Payment methods: Paypal, money order, checks, etc...

[PsychD_Student]

Hey guys, I just wanted to start a discussion about forms of payment, from both the seller and buyer's perspective.

As we many of us know, paypal doesn't offer much of a protection when it comes to live animal purchases, so many people prefer to use other forms of payment. There are pros and cons to using Paypal, as well as other forms of payment. I have yet to find a form of payment that protects the buyer and seller equally. *I* believe that if Paypal began covering live animal purchases, there would be much more security in our industry. However, we have to work with what we have available to us.



Paypal:

Important to note: The paypal buyer protection doesn't include much protection for the purchase of live animals. I am still confused on how much this protection covers, but I've heard that it is extremely limited.

Info on Paypal Buyer Protection policy for live animals

There are different methods to send money via Paypal. One way is straight forward, and is just sending money in the form of a purchase for goods or services. This will charge the seller a small percentage based on their Paypal account, but slightly protects the buyer more (although I'm not sure how much more). Usually it will protect the buyer if the seller never sends the item. However, if the seller sends proof of shipping anything, even an empty box's tracking number, this will usually suffice for Paypal's standards.

FYI: it is against paypal policy for a buyer to charge the excess paypal service fee. It should be already included in the purchase price. See link:

Paypal policy on forwarding service fees to customer

Other ways to pay save the seller money on the service fees related to the purchase. One of those is sending money as a gift. Another way is to send money as a payment owed. Both of which I feel offer significantly more protection on the seller's end than for the buyer. These forms offer zero security under Paypal's Buyer Protection policy. See links:

Info on using different payment methods on Paypal

Gift and Paypal Buyer Protection

However, in my opinion- from a buyer's point of view- paypal is still the safest way to pay because of the fall back on your debit card. If things go bad, you can always do a chargeback through your bank. Its important to chose your debit card instead of a bank transaction for purchases in order to be able to use this function in the future if its needed.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service: Chargeback Rights

When selecting a bank transfer for the funds used in the purchase in place of using funds from a debit or credit card, there is limited protection and much of the security in this transaction falls on your personal bank's policies. I would contact your financial institution to discuss the policy on this subject.


However, these can be dangerous for the seller when used improperly:

Chargeback Fraud

Forms of payment other than Paypal may be safe from the seller perspective, but offer limited, or no protection from the buyer's point of view. Below these are described.



Checks:

I just spoke with my bank about using personal or cashier checks to make purchases. They put it very bluntly that there is no protection because you have already authorized the use of that money. Unless it was an unauthorized transaction (i.e. a forged check), its pretty much cash after the check is deposited into the seller's account. Before then you can always cancel the check, but most sellers require a 7 day waiting period for the check to clear. However, thats not always a good enough time frame. See link below on the BOI which discusses checks bouncing on the seller's end.

Bounced check


Moneygrams/Wire trasnfers:

I've heard of some people requesting payment in the form of wire transfers/moneygrams. In my opinion, I don't think that is very safe from the buyers perspective at all. You send them money, and everything is done. Not too safe for the buyer.

Money Order:

When using money orders, the buyer also has very limited protection, and are very similar to the use of checks. One important detail to think about is that if you decide on using a money order, use a USPS government money order. Why? Because the USPS is a govt. backed money order, which has a slightly better protection. Because it is govt. based, what I've heard is that being defrauded using one is investigated better than if using another form of money order. I've heard--no sources-- that the USPS takes fraud very seriously with their money orders, and is always forwarded to the authorities for investigation. Furthermore, from a seller perspective, USPS money orders are some of the more difficult to fake money orders, so they are better to accept as a form of payment when accepting money orders.

USPS Money Order and mail fraud

Cash:

This one is pretty obvious. You give them cash, and you're done.

Escrow.com

Another form of payment, which I have never used, is to use an online escrow service. The fees are actually similar to those used for Paypal, approximately 3.25%. This is something rather new to me, therefore I am unsure of its use. However, its similar to using escrow for the purchase of a home. The money is held by the third party company until both the buyer and the seller decide that they are happy with the purchase. In theory, it sounds like the best protection for the buyer and the seller, but I'm unaware of anyone else using services like these. Since I don't want to be the guinea pig, I'll have to sit back and see how this is implemented in the industry.

I'm hard pressed to think of any other forms of payment that are often used at the moment. I am aware of other Paypal-esque companies, such as Squareup and Google Checkout, but I would assume that their policies and protection are similar to that of Paypal. If anyone has feedback, information, or a comment, post it!

[I-KandyReptiles]

I've yet to buy a live animal through the Internet, but I have purchased my herpstat and PVC enclosure via online.

He sent me his banking information and I sent the money to his account.

Everything worked well, but that's because he is well known in Canada and highly recommended.

If I was buying snakes online, I would NEVER buy from an unknown breeder unless I was picking up the animal in person. Also, I'd check the BOI before any transaction was started.

I absolutely dread PayPal though. I think I might be retarded as I cannot figure out how to use my account >_>

[PsychD_Student]

LOL well, I don't think you're retarded if you can't figure it out. I would, and do, buy online from people I don't know, but I'm cautious and always check the BOI beforehand. I also have informed myself of the payment options, and where my security is in the situation. One important thing is to be aware of all documentation and evidence to use in case something does go sour. I think its important to be as informed as possible about the buyer and all aspects of the transaction. Knowledge is power! LoL

[Serpent_Nirvana]

I used PayPal for many years to buy and sell and never had a problem on either end. I have since cancelled my account.

Maybe I'm just super-duper-duper paranoid ... Maybe I am, as my fiancee thinks, just reading and believing too many horror stories on the Internet. But man oh man, some of the stuff you read about that company is SCARY. Plus, some of the stuff they have openly done to bloggers trying to raise money for charity, for example (like the owner of the site Regretsy) is pretty sketchy IMO. I cancelled my account right after that information came out.

I'm strongly considering using this service before I offer my current crop of babies up for sale. I don't have a ton to sell so I've been kind of procrastinating, hoping I can do some trades instead and put off signing up until next year. It doesn't look painful, but it DOES cost money whether you use it or not. (Sounds like less that PayPal if you DO use it a lot, but obviously more if you don't.)

https://www.merchantinc.com/

I've been ripped off twice in this industry. In both cases I was a complete and utter moron for not listening to "that hinky feeling."

Case #1 was a money order through USPS. USPS was no help at all ... This awesome awesome cop in the kid's hometown WAS. He took me seriously and put enough pressure on the kid to get my money back.

Case #2 was some weird wire transfer through Wal-Mart. The whole thing felt bizarre and I was dumb as a stump for trusting the guy. (In my defense, that was pretty much the worst year of my life, so I wasn't exactly thinking straight.) The whole thing was a cluster and I am still to this day not sure what the heck happened ... But I don't have my money or my snakes.

I've had more animals than I can count shipped to me over the years, and those are the only problems I've had. (Oh, and one was missexed -- but the seller was very honest and apologetic and made it right immediately.)

[Gloryhound]

I've used Paypal on the buyers and sellers end. Have not had any major issues to date.

Another option is Credit card or debit card. Now days you can get the ability to accept credit cards pretty easily. Be it through Intuit or other readers. I can manually enter credit card info with the buyer on the phone. This has its own issues as well, but ultimately each person has to take the steps to protect them selves. If your not comfortable as a buyer or seller with any aspect of the transaction then don't do it. When you buy something from Amazon on-line or any other on-line retailer you are trusting them with payment info that could be used incorrectly. A buyer can protect himself also by getting a pre loaded credit card, that would stop the seller from taking any more than the amount pre-loaded.