PayPal charges excessively high, alternatives?

While Paypal is widely accepted on the internet I find the charges excessively high... Does anyone know of a different type of internet payment tool that is widely used and can be recommended?
Any help would be gratefully accepted..

I agree the charges are high but they have the market cornered at the moment and there is no real alternative at the moment.

moneybookers
firepay
neteller

theres others as well

You will find some links to alternatives here: [broken link removed]
(No,its not a joke!)

coinfused said:

You will find some links to alternatives here: [broken link removed]
(No,its not a joke!)

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Paypal have ripped me off before, they can freeze your money, they can refund fruadulent buyers, they can pretty much do what they want.

But when using eBay there is no real alternative imo - and I am a former Powerseller.

propertyprof said:

Paypal have ripped me off before

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How exactly did they rip you off? You might want to be a bit more circumspect in your language given that it's Brendan rather than you who might be considered liable for potentially defamatory/libellous/slanderous material posted here.

I have never had problems with PayPal using it to pay for the odd online/eBay purchase. I once had a problem with a seller not delivering the goods or dealing with my complaint in accordance with their own complaints procedure so I used the PayPal complaints process and they found in my favour and refunded me the amount paid.

A few weeks ago, I 'registered' with Paypal, and was charged E1.50 from my credit card account. Last week, I sold a book (for E22, with E1.89 deducted from my account for charges) to a person in Canada, using the Paypal system for the first time. After emailing the payment request to the purchaser, I was informed by Paypal that I'd have to 'upgrade' to Premier, incurring the above-mentioned charge).
Up to now, I checked my bank accounts (on-line) but the payment for sale of the book hasn't arrived yet, and I'm becoming so concerned, that I won't trust Paypal and go for the 'cheque in the post' instead.
allendog

allendog said:

A few weeks ago, I 'registered' with Paypal, and was charged E1.50 from my credit card account.

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Did they not refund this charge and simply use it as a way to verify your card? I don't recall PayPal charging a registration fee and according to this is is free.

Last week, I sold a book (for E22, with E1.89 deducted from my account for charges) to a person in Canada, using the Paypal system for the first time. After emailing the payment request to the purchaser, I was informed by Paypal that I'd have to 'upgrade' to Premier, incurring the above-mentioned charge).

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Did you sell via eBay? Isn't PayPal on eBay (and elsewhere?) only free for buyers? Did you read the terms & conditions before signing up?

Up to now, I checked my bank accounts (on-line) but the payment for sale of the book hasn't arrived yet, and I'm becoming so concerned, that I won't trust Paypal and go for the 'cheque in the post' instead.
allendog

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Surely it could be that the buyer never paid and not that PayPal has done anything wrong here?

ClubMan said:

Did they not refund this charge and simply use it as a way to verify your card? I don't recall PayPal charging a registration fee and according to this is is free.
Did you sell via eBay? Isn't PayPal on eBay (and elsewhere?) only free for buyers? Did you read the terms & conditions before signing up?
Surely it could be that the buyer never paid and not that PayPal has done anything wrong here?

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Paypal is only free for buyer products, to receive money you have to pay (you pay more for receiving money from aboard and more for from a foriegn company) and therefore by receiving money you automatically get a premier account.

If you think "a cheque in the post is better" you are misguided - the time it takes, the hassle chasing payment and the increased level of non paying bidders is really not worth it - take that from experience!

You used to be able to charge buyers the additional amount if they wish to pay via Paypal but eBay banned that about a year ago - which really annoyed me but in fairness its just a case of biting the bullet now and accepting it in return of an easy and peaceful life.

"Up to now, I checked my bank accounts (on-line) but the payment for sale of the book hasn't arrived yet, and I'm becoming so concerned, that I won't trust Paypal and go for the 'cheque in the post' instead."

The money shows up automatically, if the money isnt in your account then they probably havent paid yet - so dont send the book! p.s. good luck waiting for a cheque from Canada!

propertyprof said:

to receive money you have to pay

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Not necessarily. Personal account holders can receive money for free and if it's over €100 with no foreign currency conversion then no charges apply. See here. But I think that it is the case that eBay (and maybe other) sellers must use a premier account.