# Alternatives to PayPal... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919 "2013-05-09T19:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/1 "2013-05-09T19:16:35Z")
What alternatives to PayPal do you know of & what experience have you had with them? ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/2 "2013-05-09T19:30:40Z")
reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![LMarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@LMarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LMarie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/3 "2013-05-09T19:35:44Z")
No experience with these, but I’ve heard good things about all of them: [WePay](https://www.wepay.com/) [2Checkout](https://www.2checkout.com/) [Skrill](https://www.skrill.com/app/) [Payza](https://www.payza.com/) [Dwolla](https://www.dwolla.com/) [Amazon Payments](http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=sr_1_1_acs_h_1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=537864&qid=1368127777&sr=8-1-acs) [Google Wallet](http://support.google.com/wallet/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1663318) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/4 "2013-05-09T20:13:04Z")
[moderating] Moved thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/5 "2013-05-09T20:44:47Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > What alternatives to PayPal do you know of & what experience have you had with them? I always use a credit card. Of course, I’m 100% sure what PayPal is, so I’m not sure if that’s an alternative or not. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/6 "2013-05-09T21:53:25Z")
FriarTed: from what point of view are you asking the question? Are you a buyer or a seller? If a seller what type of seller? if a buyer what types of merchandize? For example if you a low volume seller of traditional types of goods in the U.S. Paypal and accepting credit cards through a mobile payments processor (I use Intuit’s Gopayments) is quite adequate. > **[Credit Card Reader for Mobile Payments | QuickBooks Payments](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payments/mobile/)** > > Use your mobile credit card reader to accept mobile payments anywhere using QuickBooks' mobile credit card processing service. Try the QuickBooks GoPayment app. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/7 "2013-05-09T22:20:17Z")
I keep money at Citibank and they’ve recently started offering person-to-person money transfers through a company called [Popmoney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popmoney). You just need the recipient’s bank account info or email address to send them money. And I’ve seen ads from Bank of America offering a similar service. So check with your bank. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/8 "2013-05-09T23:42:59Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > For example if you a low volume seller of traditional types of goods in the U.S. Paypal and accepting credit cards through a mobile payments processor (I use Intuit’s Gopayments) is quite adequate. > [http://payments.intuit.com/mobile-credit-card-processing/](http://payments.intuit.com/mobile-credit-card-processing/) For the love of god if you go with gopayment, please, please make sure your phone is compatible ahead of time. I do customer support for this company, and a majority of the time when someone is having issues with the reader, they’re using an incompatible phone/tablet. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/9 "2013-05-10T05:03:39Z")
I run a small ebay business and use Paypal. I also use it for online transactions and sending cash to my kids. The main utility of an online payment system is how widely it is accepted. Paypal completely dwarfs all it’s competitors in this regard. As a seller paypal (IMO) rapes me a bit in fees but it’s the cost of doing business. If things go south they are also VERY rigid in their policies and they sometimes will lock your entire account if a charge is in dispute. They don’t do this anymore as I do enough volume to bypass this but smaller sellers are still subject to these polices in disputes. Never expect them to be sympathetic to a seller or work with you. If a buyer makes charge against you are wrong until you can prove you are right. Most of the stuff I sell is in the $50-$200 range. I’m not sure I would ever take the risk of doing a really big transaction via paypal. Having said all this I have never been screwed except once in thousands of transactions and that was a small dollar sale where I did not verify delivery confirmation and PP took the buyers word it had not been delivered. In that I hand delivered it locally I knew I was getting shafted, but I learned my lesson and all deals now have delivery confirmation in shipping. As long as you CYA your transactions PP is OK to use, be too casual and you may lose money. As an aside the paypal driod and iphone applets are easy to use and very well done. It’s a big help to be able to use them while mobile. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/10 "2013-05-10T16:04:34Z")
I sell software on the web. I used to use PayPal, but they don’t offer download service. Now I use Digital River (aka SWREG) which will accept payment and offer the customer instant download of their file. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/11 "2013-05-10T18:02:27Z")
Basically, some friends are tired of dealing with PayPal for their business & want to find an alternative. However, because so many people have PayPal & may not want to share their bank info with the vendor, can any of these alternatives be used with PayPal by a customer to deal with a vendor who is not using PayPal? (I hope I am clear.) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/12 "2013-05-10T22:30:26Z")
I called paypal and asked the agent directly as I was curious re your question. I do enough volume it was easy for me to get through quickly. There is no way to do what you want re using paypal to fund a non-paypal vendor service. The vendor has to accept paypal. This review does and excellent job of laying out the pro and cons. > **[Using PayPal for Your Online Business – Advantages and Disadvantages](http://www.instantshift.com/2012/01/17/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-paypal-for-your-online-business/)** > > A merger between X.Com and Confinity in March 2000 gave birth to PayPal as we know it today. Based in the United States of America, it is a global e-commerce business which allows for money transfers and payments to be made through the internet.... ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/13 "2013-05-11T01:14:15Z")
I am interested in this as well. I have done over 9k in paypal payments and now Paypal wants me to “verify” my account or I will be kicked out when I reach 10k. I feel that since I’ve done 9k worth of business without a complaint I don’t need to “verify” my account. I guess when I’m up to 10k, I won’t do business thru paypal anymore:confused: ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/14 "2013-05-11T03:07:31Z")
sinjin, happened to me too. They offered me their “deluxe” Paypal credit card. I just pay it off every month, and it does have rewards. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/15 "2013-05-11T12:43:48Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > I am interested in this as well. I have done over 9k in paypal payments and now Paypal wants me to “verify” my account or I will be kicked out when I reach 10k. I feel that since I’ve done 9k worth of business without a complaint I don’t need to “verify” my account. I guess when I’m up to 10k, I won’t do business thru paypal anymore:confused: Verifying your account means linking it with a bank account, right? So if you aren’t linking it with one, it would seem to me to be easy to just open up another PayPal account with a different credit card. Even if that’s not possible due to some odd agreement, it definitely should be possible to find a bank account that has better protections than normal, so you don’t have to worry about being screwed by Paypal. I’d advise any business to have multiple payment methods, anyways. So if Paypal does go offline for a while, there are still other ways to pay. That’s definitely what I say to **FriarTed** ’s friends, too. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone who only wants to pay via Paypal or else. And it’s not like you’re giving your card info directly to the merchant. And you can contest any payment if necessary. I seriously doubt not using Paypal will be as big a problem as your friends are think it will be. The only purchases I use Paypal for are eBay and for individuals (like Dope sellers). It’s not THAT popular. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/16 "2013-05-11T14:56:00Z")
If you try to open a second PayPal personal account without closing out your first one, use a different credit card and bank account. They used to be very easy going about having two accounts on one one bank account- not any more. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/17 "2013-05-11T15:09:25Z")
So could I ask for a vote on preferred payment options listed- GoPayment WePay Skrill (was MoneyBookers) Popmoney 2Checkout Dwolla Payza Amazon Payouts Google Wallet CapitolOne360 (was ING Direct Person2Person) If you had to use only one or two, which would you use? ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/18 "2013-05-11T17:37:38Z")
I’ve never used any of those in your list, but if those were the only options available to me I would choose Amazon or Google simply because I’ve at least heard of them and have some sense of security regarding my data. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/19 "2013-05-11T17:59:58Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > So could I ask for a vote on preferred payment options listed- > > GoPayment > > WePay > > Skrill (was MoneyBookers) > > Popmoney > > 2Checkout > > Dwolla > > Payza > > Amazon Payouts > > Google Wallet > > CapitolOne360 (was ING Direct Person2Person) > > If you had to use only one or two, which would you use? Let’s add MerchantInc to the list. I just found them. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919/20 "2013-05-13T12:22:38Z")
BrainTree Payments is another one I found. > **[Braintree | Online Payment Solutions and Global Payment Processor](https://www.braintreepayments.com/)** > > Reach more buyers and drive higher conversion with an online payment solution that processes PayPal, Venmo, credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. It looks like my friends can take payments domestically through transfers to their own bank accounts- so they are trying to settle on an international payment method, or should they offer two or three other methods. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternatives-to-paypal/657919.md?page=2)