How comfortable are you with using PayPal to make a purchase?

[silkinteriors]

I am interested in seeing your level of comfort when making an online purchase using PayPal.

If you want to buy something online (or are just browsing a site) are you turned off if PayPal is the only method of purchasing something? Or do you think 'Yipee!'???

I'm launching a site tomorrow (eek!) with an online shopping cart and the option to buy our products by either direct deposit or via PayPal.

Would you be turned off by these options? Would you prefer to be able to pay directly via our site with a credit card? Do I need to get a motor on with the merchant account?

[Carl Taylor]

It depends. If you don't allow guest purchasing through Paypal then i'd be annoyed.

The guest purchasing option just means you can take credit card without needing a bank merchant account, and if people already have funds in paypal then they can login and pay from bank accounts or from paypal funds.

[Brendan]

Hey silkinteriors

I dont think paypal scares as many people off as it used to, ebay uses it and has done for a while now, so people in Australia are certainly beginning to trust it.

The good thing about PayPal is that you can pay directly via CC even without a paypal account.. so those who don't have one can still purchase online.

I say launch with the PayPal account.. test the waters and see what sort of feedback you get from your clients.

Good luck with the launch!

[one]

I don't have a problem with places that use Paypal, but having a proper merchant facility with a bank certainly adds credibility. Anyone can setup a Paypal account and start taking payments, but it's a bigger deal to get a merchant facility in place. I know that doesn't stop the determined crooks from doing so, but anyway...

Faced with the option of using company A who uses Paypal, and company B which takes direct credit card payments, and will all other things being equal, I'd chose company B every time.

Maybe you should check with you bank on how difficult and/or expensive it may be to setup your own merchant facility? Depending on anticipated volume, you may find their commissions are lower than Paypal's.

[Mat]

I use PayPal pretty much every day and I'm pretty comfortable using it. I'm actually turned off when a business doesn't accept PayPal. I recently switched from using Sponsored Tweets to using Be-A-Magpie when I found out SpTwt don't accept PayPal (only to figure out later that they do!)

If you're going to open a store online, don't you think it would be best to be up-to-date with the latest and greatest ways to pay online?

[The Start Up Sage]

I think, generally, people don't care about payment systems/gateways (as long as they are recognised as safe brands).

Go for the pal.

Good luck with it.

[silkinteriors]

Thanks for the feedback folks, very helpful. I am comfortable using PayPal but personally would prefer to just do a credit card payment.

Website launch was delayed by two days (grrr - damn miscommunications) - we're going live tomorrow morning.

[Barbaragabogrecan]

I usually use the pay pal method for purchase something because the transfer is immediate and guaranteed. Pay Pal won't transfer funds unless the buyer has a credit line (or amount in bank account) to make the transfer.

[silkinteriors]

We've only had one person use PayPal so far and one direct deposit. Everyone else has gone for Visa or Mastercard, so I'm glad we got our merchant account etc. sorted.

[stevanz]

Yeah i was about to say that i trusted paypal but if you have more than one payment methods then that's better so paypal may have some options to consider.