Is it workable to request some up front payment for work done over the Internet?

[robert adams]

why do you not offer paypal as a payment option?

you would probably increase your sales by a lot if you do.

robert

[carlos123]

why do you not offer paypal as a payment option?

you would probably increase your sales by a lot if you do.

robert

Don't know about increasing my sales a whole lot by offering PayPal Robert.

The item I have for "sale" at my web site is web development services. That is not something one buys on the spur of the moment like an ebook or something on Ebay might be.

If I was buying web development services, whether someone accepts PayPal or not would be the least of my concerns or criteria as to whether I would hire them.

More important for me and probably for most people would be their reputation, their portfolio, what kind of deal they could offer me, whether anyone I know recommends them, that type of thing.

How I could pay them would be of almost no consideration for me since I would be willing to even mail a check by regular postal mail to a really good web developer who operates in integrity and can be trusted.

There are lots and lots of reasons to not use PayPal. Just do a Google search on the phrase "PayPal sucks" (excuse my French but it's the best phrase to use for this) and you will be treated to an eyeful of reasons. Too many for me to list here.

Personally I don't use PayPal for a number of reasons...

1. PayPal is not regulated like a regular bank. It is an entity to itself. If they decide for whatever reason to freeze your account, even if the reason is entirely and completely without merit you are at their mercy. They can hold your money for months and months...even years while you beat your head against the proverbial wall of trying to get a hold of them to resolve the problem. Your money does not go into your bank account directly. It is under the control of PayPal.

2. Their customer service is all but non-existant. Ever try to get a hold of them and resolve something? It's near impossible to do so.

3. In my case they once got it into their heads to freeze my account due to my having been on some kind of list such that they then wanted all kinds of personal and incredibly intrusive information from me to prove who I was to their complete and ultimate satisfaction. They absolutely would not tell me what this list was. I did some research and this so-called list freezing was not unique to me but also being experienced by others and not just in the US. Since I did not use them a whole lot at the time and since they did not have the common decency to answer my reasonable questions as to what this list was that had caused the accounts of me and others to be frozen...well...let's just say that I told them to...well...get lost in so many words.

4. I don't absolutely need to use PayPal.

I think those are the main one's that come to mind.

Oh I don't like EBay either (owner's of PayPal) since they are very much alike as companies. In it for the almighty dollar no matter how much they step on their customer's toes or ignore them.

The thing with PayPal is that they are fine until you have a problem with them...then God help you.

I've finally figured out a way for anyone, anywhere in the U.S. to pay me for my services. http://www.carlosgonzalezconsulting....g-for-services goes into the details. Maybe it's too much. Don't know. Guess I won't know until I try it for a while. Haven't had anyone yet tell me they did not want to use my services because of the ways they can pay me .

Getting the $25 up front good faith deposit is the only problem really. I don't start to work on something until their payment clears. If they send me a check that can introduce a bit of a delay in getting started. But there are ways around that if a client really wants me to be their web developer and if they really don't want me to wait. So I focus on selling myself first and foremost. If I can sell myself I don't think how I accept payments is going to be a major problem. A bit inconvenient...yes...but not a show stopper.

When I can afford it I think I will sign up with an e-check processing company and accept online checks.

Carlos

[robert adams]

well, I certainly can't blame you for not liking paypal with that type of history.

however, it is the number one way that money changes hands in online transactions these days.

I too have heard the horror stories but I think they were mainly in the past and a very small number compared to the millions of paypal users.

If one is concerned about their money , it is a simple task to move it out of paypal at any time.

I am not trying to sell you on paypal at all, just trying to inject a little more info.

I think you would be surprised how many people would simply not do business with you because you are not offering the payment service that they are used to.

Whether it is a service business or any other type of business, people that do business online expect to be able to pay via paypal.

As to your original question;
I too believe that asking for a deposit or even complete payment up front is perfectly acceptable in the online world.

You usually can't buy anything online without paying up front for it, including services.

luck,
robert

[KathleenGageSpeaker]

I resisted offering PayPal as a payment option for quite some time. A couple years ago I decided to give it a shot. Wow! Was I way off base by not offering it sooner.

I have products and services that range from a few dollars to several thousand. 70 - 80% of low priced items go through PayPal. 40% or so on mid-range and 20 - 40% on higher end.

I recently contracted a web designer and have been very pleased to have the PayPal option for payment as I have for other vendors I deal with.

I had a transcriptionist I utilized for about a year who preferred PayPal payments. This made payment very easy and fast. When the transcriptionist moved out of the States and decided to close her business I found another excellent resource. However, one downside. I have to pay her by check. That's an added step I would be happy to do without.

I would invite anyone who is wondering whether or not PayPal is a good option to try it and then make your decision.

[carlos123]

I had a transcriptionist I utilized for about a year who preferred PayPal payments. This made payment very easy and fast. When the transcriptionist moved out of the States and decided to close her business I found another excellent resource. However, one downside. I have to pay her by check. That's an added step I would be happy to do without.

Hi Kathleen,

I think what you did respecting the new resource you found is key. You paid her anyway . Even if it wasn't through PayPal.

Certainly you would be happy to pay through PayPal but since that's not an option for you...you didn't go around looking for someone who was offering PayPal. Rather you paid her and continue to pay her by check.

That's what I am saying.

People don't go around trying to find merchants that accept PayPal (at least no one that I know does that). They go around finding good deals. Once they find a good deal or a needed service they pay in whatever way they can. PayPal or not.

As you also pointed out the smaller ticket items are more sensitive to whether or not a visitor is presented with convenient payment options at the time of the sale. The higher ticket items are not as readily affected by that. Some for sure but not as readily.

I personally have never, ever altered a buying decision simply because a merchant offered PayPal or not. But I realize that may not be typical.

So far no one, not a single potential client of mine, has ever changed their mind about using my services simply because I don't use PayPal. Not a one.

I wonder if the lack of PayPal objection to making a sale is an imaginary one that really does not translate into real life. I wonder if the real objection is not the lack of PayPal but rather that the pre-sale did not do a good enough job of differentiating a product and making it highly valuable in the mind of the buyer before ever getting to the point of buyer decision as to how to pay. They balk at buying and we assume it's the lack of PayPal and the ease with which they can pay when in fact it may be that they just didn't see real value in our product to sufficiently motivate them to pay with whatever method of payment we were accepting.

The biggest client I have even goes to the bank and makes physical deposits into my bank account when he needs me to do something for him. Sure it's inconvenient for him to do that (I will talk to him in the future about just sending a check to the address of my banks check processing center) but he wants to use me for web development work and that's that. He will pay me in whatever way he can.

If a customer absolutely insists on using PayPal I am not sure that I would want them as a customer. Seriously. If their desire to use me as a web developer is to be made on such a superficial consideration and if they are unwilling to even write a check and mail it to me...that's not the kind of customer I want.

I want a customer who recognizes the value of what I have to offer. Such that they then place enough value on it that they will readily and willingly write a check, get out an envelope and put a stamp on it to mail it to me (in a worst case of my not being able to accept payments in any other way). If they are not willing to do even that small of a thing...then they either don't see the value of my services enough or they don't appreciate what I can offer them enough.

Now of course that means I have to really sell myself in such a way that clients who have never met me see real value in what I have to offer but isn't that what internet marketing is all about

Selling ourselves properly.

I think if we properly pre-sell and lay the groundwork for making a solid sale it won't matter nearly as much as we might think whether we accept PayPal, credit cards, checks, or any other form of payment. The customer who is sold on what we have to offer will find some way to pay for our product or service. Because they see real value in it.

Just as you and I do when we shop for things ourself. I do not recall ever in my life making a buying decision simply because a merchant, offline or online, did not accept credit cards, checks, and or cash in particular. If I could pay them somehow I paid them even if at times it was a wee bit inconvenient for me. I wanted what they were selling and I found some way to pay for it.

I've even gone out of my way to go to a teller machine to get cash to make cash sales to those who wouldn't accept any other form of payment. Now that's a whole lot more inconvenient and costly than simply writing a check and putting it in an envelope from the comfort of my home.

I'm banking on internet clients being willing to do at least that little to get the value of my services (at least until I find a more convenient means of accepting their money..there are several other ways to pay me for services even now).

Just saying. Not arguing or anything.

Carlos

[Lynn Terry]

I would personally NOT do that. It's paypal or credit card, or no sale. I'm not being hard, just honest. The whole point of outsourcing is to make my life easier!

All of my internet business is done through a PO Box. My checks have my home office address on them - plus I feel less safe handing out my routing # & account # on a slip of paper, than I do using my cc on a secure server. But that's just me.

[KathleenGageSpeaker]

One thing that any entrepreneur must keep in mind is what does the client/customer want. That is not to say we have to do something that goes against our values, but when it comes to providing something that makes our customers life easier, why not?

I have actually made decisions not to buy some items because the hassle for a small purchase was not worth it.

On larger purchases I can agree that I may not base my decision to work with someone based on how I have to pay them, but I appreciate convenience. And using my PayPal account to pay a vendor makes my life easier.

[carlos123]

Good points you all. I appreciate the honest and forthright input.

I may have to change my willingness to use PayPal (though I think I will shortly be able to accept credit cards without using them) but if I do give in and use them it will be in no small part to your all's patience in bearing with all my logicalizing, kicking and screaming, hollering, and otherwise making hiss sounds out of my mouth at the idea of using PayPal. LOL.

It's kinda like having someone beat up on you, treat you like dirt, grind your face into the ground, and then having to go back to them...get some more pie in your face...and say thank you all because no one else can give you what they can as easily as they can.

By the way do I have the capability to create polls here with my limited membership? I am wondering about creating a poll to see how many people here would actually be affected by having PayPal or not as a payment option. It might be instructive to everyone to have such a poll (I will probably be doing this at some of the larger forums I belong to). What you all have been saying has me curious.

Carlos

[Lynn Terry]

I believe you do - try starting a new thread and see if the poll option is available.

[carlos123]

Thanks Lynn. Will do.

Carlos