PayPal Pro - your thoughts

Did you hear PayPal (it seems) now allows us to take credit cards on our site without going through PayPal at all -- $20 a month extra.

Is anyone using this (and if so, is it worth it)? Is it increasing conversions? And should Alex create a plugin for it?

Here's the info:
http://www.paypal.com/pro

I assume you can do recurring billing through this new system? I haven't been able to confirm this by just scanning through the documentation they provide.

Anyone know for certain?

Also does this mean people will not need to sign up for a Paypal account if they do not want to?

Hi there

I cannot see any reference to it on the Paypal.co.uk site or any European Paypal sites.

Is it only available in the US

Problem for International customer base

Folks, as I have a lot of customers in odd places, I looked into the Paypal Pro. Unfortunately it has the same limitation as Paypal - only customers in the 45 Paypal-approved countries can buy from you.

The list is as https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-signup-countries-outside

If you have a very American-centric business, this wont be a problem for you, but I thought I'd point it out.

Still no replacement for a "real" merchant account.


BP

Whoo!!

This is a solution I would love!! I have actually been looking into merchant accounts so I can accept straight credit card. This would REALLY simplify things!

Any proposed time line on PayPal Pro

Alex,

I know it has not been that long, but any thoughts on the new PayPal Pro product?

I have a site going live soon and this might be the best choice. I use 2CheckOut now but they are expensive and do not support recurring charges well.

This sounds like PayPal without the hassle!

Thank you,

Grant

I would also be interested in this.. because right now it seems that paypal pro ist the best solution available.

Charge.com as an option

I'm not sure what the percentages are for paypal pro There is a website that has no merchant account application fee, it gives you website software, and the ability to take orders offline, no annual fee, etc Their percentage are 2.39% and .25 per transaction, face to face sales are 1.69% and there is a statement fee of 10/ month and Internet Processing Software Gateway Fee of 29.95 a month. It kind of seems "too good to be true." It's at

charge.com

They don't mention anything about contries either in their faq page. Also as I am very new to amember, I'm not sure how this would work with this system.

Dave Jackson
www.jammindave.com
www.schoolofpodcasting.com

Cybercooler,

While PayPal Pro and Charge both handle credit cards, they are vastly different at how they do this. You need to see which one fits your needs.

PayPal Pro handles your transactions without using an Internet merchant account. As you accumulate funds with PayPal Pro, you can transfer them into a personal or business checking account of your choice.

Charge.com is a gateway company that assists you in obtaining an Internet merchant account so you can accept credit cards. This is going to require you to be an "official" business with all the documentation. Most merchant accounts can only transfer into a business checking account. A bank usually requires significant documentation to open a business checking account.

Actually if you have a business and a business checking account, you should be able to open a merchant account with your bank and then use one of the "pure" gateway companies such as Authorize or Pay Flow at likely an even cheaper rate.

Grant

@alex

Do you think you will be able to finish the plugin until the end of july?

Since it can't support recurring payments, I am not.

Two questions:

Does the normal paypal tool work for accepting credit cards for subscriptions?
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_wp-standard-overview-outside

What other options would be available to manage credit card billing for subscriptions?

ettera,

The standard PayPal checkout does handle recurring payments, when you use the aMember PayPal Recurring plug-in. One of the disadvantages is if you use recurring billing with a standard PayPal account, your customer will have to start a PayPal account.

If you do not offer any recurring products, you can use the standard PayPal plug-in which will allow your customer to checkout through PayPal and not have to create a PayPal account.

You Said:

What other options would be available to manage credit card billing for subscriptions?​

aMember supports over 30 payment processors.... that is a lot of options. If you meant which options you had for recurring billing, you need to do some research.

The level of support you get on recurring billing is a function of the payment processor, not aMember.There are even differences between similar services. For example, a standard PayPal setup will send a signal to aMember when the recurring billing has stopped or failed and aMember will automatically suspend the subscription; however, 2CheckOut sends email to the administrator when a recurring billing has stopped or failed and the administrator has to manually suspend the subscription using the Admin CP.

Features are also closely related to the type of payment processor you choose.

Some processors are gateways that handle the online transaction but require you to have an Internet merchant account with a bank. This typically means you will need a business checking account and lots of documentation. This type of arrangement typically offers the strongest recurring billing support.

Some processors act as a gateway and a merchant account. They handle the total process and you periodically transfer money from their account to any account you want (usually even a personal checking account). Their recurring support tends to be not a robust.

I suggest you peruse the posts in the "Payments Processing" forums to start getting a better understanding of the differences between payment processors.

Good Luck!

PayPal Pro reocurring

I am still interested, Alex.

This won't delay the release, will it?

gswaim,

thanx for the info...

me again... I have found the following statement:

----------------------------------------------------
Subscriptions and Recurring Payments

When you use PayPal Subscriptions and Recurring Payments, your customers can purchase automatically recurring subscriptions from your website, or even using a link in an email!

Subscriptions and Recurring Payments is a low-cost way for you to accept credit card and bank account payments for content site subscriptions, newsletter fees, club dues, or recurring donations, and can be fully integrated with your website in a few easy steps. Subscriptions and Recurring Payments is only available for Business or Premier accounts.

What are the benefits?
Save time and money with PayPal's hassle-free Subscriptions and Recurring Payments:

Easy to implement - flexible and automatic billing frees you from sending invoices
No up-front costs - you'll have the same low fee schedule used when you receive other PayPal payments
Sell with ease - PayPal maintains detailed transaction records on our website
Improve buyer experience - with customizable buttons and secure payments, happy customers become repeat customers
-------------------------------------------


So it seems that with a business account recuring payments with credit cards are possible... do I see something wrong?