pay pal

does anyone here use pay pal for payments? I was wondering what kind of fee they charge? I know it is higher than some cc processors, but sure seems like it might be worth it with all the is PCI hassle etc? And, people don't have to have a pp account to use it. I was trying to talk a client into using it because she takes nothing now but she said she would have to charge a $15 fee to recoup their fee. That seems unrealistic. Any advice out there?

That was what I was asking about the other day.

I think it runs around 4%. It sounds like your client doesn't want to spend anymore money than she has to. If she can get by with just checks, go for it. If SHE wants the ability to take cc's then spend the damn money like the rest of us do! You have to roll it into the cost of the room. If they charge 4%, you have to add like 5.5% to room rate to make the money back.

For me, cost is coming out to be approximately 5% of the total room rent but the main reason i do not use it is beccause PP doesn't provide any seller protection here i.e the buyer (the one who booked) can anytime ask for refund of money which they have sent you.
Pricing is different for different type of business. Check their homepage for details.

Viper said:

For me, cost is coming out to be approximately 5% of the total room rent but the main reason i do not use it is beccause PP doesn't provide any seller protection here i.e the buyer (the one who booked) can anytime ask for refund of money which they have sent you.
Pricing is different for different type of business. Check their homepage for details..

Click to expand...

I remember that problem from before...unless you are selling a tangible product, you, the seller, have no protections.

I use paypal and it's 3% The money goes into your Paypal merchant account and then you can transfer it to your regular bank.

From what I remember of past discussions, with PP we have less protection as merchants than we get with T A re bad reviews.

Here's a link to a spreadsheet that will calculate for you the breakeven point between PayPal and a regular merchant account: http://www.holidayrentalmanagement.com/tools/
From this thread: http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16503
Basically, for small-time users PayPal's high rates are still cheaper than paying the monthly fee, transaction fee, and discount rate associated with merchant accounts, but for those doing "a lot" (see the spreadsheet to calculate what that is) of credit-card business, the regular merchant account might be the better deal.

one thing is though to shop around we have just been looking at our card processing and are going to move meaning on a slow month ie we worked out for january we would have saved $80 which is over a year - $960 minimum so definately worth the change.

We've used PP for the past 7 years. We pay between 2.7 and 3.3% per transaction depending on the total value of recent trasnactions.
For a small business the advantage of PP for us was it was very simple to set up and incorporate deposit payments into our website. It also gave us the ability to accept CC payments without th cost of a machine.
We later expanded our website so that guests could pay their final bill using Paypal using our PC in the guest area.
However as more and more people seemed to want to pay by card and as there is no cash machine within 10 miles of here we finally went for a card machine. We have developed our own guest management system called Guest Guardian which we're starting to market to others and that uses PP just becuase it's easy to set up for new businesses and it's very easy to develop an automated interface between PP and GG.

Harborfields said:

Here's a link to a spreadsheet that will calculate for you the breakeven point between PayPal and a regular merchant account: http://www.holidayrentalmanagement.com/tools/
From this thread: http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16503
Basically, for small-time users PayPal's high rates are still cheaper than paying the monthly fee, transaction fee, and discount rate associated with merchant accounts, but for those doing "a lot" (see the spreadsheet to calculate what that is) of credit-card business, the regular merchant account might be the better deal..

Click to expand...

The spreadsheet is done in pounds..not dollars :-( I can't begin to know how to convert that

Doesn't matter - it's just a symbol. Pretend that it means $ and just put in your figures.

Birdie said:

I use paypal and it's 3% The money goes into your Paypal merchant account and then you can transfer it to your regular bank..

Click to expand...

Could you maybe email me off site with your web URL, so my friend can see how you set it up on your site?

I started a Pay Pal merchant account to be able to use Res Key to sell real time Gift Certificates. Only the certificates are charged through Pay Pal and I think it's 3%. This past year I sold more certificates than usual, so I'm thinking that people like to get their certificates immediately instead of waiting for us to mail them.
I did have a couple phone calls from people who were confused about the Pay Pal check-out process. As we know, people don't read and some of them thought they had to have a Pay Pal account to by the certificates. I don't think I'd use PP for all my transations for rooms.

Breakfast Diva said:

I started a Pay Pal merchant account to be able to use Res Key to sell real time Gift Certificates. Only the certificates are charged through Pay Pal and I think it's 3%. This past year I sold more certificates than usual, so I'm thinking that people like to get their certificates immediately instead of waiting for us to mail them.
I did have a couple phone calls from people who were confused about the Pay Pal check-out process. As we know, people don't read and some of them thought they had to have a Pay Pal account to by the certificates. I don't think I'd use PP for all my transations for rooms..

Click to expand...

She mainly wants it so she can charge the deposit up front and not have to wait for a check to arrive. Or if there is a last minute cancellation and someone wants to book it then and there. Balance could be paid by cash or check when they arrive.

catlady said:

does anyone here use pay pal for payments? I was wondering what kind of fee they charge? I know it is higher than some cc processors, but sure seems like it might be worth it with all the is PCI hassle etc? And, people don't have to have a pp account to use it. I was trying to talk a client into using it because she takes nothing now but she said she would have to charge a $15 fee to recoup their fee. That seems unrealistic. Any advice out there?

Click to expand...

I can't imagine any business these days not taking credit cards. Sure, she may have to pay $15, but she would probably get more reservations if she took credit cards, therefore making more money. Paypal would be better than nothing!