Great Alternatives To PayPal


http://getting-green.blogspot.com/2007/02/great-alternatives-to-paypal.html


In the last few years, it’s become quite apparent that there are some real problems with using PayPal to send and receive money. Recently I wrote an article entitled “The Problem With PayPal” describing its many flaws and questionable policies. With PayPal, you waive the right to being able to use a charge-back to get your money back if you are scammed. Their seller protection policy does next to nothing to protect is merchants, and it’s been sued several times. Considering all of these things, perhaps it’s time to consider some of the many PayPal alternatives to send and receive money on the internet. Here are some of the PayPal’s best competitors that you might want to consider.

Google Checkout – This is Google’s direct competitor to PayPal, it offers pretty much all of the same features but much lower fees. In addition, you can get a $10 bonus on your first purchase, which isn’t bad at all. Google Checkout charges the merchants 2.0% + 20 cents per transaction, a bit better than what PayPal is offering. Through the end of the year, Google is charging nothing for a processing fee as well. Because of some shady business practices by eBay, you cannot use Google Checkout to pay or accept payment for eBay purchases.

BidPay – A much more seasoned competitor to PayPal is BidPay. It’s been around since 1999 and bills it self as an online auction payment service. There are a lot of benefits for merchants, because it allows them to accept credit cards and money internationally without a merchant account. There are no fees for buyers either, making it a pretty good deal. Unlike Google Checkout, you can us this service on eBay. BidPay charges 2.5% of the transaction as well as an additional 50 cents per each transaction.

CCNow – This is another very good way to accept and send money through online auctions and online purchases. There fees are much higher than Google Checkout and other services though. They insist on 5.00% of one’s purchases as well as $0.50 per sale. The one benefit of this service is that any money sitting in the account will accrue interest at 1.50% APY.

ProPay – ProPay is a very similar service to the others. They charge a $34.95 annual fee and have a tiered fee structure, less than that of PayPal, but higher than some of the others. There are no other hidden fees with this service which is a big plus.

If you’re buying through an online auction, you’re really at the mercy of what the person accepts. Fortunately for most of the services the only fees are to the merchants. If you are a merchant and are looking for a PayPal alternative, Google Checkout seems to be the way to go. It has the best fees out of all of them, and offers a nice signup bonus!


http://www.DtiCorp.com



HONEYWELL Thermostats and HVAC Controls


http://www.cxNewYork.com



Looking for Sport shoes? Make yourself at home.



.

GoogleCheckout is certainly the wave of the future and I'm standing eager inline for when it goes International. It fits well into my marketing strategy and is exactly what I'm looking for in payments.


I would differ on my choice for other online payments

I would consider Money Bookers as the most viable second or third option for International sellers.Moneybookers have a good record ,better protection then Paypal....well frankly its alot better then Paypal in almost every regard with the exception that it only has about 2 million users and is mostly Europe based. I've found Moneybookers to be a great service and if you plan to be international its a great service to cater to Europeans.

As a Canadian I would advise Canadians (perhaps some from USA with Canuck branch) to consider Certapay (an Interac Service). Certapay is used with most Canadian Online banking users and is linked to the Canadian banking system and is an excellent system and Interac is well known to all Canadians that have an ATM card. Also if you are a merchant you may wish to use more advanced form called "Interac Online".

For dealing with more exotic international locales , I would consider E-Gold its also reached over 2 million users and the only top brand in Gold Payments with the longest history and many exchange services are starting to become as old and reputable.E-Gold can also be plugged into shopping carts and the like.

[U]
Lesser Services worth consideration[/U]
The only other services even worth considering would be XCoin ,Neteller & hyperwallet.

Xcoin is becoming the Paypal alternative on some of the minor sites and a following in HK

Neteller is big in the UK and expanding to tackle Paypal

Hyperwallet I would only reccomend for Canadians as a far second to Certapay which is far better.

I would avoid all the others like the plauge



Top Picks
-----------------------------------------
1. Google Checkout (when it goes international)
2. Moneybookers (international)
3. Certapay (for Canadians)
4. E-Gold (international)

Google Checkout IS international. It was announced rather obscurely for such a big new feature, but here is a link to the page:
http://checkout.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=48115

It is definitely the BEST alternative to Paypal in my opinion. While I don't have the same volume as I used to on eBay, I haven't had any problems with using it at all. I send email invoices pretty quickly and have only had one buyer who didn't want to pay, then one buyer who decided to send a money order because the zip code didn't match her shipping address.

Plus, I have yet to receive one single phishing email through Google, but still receive a couple daily through my closed Paypal accounts. Which sounds more secure?

I use SWREG (swreg.org) and they have loads of payment options that pertain to all groups of customers whether international or US.

Their system is flexible and customizable giving a better, more professional appearance to customers.

Works great for my business.

Jess

i like that sentence about "shady business practices at ebay" in the original article!


swreg looks rather inneresting...not sure i'd use all those features!


i think bidpay is great--it's like paypal, but with a little something they never heard of called customer service!!


and i wish i could use certapay...but their closest bank affiliate is 2 states away from me.

Xoom offers fast, reliable money transfers at a great price! Send money from the convenience of your computer to friends and family all over the world.

• Low fees
• Safe and secure
• Four easy steps

Convenient Payment Options!

Send money with your U.S. credit card, or pay with your U.S. bank account and save even more!

Xoom is not yet compatible for Canada

but seems good for latin america