Paypal, cheques and credit cards

As a fairtrade soft toy wholesaler I think I can truthfully say that the end of cheques couldn't come soon enough. Only this month we have had 2 cheques bounced on us so we will not be sorry when they are finally laid to rest. Research shows that 87% of businesses still use cheques on a monthly basis either because they like the control it gives them over their cash flow or because they always have used cheques so why change?

Interestingly 53% of business don't like to be paid by cheque due to worries about them bouncing!

However although cheques are here for the next couple of years their declining popularity does raise the issue of how we can take payments.

As much as cheques are inconvenient (and sometimes fraudulent) they are at least free. We are charged 3.25% on all credit card transactions which is a major irritant. However unlike some companies we will not be passing this cost back to our retailers by charging you a transaction fee. Given that retailers are charged when their customers pay by credit card we do not think it fair for you to then have to pay our credit card changes as well as your own!

We are very happy to be paid by BACS transfer and debit cards both of which are quick and convenient and low cost.

But with cheques on their way out we are considering offering Paypal as a payment method. Paypal are stating that "by adding PayPal to your web store you could sit back and enjoy seeing your conversion rate increase by 30%* and incremental sales by 14%"

That would be nice! Just think a 10 minute conversation and our sales of wholesale fairtrade toys would increase by 14%.

As a knitted and crochet toy wholesaler we are a little dubious as to how many retailers actually want to pay by Paypal but we are happy to work with small and tiny businesses and we feel that it is these people who may want the convenience of using their Paypal accounts when working with us.

Paypal charge 3.4% plus 20p per transaction as against credit cards which charge 3.25% so we would have to see an increase in sales to justify taking it but we will be trialing Paypal from end of August for a couple of months to see how popular it is

What do you think? Is Paypal something you would like to see offered?

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