Originally posted by Jim Sachs
PayPal takes a huge cut of the profits. I couldn't afford them when I was selling the Aquarium, and apparently Prolific can't either.
Hmmm....
PayPal's current fees are:
Merchant Rate: 2.2% + $.30
Standard Rate: 2.9% + $.30
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...eiving-outside
So, on a $20 purchase, these would be the fees:
Merchant Rate: $0.74
Standard Rate: $0.88
Granted, there are additional fees for international payments, but can 4.4% (standard rate fee) transaction fee be considered a huge cut of the profits? From what I remember of discussions here, the retail package incurred a much higher cost of sale.
Maybe their fees were higher previous to a year ago when I started using them to accept payments for our VIP Service, but I find PayPal to be an acceptable route to receiving payments, especially when compared with taking paper checks and/or money orders.
I had thought that processing credit cards directly might be a good next step for my site, but based on the frustration here with the various idiosyncrasies of that method, perhaps I'll put that off for a while...
Honestly, I'm hesitant to hand out my credit card information to every web site offering products. I'd much rather pay for things via PayPal, but that's probably because I already have an account set up.
I read somewhere that it is in a merchant's best interest to remove as many of the obstacles to the sale as possible, giving the buyer few reasons to abandon the sale before completion. That's why I accept money orders via USPS, even though I don't want to hassle with bank deposits, incorrect information, etc. PayPal payments are maybe something for Prolific to consider to widen the choice of payment methods for its customers.