Online Payment - Is it Safe and Reliable? A look at the different
services out there.
I'm sure you've all heard of ecommerce and online payments. There
seem to be a thousand services out there, and they all claim the same
thing: "We are safe, secure, cheap, reliable, etc., etc."
But is this really true for all services? And which service should
you pick?
Today I'll look at two of the bigger services - view this as a
mini-guide to introduce you to two ecommerce services - both with their
respective pros and cons.
We'll start with the biggest one.
PayPal 
PayPal
is wholly owned by
eBay, and as such provides a direct connection to eBay.com, making
it easier to pay for stuff you buy there. (Most sellers on Low End
Mac's LEM Swap List also accept
PayPal.
It's free to sign up.
It's very simple to use; you connect with a credit card or bank
account, load money into your PayPal account, and there you go.
They also have some other services. US residents are eligible to
receive a free PayPal debit card, which is connected to the funds in
your account (it works in most ATMs), and a PayPal Credit Card (your
textbook MasterCard with a PayPal logo slapped onto it).
However, you need to be a PayPal registered user for 60 days to use
it, and you must have a Premier or Business account. The "free"
accounts won't do.
I like PayPal because it's free and is supported by most ecommerce
sites.
However, it does have some weak spots...
The website is not that easy to navigate. Period.
Also, the tech support is not good at all. Emailing them, I usually
get something like:
Dear Carl Nygren,
Thank you for contacting PayPal.
My name is ********** and I am happy to assist you further",
followed by some kind of autogenerated instruction from their
database.
When I email them back to tell them "That didn't solve my problem.
Did you even read my questions?", I get basically the same email back,
only with a new name of the support guy.
So it's a good service, but the tech support could be better (that's
a really important part). I primarily use PayPal for the Tip Jar here
at LEM and buying stuff on eBay - it works great.
Fees
There is no charge to set up a PayPal account, deposit money, or
send funds to another PayPal user. There is also no charge for
transferring money from your PayPal account to a US bank account. There
is a 2.5% fee on currency exchanges.
PayPal charges you for money you receive unless you have a personal
account and it's funded by the sender's account balance. All other
transactions have a 30¢ fee plus 1.9% to 2.9% for business/premier
members, the exact percentage depending on your montly sales. For
personal accounts, the fee is 30¢ plus 4.9% for transfers funded
by credit cards, debit cards, or buyer credit.
Rating: 2.5/4
Wirecard
While not quite as big as PayPal (it's currently only available in
Europe), this service is definitely good.
Wirecard is based
in Germany and provides a good solution for online payment. It uses a
system similar to PayPal's: you load money into your account and then
use it to pay for stuff - only a little different this time.
Once you have loaded some money into the account (at least
€10), you can instantly receive/download a virtual MasterCard
debit card (a.k.a. a card number and PIN code connected to your
account), allowing you to pay on all websites that support MasterCard
using the funds in your Wirecard account - no 60 day membership
requirement here, you can do it whenever you want.
You can also receive a physical plastic debit card to use in ATMs
and stores worldwide. Cool! (Of course you can use this card number
with online stores as well.)
Finally, you may also transfer money between Wirecard accounts.
Somehow, Wirecard feels more like a real bank to me. [Wirecard Bank
AG is a real bank headquartered in Germany. ed] It's hard to
explain, but it just feels more professional than PayPal.
They have a great web interface, and the website is speedier to load
on a slow connection.
Support people are friendly and happy to help - very good!
This service is also free of charge, just like PayPal.
Signup takes only a few minutes, and all they need is your country
of residence, preferred language, and street address - and your name
(duh!). They don't ask for your Social Security Number or credit card
number and CVV, like some other services do. I tend not to trust
services that ask for too much personal information on first
signup.
Well done, Wirecard! I'd like to see more similar services
online.
If you are not familiar with Wirecard, I suggest you give it a try.
It won't cost you anything.
The only drawback is that not all currencies are supported - I
believe only euros, US dollars, and Canadian dollars. Still, those are
the currencies you use the most for buying stuff online.
Well, some websites don't accept MasterCard debit cards - too
bad.
Fees
There is no charge to set up a Wirecard account or have a virtual
debit card. Wirecard charges $1.30 for funds transfers from your bank,
credit card, or debit card. There is an additional 3.0% fee for credit
card deposits and 1.99% for debit card deposits.
Wirecard charges you 65¢ every time you send money to another
Wirecard account and $1.30 to send it to a bank account. Unlike PayPal,
there is no fee when you receive money. There is a 1.5% fee for
currency conversion, which is lower than PayPal's 2.5%.
Rating: 2.5/4 (would be 3.5 if available in US and Canada)
Conclusion
I hope this (quite small) guide helps you. The services are quite
equal, except for the fact that the folks over at PayPal seem to be
somewhat computerized, searching for questions in the letter and
answering them with what they can find in the database. Some of the
questions I asked them were never answered.
But once again, it is a reliable service with high security.
And both services work with my favorite browser, Safari on the
Mac.
Next time, we'll talk about webmail services - with so many of them,
it can be hard to choose. If you have any suggestions of good webmail
services, email me, and I might include them in the article.
