Do I need a PayPal account? Can I pay with my credit card instead?

Are you a small business and want to take payments for small products online? Well so were we and we went for PayPal as while it is not the cheapest option, it is easy to integrate and people trust it.

We have been using PP for some time and have not had any problems, however in the last couple of months we have seen a reduction in sales. Then in the space of 2 weeks we have had several phone calls from potential customers saying that their card had been rejected and was there anything wrong with our site?

Then after some research and several hours on the phone to PayPal we have identified the problem. Paying by PayPal with a debit or credit card can only be done a number of times before PayPal requires the purchaser to have a PayPal account. Now this is a problem if your purchaser has no intention of having a PayPal account.

There are other reasons why PayPal my refuse a credit card – if you have a card which is registered but expired and you have not “told them” of this, if you email address is black listed.. there are many reasons.

So here is what the PayPal site wont tell you (but it is hidden) – accepting payments via PayPal for all real purposes, requires your purchaser to have a PayPal account. Using a credit card on its own is of limited use (value and frequency). 

On the PayPal site it does say:

On many sites (including our own) you will find the statement – “Do I need a PayPal account to pay for the product? A. No. PayPal will process Credit or Debit cards at no charge to you!” – however the “rules” appeared to have changed and now certain types of cards seem to have limited use in association with paying for products and services through the PayPal system. This seems to impact cards used by businesses and those used with PayPal previously. This is disappointing for many of us.

The Final Word

So if you want a “secure” and easy to use purchasing system and are happy that most of your customers have PayPal accounts – PayPal is a good solution.

If you believe that many of your potential customers will not have a PayPal account and will want to pay with popular cards (credit & debit) – go another route