the end of an era here atmo -

[e-RICHIE]

after 2 plus decades i made a decision (yesterday) to pull the plug on
my credit card swiper. it's been a long time coming. back in the early
to mid 90s, installing it was a license to print money atmo; folks would
use plastic to buy components, apparel, and even pay off the rare
balance due on an invoice. oddly, with the website sales diverting all
shopping cart purchases into paypal, it's a rare month that anyone
even uses the words credit card in a sentence with me. i think last
year i swiped, or keyed in the numbers from, 4 cards at most. the
service bank that holds my account gets me for $20 per month, and
bills me $50 annually to be "member". accccccck. and there are the
routine one-time compliance fees for things they want me to be in
compliance with. all of the fees don't surpass $500 a year, but there's
a certain smugness i was getting from the sales team about why i
should be billed all of this when my terminal is so rarely used. it's
a sign of the times, and yesterday's invoice from merchants services
put the knife in the wrist. we'll see where the decision takes me
from here. typically, the bicycles and frames are paid for with checks,
and the website stuff is paypal-centric. we'll see where fate takes
it from here atmo.

anyone else have a similar story?

[steve garro]

i've never had one sice i've been building. they are like the hole in the tub - they are a drain and they suck. when i had a shop they were a necessity for the on the fly sales, but FB'ing works at a slower pace. it's checks or paypal for me. just gotta add the paypal markup to the total. the thing i don't like about paypal is how they eke out the $$ to you at a set amount. my dos centavos, Steve.

[e-RICHIE]

i've had paypal for a long time and have no complaints,
especially for internet sales, but what doe this mean atmo?

the thing i don't like about paypal is how they eke out the $$ to you at a set amount.

[steve garro]

i've had paypal for a long time and have no complaints,
especially for internet sales, but what doe this mean atmo?

at 1st they set me a withdrawal limit of $500.00 per month, then i got it upped to $1000.00. not your experence? i'd like to ditch this feature........PITA, fo-sho. Steve.

[e-RICHIE]

at 1st they set me a withdrawal limit of $500.00 per month, then i got it upped to $1000.00. not your experence? i'd like to ditch this feature........PITA, fo-sho. Steve.

no man i don't have anything like that.
i withdraw or leave in as i please. insert laugh track.

there's a 3 percent (or similar, i'll check) fee for all incoming transactions.
there's a $1.75 fee if i want a check sent (to me).
and no limits or fees to have any or all the cabbage wired into my bank account.

[steve garro]

no man i don't have anything like that.
i withdraw or leave in as i please. insert laugh track.

there's a 3 percent (or similar, i'll check) fee for all incoming transactions.
there's a $1.75 fee if i want a check sent (to me).
and no limits or fees to have any or all the cabbage wired into my bank account.

Hmmmmm........i gotta look into that shit, yo. everything else is the same. i was suprised by the withdrawal limit as well, esp. since i was getting charged for a transaction up front allready. thanks for the feedback. have a great weekend. snowing like F-ing crazy here. Steve.

[Eric Estlund]

Checks here-

Currently set up with PP as I am starting to offer more soft goods, and it makes for an easier convenience buy for the casual web site pursuer, and I can build it in to my price structure for said items pretty easily. Its also nice to pay some of my smaller, non-local vendors. Still prefer checks for larger stuff, which has been fine so far.

I stopped using Pay Pal as an individual some years ago when my terms would change on a weekly basis. When I opened a business account, the terms seemed much more reasonable to my volume then traditional or web based merchant services. Especially on returns, charge backs, voids, etc. Even at a per-sale basis it looked to be less (or equally) expensive, and there are no administrative fees/dues etc for the privilege. I looked into several of the PayPal competitors, but for actual (non-virtual) product, it seemed like the best way to go.

[conorb]

I've always used Paypal and have never setup the credit card/swipe box.

I set up a Paypal business account and so far it's been no problem, no hassle. Less of the cost of doing business than renting/leasing credit card machines, etc., from banks.

I've also done several bank wires - this is much easier for foreign transactions and fairly reasonable for both parties in terms of fees.

Krugerrands are the same as cash as well. :)

conorb

[e-RICHIE]

I've always used Paypal and have never setup the credit card/swipe box.

I set up a Paypal business account and so far it's been no problem, no hassle. Less of the cost of doing business than renting/leasing credit card machines, etc., from banks.

I've also done several bank wires - this is much easier for foreign transactions and fairly reasonable for both parties in terms of fees.

Krugerrands are the same as cash as well. :)

conorb

i owned all my swipers and printers. no fees. but, to me, credit cards
seemed a higher plane than paypal, but i don't know why i feel that
way. no matter, my swiper is dead. i like paypal for the shopping cart
sales, but don't use it for bicycle and frame payments or deposits.
it never felt right. even wiring money into my account (which is very
common) seems more business-like. the catskills are dying atmo.

[Dazza]

I use a CC card for every thing I buy, for the points, every $17,000 I spend I get $100 free voucher at good places. But they never get interest from me and so they keep sending me applications for astronomical amounts to suck me into debt, I say :hahaha: to them
however
I have never and never will have CC for my customers.
For a one man band, you have to keep things simple and all the little costs add up.
It is wire transfers or paypal for all the internationals
For locals it is cash or internet banking, and very rarely a cheque these days. Internet banking is brilliant.

Paypal works great, 3.5% fee for international fees, and they process all payments and withdrawls faster than the banks do! I am very happy with Paypal.

[conorb]

i owned all my swipers and printers. no fees. but, to me, credit cards
seemed a higher plane than paypal, but i don't know why i feel that
way. no matter, my swiper is dead. i like paypal for the shopping cart
sales, but don't use it for bicycle and frame payments or deposits.
it never felt right. even wiring money into my account (which is very
common) seems more business-like. the catskills are dying atmo.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the catskills - I guess all of the old comedians have moved to Vegas - but, for me, I never had the stigma associated with Paypal.

I jumped in early - like 99/00 as a personal user and when the business started up it seemed like a natural thing to do. I see it as just as 'cashless society' supporting as cc's and it seemed more Enterprise (e-business) worthy. Plus it supported the simple shopping cart for t-shirts and other small goods, etc. - both from a convenience and technology point-of-view.

I didn't know there was a caste system to how money is collected. :) But, as you mention, it doesn't matter now if you're not using the machine anymore.

+1 with Dazza on Internet banking.

Conor

[e-RICHIE]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the catskills - I guess all of the old comedians have moved to Vegas - but, for me, I never had the stigma associated with Paypal.

I jumped in early - like 99/00 as a personal user and when the business started up it seemed like a natural thing to do. I see it as just as 'cashless society' supporting as cc's and it seemed more Enterprise (e-business) worthy. Plus it supported the simple shopping cart for t-shirts and other small goods, etc. - both from a convenience and technology point-of-view.

I didn't know there was a caste system to how money is collected. :) But, as you mention, it doesn't matter now if you're not using the machine anymore.

+1 with Dazza on Internet banking.

Conor

yeah on that - paypal since 2000.
for me it was ease of web sales only.
face time and high ticket goods were done with checks, wires, or plastic.
i won't do bicycles/frames with paypal.
that's just me atmo.