I recently decided to try for PayPal Pro because it would allow me to accept credit cards without my customers leaving my site… and to increase sales.
While I was approved and able to implement the service, it has come with a very high price. In addition to their monthly fee of $30, I was also hit with the 30% Rolling Reserve hold for 90 DAYS!!! If I continue at this rate, my ship will surely sink!!
Has anyone had any luck getting the rolling reserve removed? What other credit card processors do you use?
I’ve been looking at a Merchant account by Costco… [URL=“http://www.elavon.com/acquiring/costco/”]http://www.elavon.com/acquiring/costco/[/URL]
Does anyone have any feedback on this? Also, what’s the process of implementing a merchant processor with cs-cart?
30% Rolling Reserve ??
Whats that?
I pay $30 a month plus fee’s but so far I have not had any issues …
[quote name=‘nathand’]30% Rolling Reserve ??
Whats that?
I pay $30 a month plus fee’s but so far I have not had any issues …[/QUOTE]
They “Hold” 30 percent of my transaction for 90 days!! For example, If you purchased something from my store for $100, they would hold $30 for 90 days. During the 90 days, I would not have access to it! Evil!
[QUOTE]They “Hold” 30 percent of my transaction for 90 days!! For example, If you purchased something from my store for $100, they would hold $30 for 90 days. During the 90 days, I would not have access to it! Evil![/QUOTE]
Obviously “Something” regarding your business has triggered Paypal’s radar to assign this hold of your funds. I would call & speak to one of their reps directly to find out why they are holding your funds & if there is any way to eliminate this hold.
If you cannot get them to drop this reserve hold, then I would start looking for another processor & hope nothing triggers their radar!
We have used Paypal Pro for 2-3 years now without any problems even worth mentioning.
[quote name=‘Struck’]Obviously “Something” regarding your business has triggered Paypal’s radar to assign this hold of your funds. I would call & speak to one of their reps directly to find out why they are holding your funds & if there is any way to eliminate this hold.
If you cannot get them to drop this reserve hold, then I would start looking for another processor & hope nothing triggers their radar!
We have used Paypal Pro for 2-3 years now without any problems even worth mentioning.[/QUOTE]
Thats strange !
I signed up and was active with in an hour with full access .
Paypal also hold my payments for 21 days because I also use ebay, I have never seen such a greedy organisation which is holding probaly billions of dollars without giving interest. It is not a bank just organized legal thieves, my first choice is google checkout if you can have it in your country.
Well, as an example, a big part of their decision making process will be based upon what industry your business is involved with. Paypal knows which industries have historically had the highest risk both to merchants as well as to themselves.
My guess is that electronic devices is right up their towards the top of the list as far as fraudulent transactions and returns.
I would also bet that if you sell medical marijuana, or crackhead smoking devices online that there is a very good chance they will retain a percentage of your funding & monitor your transaction history very closely! 
I sell computer parts, I suppose if I sold knitting patterns then they would not keep the money, who wants to rob their granny.
[QUOTE]I suppose if I sold knitting patterns then they would not keep the money[/QUOTE]
If you sold knitting patterns then you would most likely not have any money for Paypal to take anyhow, right? 
[quote name=‘Degsey’]…my first choice is google checkout if you can have it in your country.[/QUOTE]
I was under the impression that Google Checkout held 100% of your money for a period of time.? Do they or have they changed that policy?
[quote name=‘The Tool’]I was under the impression that Google Checkout held 100% of your money for a period of time.? Do they or have they changed that policy?[/QUOTE]
I think they only do that for the first 3 months your account is set up and then they drop it.
[QUOTE]I think they only do that for the first 3 months your account is set up and then they drop it[/QUOTE]
Lol, who does that?
[quote name=‘Struck’]Lol, who does that?[/QUOTE] Google Checkout
When I 1st set up with them they held the money for a while, after about 2 or 3 months they stopped doing it, even though we didn’t get many sales via their checkout!
–Google Checkout–
We have learned early on that 1st of all Google is NOT a good alternative for your customers to make payment. Not only do they not really give a hoot about it, but they will lock up your account and funds for no reason or explanation. We were locked out of our account several months ago and I still cannot get an answer as to why. Since we are only selling fasteners (nuts and bolts) and then puzzles and games on another site I’m not for sure what would make them lock you up. The sad part is they won’t even give you a letter or explanation. It just stopped working on checkout and when I tried to log in I was told that my account was closed and if I tried to open another one they would close it. I really just do not think Google is interested in the “checkout” idea. My guess is they want their service to suck so they can loose money some place and claim a loss…since they seem to make enough money in plenty of other places.
–Paypal Pro–
In regards to Paypal Pro, we were approved for an account for them towards the beginning of 2010 but never finalized or approved it. When they told us they were going to “hold” a portion of the funds for 30 days we decided we wanted to just keep our real merchant account as our primary form of payment. When we questioned Paypal as to why they were going to “hold” funds they said it was because of the “financial environment”. With that we still offer the plain old Paypal payment, but we probably will not go beyond that.
–Support from Paypal or Google------GOOD LUCK!
In regards to any problems or questions you may have with Google or Paypal, we really just did not think it was too wise to “bank” too much on either company as it is near to impossible to get a hold of someone should you have a question or issue.
While both Paypal and Google may be an “alternative” payment method, just as Amazon is, I do not believe they are the “best” method for payment on any website and I believe they should only be an alternative. It is my personal belief that they are just not good solutions to use as your only credit card processor. I’m sure there are many others that would disagree.
On merchant service accounts like Costco, you can get some pretty good deals.
-----BUT-----
Just because you get a good deal this year does not mean that each year they are not going to try to inch up your charges to try to get more from you. We have learned to “shop” our merchant bank and be ready to change if needed. We usually do this each year during our “slow” time so if we make changes there are not as many waves.
The BIG thing that we look for when it comes to a merchant bank is the ability to use Authorize.net. I’m sure there are other “gateways” out there, but Authorize.net allows us to set up multiple websites with the one gateway…including ebay. It makes it so much easier to just have the one merchant account (and gateway) for internet and of course they usually make you have a different account if you have a “brick and mortar” store. The nice part is Authorize.net seems to be written into many different shopping carts, etc. from the get go.
Sorry for the long opinion.
Yes I know this thread is old but paypal is still doing this. I have been a paypal member since 2003 and have been selling in ebay all this time with no real problems. We sell stickers. Paypal wants to hold 30% of EVERY sale not just the credit card payments through our website. But once you turn on the web payments pro they made this change to my account. So users paying through ebay using their paypal account 30% is held by paypal for 90 days.
This is what it says on paypals website
Reserves. PayPal, in its sole discretion, may place a Reserve on funds held in your PayPal Account when PayPal believes there may be a high level of risk associated with your Account. If PayPal places a Reserve on funds in your PayPal Account, they will be shown as “pending†in your PayPal Balance. If your PayPal Account is subject to a Reserve, PayPal will provide you with notice specifying the terms of the reserve. The terms may require that a certain percentage of the amounts received into your PayPal Account are held for a certain period of time, or that a certain amount of money is held in reserve. PayPal may change the terms of the Reserve at any time by providing you with notice of the new terms.
i also sell on ebay, but only funds from sales via ebay are on hold. Direct website sales are available immediately.
PayPal is an evil company, which is why I no longer do business with them. I used to have 1000+ items on eBay and only accepted paypal. I sold video games, original nintendo, super nintendo, up to PS3 etc. Once I pulled them off eBay and opened my own site, PayPal suspended my account and held over $3000 for 180 days. They said my video games were “illegal copies”. Mind you, they are retail video games that were purchased IN A STORE! I emailed them and told them, as well as pointed out thousands of different auctions currently on their sister site eBay that are paid for via PayPal. They didnt want anything to do with that and said their decision is final. On top of that, they suspended both of my parents as well as my brothers PayPal accounts, im assuming because I have logged into my account at their house with the same IP address. Ive since switched to Google Checkout, which I like alot better anyways. And of course, I didnt get a penny of interest that they were gaining on my $3000 over that 180 days. How dare myself not let them double dip by me not selling on eBay anymore so they can take even more money.