sun818 - 9:03 pm on Jun 15, 2004 (gmt 0)

> still quite high compared to a merchant account.

Really? What are you paying? I think it depends what your fixed costs for the merchant account is. I don't think a direct comparison is as easy since merchant account costs will be different for depending on the account you have. Personally, I don't see a big difference between Paypal and merchant account when you include monthly service fees and the cut the merchant processor takes with qualified, mid-qualified, and non-qualified rates.

> PayPal took over $95.

How did you figure $95? Even at 3.9% (regular internaional) it is still only $78. If a transaction that large, you might look into sending a wire transfer. If you trust the recipient, that will end up saving you more money in fees. You can also negotiate a lower price this way as well.