If you don't want to alienate some customers...

[Blood Jester]

This is just an IMHO, open letter to publishers:


See this article:

The Register

This is why, as a consumer, I will NEVER buy from someone who only offers PayPal. With my credit cards I have much better rights/protections already established and available (and yes, I have had to test this before). I was never comfortable with PayPal's set-up, and now there is (outside) justification for these concerns.

YMMV


[edit: sp]

 

[Crothian]

Wow, glad I never used it.

 

[tmaaas]

With PayPal you can have the same guarentees as with a credit card . . . just use a credit card as your only means of payment. You don't have to set up an account with them.

I suspect that if you are careful about the businesses you use PayPal with you won't have any problems.

 

[Blood Jester]

tmaaas:

Did you read the links in the article? Please do, you could save yourself some nasty surprises in the future. The problems are with PayPal itself. Not the vendors.

 

[Blacksad]

With PayPal you can have the same guarentees as with a credit card . . . just use a credit card as your only means of payment. You don't have to set up an account with them.

I suspect that if you are careful about the businesses you use PayPal with you won't have any problems.

This is not the case for international user.

 

[Fractalwave]

This is just an IMHO, open letter to publishers:


This is why, as a consumer, I will NEVER buy from someone who only offers PayPal. With my credit cards I have much better rights/protections already established and available (and yes, I have had to test this before). I was never comfortable with PayPal's set-up, and now there is (outside) justification for these concerns.

YMMV


[edit: sp]

If you look around, I think you'll find that publishers use distributors who distribute to local stores including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, and the FLGS. Some of these also offer online purchases.

Online from their own sites, however, I can certainly understand why it might be limited to just PayPal. There's a lot more involved in the cost of running an online store than just the transaction cost. Check out how much a secure ID costs, plus setting up the secure server, plus the shopping cart application, etc. What does not cost money most certainly costs time and/or expertise the publisher might not have.

There is almost always a link on the sites that enable you to contact those who run the site. If you don't want to use PayPal, I'd be willing to bet that all you need to do is contact them for an alternative.

Your outside reasons for not wanting to use PayPal have been around since PayPal started. I knew those reasons before getting a PayPal account. There are steps that YOU as a consumer or business can take to minimize risks...#1 is withdraw the funds as soon as they appear.

Also, many of the disputes and the arbitration that go on involve auctions as opposed to straight retail sales. The businesses using PayPal, for the most part, know the risks and minimize them. Consumers don't have to have a PayPal account to purchase through them unless they are international, I believe.

That is why we, Twin Rose Software, offer another method of purchase for international users through Emetrix. We also accept money orders. We just can't accept international checks. It's cost prohibitive for the price of our products.

The point is, seeing PayPal on a website is no reason to run away from a site. Just be informed and know the risks. Also, look closely...you may discover that the use of PayPal isn't required to get a product.

 

[Holy Bovine]

100,000 complaints outstanding??!!! Whoa. Glad I had such trouble registering there and never used their services - looks like I was saved the real possiblity of some serious problems.


Course I'm also glad I have a FLGS that carries most everything in games & comics and orders anything I want and still gives me a discount on every purchase (even magazines!).

 

[Fianna]

Never had any problems with PayPal myself.

 

[Blood Jester]

Fractalwave:


Not to argue (because you make sound points), but if I have to take extra steps to protect myself, as compared to some other form of payment, that puts up barriers between me (the customer) and you (the seller). This is going to hurt sales. If I want a product, I do look for other ways to purchase it, but I have had to forego products that had no other channels than PayPal.

This whole thread was in no way intended as an attack on any publisher, it is simply a heads-up to something that could prevent your products from getting the full quantity of sales they deserve. You are free to think I am some kind of crack pot and do as you please, I just wanted to help.

 

[Fractalwave]

Fractalwave:


Not to argue (because you make sound points), but if I have to take extra steps to protect myself, as compared to some other form of payment, that puts up barriers between me (the customer) and you (the seller). This is going to hurt sales. If I want a product, I do look for other ways to purchase it, but I have had to forego products that had no other channels than PayPal.

This whole thread was in no way intended as an attack on any publisher, it is simply a heads-up to something that could prevent your products from getting the full quantity of sales they deserve. You are free to think I am some kind of crack pot and do as you please, I just wanted to help.

LOL...nope, don't think you're a crack pot. Just think you should ask them specifically for another method if you don't see one. Why give up on ownership of a product when you don't have to do so?