I’ve been running a business for the past decade and taking in payments from customers using PayPal. This has worked for me for the better part of 12 years.
lately I’ve been told from a variety of different colleagues that PayPal is more buyer friendly than seller friendly and that I should migrate over to something such as:
1. Stripe
2. Square
3. FlashBanc
The only reason I am entertaining this advice is because I’m being told that PayPal takes out a 4% fee for every payment I take and that adds up every time. I don’t know how much better Square or Stripe would be however.
The way I’ve always operated with PayPal is I’ll send a customer an Invoice PayPal link and they’ll pay it. Super simple. The one qualm with PayPal I have is that about once or twice a year, a disgruntled customer will dispute a charge and cause my entire PayPal account to either be locked or restricted; which is why I understand when people say PayPal is more buyer friendly than seller friendly.
The only appeal I see with the Square service is I can swipe a customers card directly in front of both of us, but I believe PayPal has a similar option as well. The bigger issue is whatever charge percentage is taking away from my customers payment to me.
OR. AND HERES A CRAZY IDEA:
I have a business checking account with my bank where everything eventually ends up. Why couldn’t I just have clients pay me directly there? I’d imagine however I would have topresent each potential customer with my routing number and checking number, which seems cumbersome and maybe not all that safe. But if I could get clients to pay me directly into my business checking account that would be sweet. Especially if all it took was then swiping their card.
Again, considering I’ve used PayPal for well over a decade I’ve only ever considered moving to something like PopMoney to make payments easier for my clients. And admittedly having my PayPal account restricted at least once a year due to one disgruntled customer is annoying but has been tolerable but I’m reaching my tolerance on that. Swipe and Square make it seem so easy but whatever fees they charge per transaction can be high, considering I’m selling items ranging from $400-$1200.
lately I’ve been told from a variety of different colleagues that PayPal is more buyer friendly than seller friendly and that I should migrate over to something such as:
1. Stripe
2. Square
3. FlashBanc
The only reason I am entertaining this advice is because I’m being told that PayPal takes out a 4% fee for every payment I take and that adds up every time. I don’t know how much better Square or Stripe would be however.
The way I’ve always operated with PayPal is I’ll send a customer an Invoice PayPal link and they’ll pay it. Super simple. The one qualm with PayPal I have is that about once or twice a year, a disgruntled customer will dispute a charge and cause my entire PayPal account to either be locked or restricted; which is why I understand when people say PayPal is more buyer friendly than seller friendly.
The only appeal I see with the Square service is I can swipe a customers card directly in front of both of us, but I believe PayPal has a similar option as well. The bigger issue is whatever charge percentage is taking away from my customers payment to me.
OR. AND HERES A CRAZY IDEA:
I have a business checking account with my bank where everything eventually ends up. Why couldn’t I just have clients pay me directly there? I’d imagine however I would have topresent each potential customer with my routing number and checking number, which seems cumbersome and maybe not all that safe. But if I could get clients to pay me directly into my business checking account that would be sweet. Especially if all it took was then swiping their card.
Again, considering I’ve used PayPal for well over a decade I’ve only ever considered moving to something like PopMoney to make payments easier for my clients. And admittedly having my PayPal account restricted at least once a year due to one disgruntled customer is annoying but has been tolerable but I’m reaching my tolerance on that. Swipe and Square make it seem so easy but whatever fees they charge per transaction can be high, considering I’m selling items ranging from $400-$1200.
