Jennifer

Now that StormPay has effectively ceased accepting and processing payments for businesses (unless you are using their auctions) do you think it will be harder for smaller payment processors to get into this field?

I'm dying for some new payment options, because while PayPal is poular, I've heard so many horror stories about people having their accounts frozen with thousands of dollars in them. I'm concerned about the stability of that company if people continue to complain and turn away from them.

Jennifer

Baby Boy

Let's see... Not sure about eGold and/or how good they are. My choice would most likely be just a regular merchant account. Authorize.Net or VeriSign merchant accounts. Maybe somebody can assist me in the answer to which (if its just one or if its 2+ merchant gateways) that also offer eCheck services.

Going off topic for a second... would anybody choose PayPal WPP before a regular Authorize.Net merchant account?

Josie

I don't think you have to worry about PayPal going away any time soon, Jennifer. With the amount of accounts they have and the tie to eBay, I think they'll be around a long, long time.

As for a plausible alternative, I really don't think there are any that have the kind of professional as PayPal (no, they didn't pay me to say that ). E-Gold is OK, but I've heard of people having trouble with them too.

I think that with the amount of business that PayPal does, the horror stories you hear about are such a tiny minority that any business would have those kind of things. For example, I do a fair amount of business via PayPal and I've never had any kind of problem, but I know of people who have. Sometimes it's due to a misunderstanding and sometimes it's something that PayPal just won't do, but I've never known anyone who had their account frozen as long as they followed the TOS.

I'm not saying PayPal is perfect, but if you're a small business or a one-person empire, I still think it's best at the price. Just IMHO of course.

iTechSmart

I believe it is possible for companies to start a online processing venture but you would have to realise with the amount of online credit fraud it would be very difficult to stay afloat during the first few years.

I believe that modern day credit card methods are out of date in relation to security but in a few years when credit cards become more advanced and payments become more secure I do believe new payment companies will find it easier and less expensive to get into the business. Like I said before, with the current methods, it would be too difficult mainly due to the online fraud.

Shane

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anne

I don't think paypal will die out - they have a lot of people complaining about them, but they also have a LOT more customers that haven't had problems. Plus, they're effectively the only payment option for a lot of places, so they have a nice captive audience.

In a way thats a good thing - a few central payment options is more favourable in my opinion than having to have a ton of accounts with different payment processors.

feline

Paypal is tied up with ebay so I don't think they will die that easily. Egold has been existing for many years and still alive and kicking until this time. These are just a few of the longest payment processors and I believe that experience has made them stronger and wiser in the industry.

Melos

PayPal won't die even if someone hits it with a shovel. I've never had a problem with PayPal and most of my customers use it to purchase from me. I hear Google is coming out with a payment processor too, isn't it?
Egold is too annoying to put money in or take it out.

taiarain

Google is release GBuy or something like that. PayPal has a massive hold in this market and isn't likely to relinquish it, imo.

Taia

Slashmire

The market is indeed narrowing down, not only because old ones are more powerful, but they're also more reliable than the new guys...wonder how that's going to develop.