Posts: 3,694
Threads: 243
Joined: Oct 2004
Reputation:
11
I am in the process of setting up a website to sell prints on line. I intend to sell unmounted, mounted and framed pictures in the hope of raising some cash for some new gear.
I intend to keep the number of pictures on the site limited and will be listing mine, and a few camera club members art for sale.
Does anyone have any experience of Paypal and receiving payments via that system?
Posts: 1,199
Threads: 78
Joined: Aug 2004
Reputation:
0
Yes, what would you like to know?
Posts: 9,731
Threads: 1,965
Joined: May 2004
Reputation:
6
Yup...
With paypal, they take a percentage of the sale - and you can either set it up so that the buyer pays, or the seller pays, or both.
There's a free account, which only allows you to accept payments from people who put money into their own paypal accounts, or a "merchant" account, which allows people to pay via credit cards. That being said, they take a hefty percentage for using the merchant account facility...
I have a merchant account, and I made the mistake of offering paypal payment when I listed my PDA for auction on ebay. For a $630 item, I think the fees came close to $30.... ouch!
I think long term, and if you're successful, it would probably be more cost effective to get a credit card processing machine from one of the banks and process them yourself...
Posts: 1,199
Threads: 78
Joined: Aug 2004
Reputation:
0
Unfortunately the same thing goes with banks, a lot of vendors charge a 2% surcharge and wear the other 2% the bank charges so its close enough to 5% the same as Paypal.
I've never had any problems with Paypal, the majority of mine has been non-photo related sales via E-Bay where I'd highly recommend you use an escroe company such as their own Square Trade. A bit irrelevant for photos sorry!
For sales you can just as easily make a form on your site and when people submit orders you can get back to them and ask for a direct deposit (bank transfer?) and then send out their print thus eliminating the middle man.
