PayPal = Heaven, Billpoint = Hell + Discover
Written: Dec 24 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: They take Discover
Cons: The fake, dumbed-down, really bad version of PayPal
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| grindmikey's Full Review: BillPoint |
I joined eBay long before they had BillPoint payment services available. Soon after I joined eBay, PayPal came out, and was an extremely popular payment service. Many people were using their credit cards on PayPal to pay for items thru auctions. eBay was obviously not too happy about this, seeing as they weren't getting a piece of the pie. So eBay teamed up with BillPoint to create eBay Payment Service, quite possibly the worst move eBay ever made.
BillPoint is a terribly marketed program. eBay offers two incentives for its users to sign up and use the BillPoint service. One incentive is you get $1 off any auction if you pay by Visa. WOW! A whole dollar, that really helped me when I bought Playstation 2 for $449. You can't believe what a difference it makes when you're paying $449 and $448, oh my, it's incredible. The other incentive is you can instantly pay your auctions once they close by clicking a button on the auction that says Pay Now! I guess this is probably the best incentive for a buyer using the BillPoint program.
As far as fraud protection for the buyer, it remains to be seen. I have had an incident recently with the protection services BillPoint offers. I ordered Madden 2001 for PlayStation 2, and paid for it via BillPoint. The order was placed December 9th, 2001, and I contacted the seller, everything was set, he claimed it was shipped. I e-mailed the seller, and of course got no response, beginning on December 14th, when I had still not received the item, and he promised Priority shipping. By the 15th, I decided to contact BillPoint's services regarding this matter. They e-mailed me back on December 19th, telling me nothing could be done until 30 days after the auction has completed. They also have a claim put in from the seller, saying he shipped the item, which they said they got on the 18th. Ok, they got a claim from the seller, but I still cannot contact the seller. I'm wrapped up in some bad business.
BillPoint offers one thing that may interest a seller more than PayPal, but won't attract much more business. The thing is BillPoint accepts Visa, MasterCard, and Discover Card, which PayPal does not accept. However, most people don't get a Discover card as their first card, usually they have had a Visa or MC before, and chances are they still do. Both services accept eCheck's, so BillPoint has only 1 benefit over PayPal.
Ok, now on to the bad part of the seller services. PayPal offers sellers the option to not be a premier member of their service, which entitles them to incur no fees on any transaction, though some restrictions are placed. With BillPoint, if you use it, and you're a seller, you are paying something, no matter what. The fee for PayPal on a premier transaction is 1.9% of the final value, and that's it. BillPoint charges 35 cents to start, that's just a flat fee, everyone gets it. Then, if the final auction value is greater than $15.00, they take 2.5% of the final value. Oh, and if your outside of the US, get ready to cough up 3.5%. Just simply not right, lower the rates, if you want to compete!
PayPal allows users to send other people not even registered for the service money, but anyone using BillPoint must be a registered member. BillPoint has no referral bonus, and a maximum spending amount of $500 per transaction, compared to PayPal's $2000 maximum limit. If you have more than $200 in your BillPoint account, you can only transfer $200 at a time, so they get to hold your money even longer. Ok, it's your money, why can't you get it all at once? It's not like PayPal, where you can transfer all of your money into your account at once. And plus, your PayPal balance can be used to pay things off, while your BillPoint money cannot, just leaving your earned income in limbo.
The BillPoint service would be totally useless, if not for accepting Discover card. It is the only reason I use BillPoint, because no one else takes Discover, unless they have a merchant account. eBay made a big mistake not partnering with PayPal, and using BillPoint instead. But, they will have to live and learn.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
grindmikey
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Member: Michael Chenensky
Location: Brooklyn, NYC, USA
Reviews written: 59
Trusted by: 26 members
About Me:
Old School
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