I'm considering firing Paypal as a payment processor, because of ONE webpage

[DexSinister]

I like Paypal. I've been using them as a payment processor on my websites for over a year now.

BUT, I've become aware that I'm losing more in sales per month than it would cost me to get a merchant account, because of Paypal's insistence on putting a single confusing webpage in the way of my customer's credit card payments.

Usually, I just lose sales - as someone who is confused and scared away by this webpage generally loses interest and momentum in the sale and is no longer interested in the purchase.

Because my website gathers sales info before transferring to Paypal, I can tell the sales I lose to Paypal. I get a notice of sale, and then "Payment completed: No". When I contact them and ask, the answer is always exactly the same:

"There was no option to pay by credit card, only by Paypal, and I don't have a Paypal account, so I didn't complete the sale."

What do customers mean when they say that? They mean that they've gotten to this screen, and been confused by the obvious obfuscation in the design of the page:

Yes, I'm aware that there is tiny text, with an even tinier link that says "Don't have a Paypal account? Use your credit card or bank balance (where available) Continue".

But, time, after time, after time, paying customers, who are attempting to buy from me and generate fees for Paypal only see this as a part of the "Paypal is the swellest company in the universe" verbiage, utterly fail to see the tiny 8-character link, and stop the payment process cold because they do not possess a Paypal account.

Just this evening, I received an email from a customer - a journalist for a major newspaper - who wrote me:

"I tried to order, but PayPal was the only way offered to pay for it. 

I'd rather just send a money order, if that would work.  Otherwise I need to use a credit card.  Please let me know if a money order will do."

Frankly, I don't care if Paypal thinks it needs to tell people that they can "use their creditcard without exposing your credit card number to merchants" - because Paypal can't do that if it confuses the customers and fails to collect the card number in the first place.

Since there is no place, as far as I can tell, where someone can sign up for Paypal on that page, if that page confuses customers and scares them away, it is totally useless. And it is costing me upwards of $50-$100 in lost sales each and every month!

What do I want the page where my customers land, intending to enter their credit card information (or to sign into Paypal if they have an account) to look like? That's easy! I want it to look like the exact screen that they actually get to if and only if they get past the one that they obviously don't read and which confuses them.

I want them to land on the screen that results from clicking the "continue" link! This one:

Why is this difficult? If the statement "Paypal securely processes Payments for X Corp. You can finish your payment in a few clicks" is important, it would easily fit on that page. That one statement is the only thing that is not accessible on the second page, which is on the first.

Please fix this, and stop chasing away customers who are trying to make payments that earn Paypal its revenue!

[bln51753]

I AM DUMPING PAYPAL AND EBAY...... HAVE BEEN A SELLER FOR 10 YRS AND NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE WHAT PAYPAL IS AUTHORIZED TO DO WITH MY MONEY IN PAYPAL. THEY PROTECT THE BUYER  MORE  THAN THE SELLER. I BLOCK HAIROLOGY FROM BIDDING AND SHE OPENS ANOTHER EBAY ACCT. SHE HAS RUINED MY EBAY ACCT AND PAYPAL PUT A HOLD ON MY MONEY. THIS IS THE 3RD PAYPAL ACCT I AM CLOSING . IM GETTING A LAWYER ON THIS ONE , MONDAY........ I AM SOOOOOOOOO UPSET WITH PAYPAL. WE ARE DONE, GONE, DISAPPEARING.................... TALKED TO 3 REPS IN 20 MINUTES AND THEY SENT ME TO SOMEONE ELSE. WASTED MINUTES ON MY CELL PHONE......... GRRRRRRR!!!!

[Pl]

Sooo sorry. I have tried to contact via e-mail and other ways and can't get an answer to my question. A little direction is all it would take. Electronic answers don't help in my case.

Frustrated, as well. Best of luck to you.

[yesthemoma]

by the way, I was brought to the page where you show in the second graphic.

[bln51753]

I AM CLOSING MY 2ND PAYPAL ACCOUNT. THEY PROTECT THE BUYER MORE THAN THE SELLER.

THEY COST ME OVERDRAFT FEES IN MY BANK ACCT BECAUSE I BUYER DIDNT HAVE PATIENCE. SO NOW THIS BUYER  HAIROLOGY NOT ONLY RUINED MY EBAY ACCT STATUS BUT ALSO GOT PAYPAL TO PUT A HOLD ON HER PAYMENT TO ME. SO THEREFORE I COULD NOT PRINT OUT POSTAGE TO SEND HER ,HER PRODUCTS. NOW PAYPAL GIVES HER HER MONEY BACK,  AND SHE WILL GET HER PRODUCT FROM ME PROBABLY MONDAY. I SPENT THE EXTRA MONEY TO PRIORITY MAIL IT. WHEN MY SS CK CAME IN THE MAIL. THIS IS RIDICUALOUS AND I AM TAKING MY BUSINESS ELSE WHERE AND TO %^&* WITH EBAY AND PAYPAL!!!!!!! I MAY GET A LAWYER, NO, IM GETTING ONE MONDAY.

[deebeee]

I'm not a business person, just someone who sells things occasionally.  First timer in fact here.  I was very annoyed that paypal allowed the buyer to pass on the payment fee to me, instead of paying it herself. AND with no notice from paypal to ask if this was OK.   

I was offering a 25% discount on a gift card and also did not charge postage (certified).  So I feel a tad **bleep**ed and totally unprotected by paypal.  Am I wrong to think this is something that should NOT be up to the buyer/payer with no consent by the seller. 

deebeee

[DexSinister]

@DeeBee  see answer in your topic

[deebeee]

Dex,

I have to disagree somewhat.  It is the job of a company to make things as easy (not as obscure) as possible for their users/customers.  Paypal could very easily have made this info available to those of us who are not "in business" doing this all the time.  I've been in many different  businesses and believe me, the biggest problems were in not reaching out to customers, not making the extra effort to make things clear.

From now on, as I don't often have transactions where I am selling something, I will only accept checks or money orders.  Which means NO FEES for me.  AND I will bill the customer for postage (which I absorbed in this case).  Nope, from now on -- no paypal, no fees and getting repaid for postage.  Amen. : )  

[former]

this link may provide some perspective

[aqualityhost]

Our family members have used Paypal personally almost from its inception. Since we started our Internet business we have also had a merchant account for some years because Paypal required membership of buyers and many people are unwilling to sign up with Paypal for one reason or another. But we continued to also offer Paypal as an option because many people only use Paypal to pay online. When Paypal again began to accept credit card payments without requiring the buyer to first have a Paypal account we considered canceling the much more expensive merchant account and just using Paypal for payments on our many websites, but we decided against it for just the reasons stated here... The process is confusing and people think they must sign up for Paypal in order to pay, so they simply go elsewhere. If the process was streamlined we'd probably pass a lot more money through Paypal.

[mickeyren]

would using 

Introducing Website Payments Pro solve the problem here? this way you guys can direclty embed the payment processing at your site?