Are you becoming weary of PayPal's bad reputation? Worried about their increasing fees? Or perhaps you yourself have been a victim to some of PayPal's dubious practices and looking for an alternative? Maybe you just want to offer as many payment options to your buyers as possible. Either way, we have had a lot of feedback and questions from our members about PayPal alternatives so read on as we review some popular PayPal payment alternatives for online small businesses.
ProPay
What it Offers: ProPay enables small business owners and eBay sellers to accept credit card payments and other electronic payments. ProPay is an accepted eBay payment form.
How it Works: Upon checkout, the buyer enters their credit card information. Payment is processed immediately and sent to your ProPay account.
Fees for eAuction Account for eBay Sellers:
Joining fee: $5
Annual fee: $35- $299 (ouch!)
Transaction fees:
ProPays transaction fees work on a tier system in accordance with your PowerSeller Status
Bronze PowerSeller: 3.1% and US$0.30
Silver PowerSeller: 2.7 and US$0.30
Gold PowerSeller: 2.4% and US$0.30
Platinum PowerSeller: 2.4% and US$0.30
And Titanium PowerSellers can contact ProPay and negotiate rates! Nice for some!
ProPay currently does not allow eBay's Basic seller's to use their payment system.
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MoneyBookers
What it Offers: They perform payment processing for you for your online auctions and ecommerce sites. MoneyBookers is an accepted eBay payment form.
How it Works: Upon checkout, the buyer enters their credit card information. Payment is processed immediately and is sent to your Moneybookers account.
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Fees:
Registration: Free
Upload money from a bank: Free
Upload money from a credit card: 1.9%
Withdraw money to your bank account: € 1.80
Withdraw money via check: €3.50
Transaction Fees For Moneybookers Quick Checkout Accounts:
€ 0 – 1,000: 2.9% + 0.29 €
€ 1,000 – 10,000: 2.7% + 0.29 €
€ 10,000 – 50,000: 2.5% + 0.29 €
€ 50,000 – 100,000: 2.2% + 0.29 €
€ 100,000 +: 1.9% + 0.29 €
Paymate
What it Offers: Facilities for online payments, secure ecommerce facilities including credit card payment processing. Paymate is an accepted eBay payment form.
How it Works: Upon checkout, the buyer enters their credit card information. Payment is processed immediately and sent to your Paymate account
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Fees For US Sellers:
Annual: Free
Monthly: Free
Transaction Fees: 3% + US$0.50 per payment
Credit Card Merchant Accounts
A credit card merchant account is an account at a financial institution that allows you to accept credit card payments yourself and without a third party provider such as MoneyBookers. You can usually get a merchant account directly from your local bank or you may decide to use any of a number of Merchant Account Providers that can be found on the Internet.
How it works: You will able to accept credit card payments to your online merchant account directly through your own ecommerce site's checkout or eBay Checkout by signing up for a Payflow payment gateway account. This is a free service for eBay sellers. Buyers pay immediately using the 'Pay Now' button. Payments are instantly processed online from eBay Checkout through Payflow. The seller never sees the buyer's credit card number. You will receive an email telling you that you have been paid and they know they can ship the item.
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Look out for providers offering:
Free Shopping carts (some providers charge a lot for these and they are essential for ecommerce sites), no term contracts, no software required, no statement fees, great customer service options and technical help and fraud detection (helps if it's free or included too!)
Recommended Providers
CDG Commerce: Great value (free set up and $10 per month), long-running and reliable (member of BBB)
2 Checkout: Low fees (a one-time US$49 sign up fee) and a free shopping cart (member of BBB)
Do you have a favourite Paypal payment alternative? Let us know in the comments!
Comments (3)
OutDoorOscar on 19:48 30 Aug
I went with a merchant account through merchantinc.com and it's been great. I use them on my website to sell camping and outdoor related items and I also use them for occasional sales on eBay. They also offer a free app that is great for accepting payments at shows and conventions. I really like that there is no 3rd party account like with Paypal so money is always deposited directly in to my checking account.Algi on 19:37 3 Dec
I first was Paypal user, however after some complications with my account I switched to another payment system - Paysera. Paysera may be not as universally accepted as Paypal, but it is growing and now i have a bit lower costs than i used to. The thing I like that Paysera offers up to 1% cashback to customers who pay though their app.So people who pay though it are getting the item a bit cheaper. Transfers are also processed instantly which is very convenient.Don on 12:31 27 Jan
As another alternative to PayPal I would recommend Cardinity (https://cardinity.com/). I'm using this payment gateway provider for a half of a year now and I'm totally satisfied with it, especially for its comparatively low fees (€ 0.25 flat fee per transaction + 1.7% from the payment amount) and great client support. Strongly recommended!