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Ways to do payment without PayPal fees.

#21
lokikallas said:
You can just exchange cash in envelopes. jk
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What I was going to say. Send birthday card or something with money in it.

I've actually done that a couple time (for small cost items), no problem. For the most part, people with history/reputation here aren't looking to rip you off.

There's also the fallback of public humiliation, and of course, you have their home or work address. And as everybody knows, people from the internet are crazy, so you shouldn't rip them off when they know where you live. :D
 
#23
atgronkvist said:
Square Cash.

The app is free and it sends from debit card to debit card via email.
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That sounds pretty cool.

Any problems with hacking, security, multiple charges, account-draining, etc. Meaning you pay $100, the computer has a glitch, and hits your account for that $100 five or ten times?

If so, how long are you out the $$ before they correct the problem?
 
#26
gustobassman said:
Do what i do and say "cashiers check or money order only". That way the buyer does have a receipt of purchase of the CC or MO. Make sure signature is required upon receipt of payment. Wait until payment clears. Ship product insured. Require signature for delivery. IF all is good with the product you are selling, there shouldn't be an issue.

Either way, the buyer has a way to recover the funds, and you the seller are covered upon damage or loss.

This may be the "old-school" way to do it, but it worked at the time.
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The 'old school" way of doing it was when sales were conducted using Usenet postings. I did a couple of deals then by which the buyer sent half the agreed price to the seller. The seller then verified the $$ and shipped the item. If all was well on the receiving end the buyer then sent the other half of the agreed price to the seller. The risk was sort of shared, mitigated somewhat by the buyer/seller ratings, however that was done I don't recall.

-- bradley
 
#30
For the record, merchant account fees will not only be the same or more, BUT, you are allowing people to charge the sale back to you if they wanted! Much better for it to be a bank transfer facilitated through PP

Bassamatic said:
Cashiers checks and Money Orders are commonly forged, or more commonly now, paid for with forged checks. It can be a long wait for them to properly clear EVEN after the bank has said it's OK. AND when it comes back 3 weeks later it is guaranteed that the bank will take the money back from you.

Paypal and the like provide a valuable service for both parties. I don't like paying them either, but just accept the fees as a "cost of doing business".
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Absolutely. The guarantees of PayPal are EASILY worth the fee, which is only about 3% now. 9 bucks on a $300 sale...big deal. I personally will not pay in any way other than PayPal.

gustobassman said:
Very true, but he did say he wanted to sell stuff on this site. IF the buyer has some good feedback why not accept a cashiers, sorry BANK check, or money order from said buyer?
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So I can get ripped off with no recourse? I don't even care how good the feedback is, I'm just not doing it.
 
#32
tastybasslines said:
So I can get ripped off with no recourse? I don't even care how good the feedback is, I'm just not doing it.
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Yo Tasty, i see your point. Let the record be shown my post was made 5 days before my house was burglarized in january of 2013 and i lost all of my gear. Some of my opinions have changed regarding internet sales, and just trusting people in general. I will say that i have never had a problem with TB classifieds.
 
#33
gustobassman said:
Yo Tasty, i see your point. Let the record be shown my post was made 5 days before my house was burglarized in january of 2013 and i lost all of my gear. Some of my opinions have changed regarding internet sales, and just trusting people in general. I will say that i have never had a problem with TB classifieds.
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Yo Man, sorry that happened to you. I agree though, all of my transactions here has been pretty good.
 
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#34
Gorn said:
Everyone is free to try paypal alternatives. They're also free to have their identity stolen or some other shenanigans because they used a payment method without a proven track record. Or they could buy and sell only locally with cash. Paypal is safe. They take their cut and it's worth it.
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That's the thing that amazes me about the contortions people will go to to keep from paying a reasonable fee for a service. It's simply how business works. When you are offered security and recourse within that fee, how can that be a bad thing ?
I have had hundreds of transactions through PayPal w/o a hitch. I had to place a claim against a merchant because they sold me some faulty product and made it just as hard as they could for me to return it for a refund. PayPal ruled in my favor. If I had sent a money order I would have been out of luck.

I've had people who didn't have money ask me to finance the item for them. Can't get a loan or don't want to pay interest. Sorry. Why should I take that risk ?
The owner of the first business who gave me a 30 day charge account told me: You, handle money, you make money. That's just how business works.
 
#35
I've used Square in the past. But PayPal, I used and I don't worry about the fees. I've been using PayPal for years, so in essence, I'm paying for the convenience and security. On a $1000 sale, the fees are 2.9% plus .30 = $29.30

Square has a slightly smaller percentage, but I use PayPal more. I don't buy anything on here where the seller does not accept PayPal. It has built in security which I value.
 
#37
The advantage of paypal is you have a built in arbitrator in every transaction. Yes it is slanted toward the buyer, but that's as it should be to a degree for no other reason than a LOT of sellers overstate an items condition when they describe it, then want to get nitpicky or try to lay their deception off on the buyer. It's much easier to be a deceitful seller than buyer. You do after all pay before an item is shipped so it's tough to be a deceitful buyer since you are essentially the one taking all the risk in a long distance transaction. In short using ebay pretty much forces the seller to be honest if they want a painless transaction.

Some buyers will try to come back and complain but with paypal it is harder to scam because they can't get their cash back until the item is returned so it's tough to game a system where the buyer can't get a refund while still holding the item.

What this leaves you with are straight up scammers and buyers who develop remorse and damage an item in an effort to get their money back. There is really no way short of caution and feedback ratings to tell so there will always be some risk to long distance buying/selling, but using paypal makes it much more palatable, stress free, and safer for both parties.

If a small fee is too much for you to bear for the peace of mind, by all means roll the dice. Just keep in mind if you make a poor decision and get burned, short of a road trip to thump some scammer, you've been screwed, blued, and tattooed and that's the end of it.
 

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