by Andre Bell
You already know how frustrating it can be.
Trying to get a merchant account from a bank to operate your online
business can be more difficult than trying to change dirt to gold.
When PayPal came on the scene, many people began to say this is the
end of the greedy banks that make it difficult to do business online.
Small merchants everywhere began to speak of PayPal as a long-term
relationship that can never be broken.
But is that true?
Hardly.
Once you begin to ship a high volume of products through PayPal, you
will quickly find that there are a ton of scumbags (dishonest
buyers) out there who will buy things online and then claim they
never got it.
Or worse, you may ship the product with adult signature required as
proof of delivery and PayPal will still charge it back to your
account when the 'scumbag' claims it was an unauthorized charge.
It doesn't matter that he signed for the package or that you have an
adult signature and a valid matching shipping address to prove your
delivery. PayPal may still make you eat the charge.
And if that isn't frustrating enough, PayPal won't even go to bat
for you against the credit card company to prove your claim. They
just deduct money from your account and make you have to deal with
it. Case closed.
This means the scum bag buyer will get and keep your product and you
will have to eat the charge back and eat the loss of whatever you
shipped (hopefully it wasn't hundreds or thousands of dollars worth
of stuff). Oh, don't think you're going to get your stuff back. The
scumbag operates like this regularly. He got what he wanted and
there's no way he's going to return it to you.
You may think this credit card scam scenario is the same with all
merchant accounts.
It isn't.
Many banks that offer credit card processing to online merchants are
very aware of the online scams people play against merchants.
These banks are more on your side than PayPal ever will be.
If you have signed proof of delivery to an address that matches the
credit card info then guess what. You've got a sale.
But if you have PayPal, guess what... you can still lose the product
you shipped plus you will have to give a refund.
And if you don't feel jilted enough... you will still have to pay
PayPal's processing fees for the "transaction".
If that isn't grounds for "divorcing" a provider, I don't know what
is.
Failure to go to bat for you plus merchant fees that are higher than
banks charge is why PayPal usually is NOT the best choice for
serious merchants.
What other choices do you have? Here are four tips.
1. Accept checks by mail or by fax.
2. Accept credit cards through a "real" merchant account.
3. Make certain absolutely everything you ship is
shipped "adult signature required"
4. Add these words to every package to avoid scams from credit
card thieves: "Do Not Forward"
The last tip is important because the thieves will use valid credit
cards then have all mail from the victim forwarded to some other
address. To protect yourself don't allow your shipping company to
forward packages.
Of course, you can never guarantee a scum bag won't rip you off.
It's just a matter of time before it happens.
That's why PayPal may make sense as a 'first date' while you get
your business off the ground. But for my money, I'd never recommend
PayPal as a long-term companion.
At least not until she mends her ways.
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Andre Bell is an author, copywriter, and marketing advisor. Andre is
committed to helping entrepreneurs like himself discover what it
takes to maximize profits from every marketing communication and
effort. Visit his official
Strategy site for fresh marketing tips and resources.
