Anything cheaper than Paypal?

A pay,ments system charging lower fees

[Scooter24]

I have a photography site and every now and then collect smaller (international) payments for photos using Paypal. No big amounts so far, perhaps a few hundred US $ per year (the larger amounts have been paid until now via international cash transfer).

Recently I received a total of US $ 120 from a guy ($30, $50, $20 and $20). In my Paypal account I see only US $ 114. If I transfer this to my bank, I will end up receiving less than $110, most likely around US $ 108. That's a total loss of 10% - quite huge in my opinion.

Is there any alternative to Paypal for receiving credit card payments, which charges less than 10% total fees?

Note: the amounts I collect are not huge (at the moment).

[Marcia]

That's only $6 for PayPal, it doesn't get cheaper than that. Once their little percentage is deducted what goes into my bank account is exactly what's in the PayPal account.

The rest that you're having to pay must be some other type of charges. Is it a currency exchange issue?

[Scooter24]

Well, I reside in Germany. You mean there is nothing less expensive than that? We are talking about total fees of 10% - if the payment is $1000 I lose $100 in fees.

[Marcia]

Scooter, PayPal isn't getting 10%, they're getting far less. It could be a loss in the transfer of funds because of the difference in currency between different countries. There may be something around that's more compatible with European currency, but I don't know - I've only deal in US and Canada, and I do know that there's a big difference in that because of the difference in the US and Canadian dollar. What's $100 by my currency is about $136 for a Canadian.

Someone else will probably come along who knows more about the regional services. I have heard of WorldPay - don't know about them personally but you could check them out. I believe a lot of UK people use them.

It still may happen with US customers for you - in the process of currency exchange.

[Scooter24]

Worldpay:

One-time fee upon registration: 125 Euro
Yearly fee: 250 Euro
Credit card fee per transaction: 4.5%
Cash transfer to my account: 4.50 Euro

I'd say they are even more expensive than Paypal...

[derekwong28]

The cheapest route is to use a US merchant account. But you would have to set up a shell company in the US with a US bank account. The setting up fees would cost hundreds of dollars plus you have to pay maintenance fees each year for your US company. Frankly, it is not worth it.

[Essex_boy]

Stick with Paypal its cheap and easy, if your worried about the % charge add it on to your price.

Other wise stop moaning they have to make a profit to.

[newnewbie1]

Soo...How much exactly does PayPal get? I can't find anything on their site that explains their fees.

[PCInk]

The amount you see in your account when you log in, already has the fees taken off. So he paid you $120, PayPal take $6 fee leaving you $114 in your account. When you withdraw, you get $114 minus an international bank fee (unless you send it to a US account - it's not a lot - the UK charge is £0.50 per withdrawl). The bank you are with may also charge for currency conversion and you may pay for a receipt into the account if you have a business account.

To be clear: When you withdraw, they do not take the percentage fee off your $114. The fee has already been taken.