PayPal Information
PayPal was founded in 1998 by a few brilliant minds in Silicon Valley, known collectively as the“PayPal Mafia.”The company has since become the default method of payment for millions of business owners and eBay auction sellers worldwide. The most widely accepted web payments brand probably needs no introduction, so I’ll just skip that part.
With this review I’ve focused exclusively on PayPal’s business solutions…for obvious reasons. There are many pros and cons with using PayPal as a payment option, and I highly encourage you to read through the rest of this review to learn more about them.
In the meantime, I’ll give you a brief overview…
Using PayPal is a no-brainer. Almost everyone has a PayPal account these days, it’s incredibly easy to setup and use, and it can get you up and running in a very short amount of time. They’re extremely transparent with their terms and pricing, and they don’t lock you into a contract with anearly termination fee. The number of integrations that they offer is unreal, so you can be certain that PayPal will sync with either yourshopping cart, account application, or shipping software. However, PayPal is not without its downsides.
Apparently PayPal has issues withholding sellers fundsor even freezing and shutting down accounts if they suspect any type of fraud. They seem to be very trigger happy when it comes risk related issues, and that’s not something to take lightly. I’ve read countless reviews from frustrated sellers who’s business lifeblood (cash) has been tied up in PayPal’s risk department. A good way to avoid relying completely on PayPal is to get a traditional merchant account as well. You can offer PayPal as a secondary payment option, so just in case you do have to deal with the above mentioned issues, you won’t be completely cut off from your funds.
Another issue seems to be with PayPal’s phone support. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s awful. That’s to be expected from such a large company though.
Lastly, PayPal isn’t the cheapest payment option available (see “Fees and Rates”). If you’re looking to get low rates, then you should opt for aregular merchant account.