getting to a page where you’re about to hand over your hard-earned cash and seeing the “Error on page” notice in the bottom of your browser is enough to give anybody the willie-nillies.

Also agree with Bonnie. Apparently when people make payments from their Paypal accounts linked to a bank account and they don’t have enough funds in their Paypal account, the status of their ‘echeck’ remains pending until the funds are successfully transferred from their bank account (which sometimes can take up to TWO WEEKS). Meanwhile, it appears that the buyer has no clue that this is going on. So inevitably they contact me saying “Where’s my stuff?” to which I repeatedly have to inform them that the status of their echeck is “Pending” and they’ll receive the goods when the check clears. Now I’ve taken to automatically emailing an explaination to the buyer telling them about the “Pending” status of their echeck whenever I get a “Notification of a Pending eCheck” email from Paypal. Something that Paypal should be doing, not me. (grrrr!)

Quite frankly, the only thing I think Paypal has going for them is that they’re so well known. If it weren’t for that, I would have dumped them a long time ago.

NB IT MAY BE THAT THAT COMPANY IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT NOW, SINCE THE TAKEOVER BY EBAY. I DON’T KNOW.

I had my account blocked, entirely capriciously, while it was in credit . I seemed a possible prelude to it’s being milked. I read reports of dishonest Paypal staff targeting people in developing countries who couldn’t easily fight back.

The only way to deal with it was to send a boat load of documents, including my contract of employment, my passport, driving license etc. I was helped by an employee whose email was a public secret on Paypal sucks when the company itself was not taking phone calls.

It was ALMOST impossible to get rid of a Paypal account. The only way to do it was to decline to accept new terms and conditions. If you get a chance… take it.

I have found nothing that impresses me enough to abandon PayPal. Besides, I think they have better security than I would.

Just a thought.

RaduJohn, I don’t think PayPal is well-equipped to deal with businesses processing transactions the size of yours. While it’s always nice to offer PayPal as an *option*, a regular merchant account would likely be a better choice for you. And remember, you can deduct all of the merchant account fees on your taxes (well, if you’re in the U.S. you can!).

David, PayPal “tries” to claim that the seller is responsible for the item actually getting delivered safe and sound. Until the USPS allows me travel with each of my shipments to their destination, I am simply not able to ensure that. I trust the USPS much less than I trust PayPal!

PayPal’s requirement of having shipments trackable online is very limiting. For international shipments (originating in the U.S.), this limits me to Priority Mail International and Express Mail International; these are the more expensive international shipping options. If an item weighs less than 4 pounds (which most of mine do), First Class International is an option, HOWEVER it’s not trackable online! It depends on what I’m selling/shipping whether I require online tracking for international shipments or not — and also for domestic shipments too, for that matter. There *should* be a way to track an item with the Customs number; in fact the post office clerk I deal with most often tells me that it IS possible. However, that doesn’t seem to be an option which is available ONLINE and that’s where things get sticky with PayPal. GRRRR!!

If PayPal were to improve just ONE thing, I would ask them to DO AWAY WITH their silly e-check option. What a nightmare!!

BY THE WAY (and yes, I’m yelling *grin*), if you ever need to contact PayPal, CALL THEM, don’t bother with e-mail! Their U.S. phone number is 888-221-1161. They have a variety of phone numbers of course, and I don’t know if this number works internationally. 402-935-2050 *may* work in Canada. Wish I had a number for the other international folks, sorry!

And more expensive. If you want a bank, pay for a bank.

Secondly, let me add some more to your CONS list. PayPal is that it is not a truly international payment gateway AND it does not accept American Express Corporate Cards. These 2 issues have, unfortunately, been a big problem with us as many of our members are from all over the world and many of them use departmental or business cards to pay for the services we offer. Many markets do not accept all credit cards, some only one. This is NOT evident when you sign up and unless they change some of their policies quickly we will be forced to find another solution.

Con: Customer Service nightmares for us when people use “echecks” in paypal. Most customers don’t know what it is, and Paypal does nothing to warn them. Echeck is when the customer only has a bank account, and not a credit card or additional form of payment to back up their account should their account be overdrawn when paypal tries to debit it, so paypal doesn’t pay you for 3-5 days while they wait for the money to transfer. There is NOTHING on the customer’s receipt from paypal showing there will be a delay in paying us, infact it insinuates just the opposite, and they get irate seeing the actual debit in their bank account, but we still can’t activate their order because we’ve not been paid. We spend a lot of time in CS and it only makes us look bad, though it is actually paypal’s problem for not better educating (err.. warning) their own customers that there will be a delay in their payment being sent to us. Not a positive way to start a long term relationship with a customer.