What's eBay's BillPoint To Paypal? One Offers Free Service
Written: Apr 15 '01
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Pros: eBay's payment system; Accepts credit card accounts
Cons: Expensive; Transfers do take time
The Bottom Line: If you are a user, you will be able to accept payments from your Int'l consumers. But BillPoint comes loaded with fees plus ebay's regular fees. Paypal is the alternative.
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| charles's Full Review: BillPoint |
For a number of years now, Paypal has dominated the e-mail-based payment system. It has been a godsend to many of us who have items to auction. It has thousands of users. (Please take a look at my review of Paypal!). In 1999, Paypal partnered with Providian to provide a more extensive service to its consumers. Also, in 1999, eBay and Wells Fargo bought BillPoint. Since that time, it has become eBay's official payment system. Would you think that because eBay is this giant auction company, BillPoint would be an overnight success? Just think again. What do you make of Paypal's presence as the 800- or 900- gorilla?
eBay's Headache: How to get its huge consumer base to use BillPoint for all their business transactions?
All of us who ever had any dozens of items to auction know that we get more requests from bid winners and customers to use Paypal. For one thing, Paypal provides a reliable, secure free service. Its only downside is its verification process. A lot of people don't want to reveal too much to an online company when it comes to their finances. That has also been the position of a lot of my acquaintances so far. Paypal does take time to verify things such as identity etc in an effort to curb fraud as alleged by some customers. It is such a turnoff for some potential buyers. This does not make somebody who stops short of the verification any less trustworthy though. Despite these minor problems, Billpoint can't beat Paypal in this e-mail disbursement technology race. In my opinion, Paypal has a lot of great features which allow family members, business people and friends to collect money via e-mail. It is easily adapted to fit on one's websites
What are some of BillPoint's features?
On the one hand, you have Paypal which provides free payment, on the other hand, you have BillPoint which charges fees of $.75 plus 4.50 % of the total amount charged. This sounds like a good formula for eBay to make money. Bidders, sellers and others are smart to search a service that reduces cuts in their Mom and Pop business. All of these fees come in addition to the normal eBay fee. One eBay user says that Paypal is more flexible so far. Despite its efforts to get users to use its payment service, eBay still sees large use of Paypal.com and X.com. To its credits, we should add that Billpoint does allow users to accept credit cards. International buyers to pay without registering.
In the end, it's up to you to decide which service you'd like to use. In my mind, it would be easier to go with the one that meets your needs and comes at a lower cost...
How about that? Check both and compare them!
Recommended:
Yes
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charles
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Location: CA, USA
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