PayPal started in 1998 as a payments and cryptography company and was acquired by eBay in 2002. It is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online.The service allows users to send money without sharing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using their PayPal account balance, bank account or credit card. Lynn Furge spoke with Anuj Nayar, Director of Global Communications about how independent retailers can take advantage of PayPal’s easy business practices.
Lynn Furge: One of the key things PayPal is known for is cost effective point-of-sale on an international level, please tell me a little bit more about other services you offer and how/when they should be added into a business.
Anuj Nayar: PayPal has a service option for every type of business – large and small. For example, the Website Payments Standard is our fastest way to set up online payments on a website and accept credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, and PayPal. Other merchants who want to accept credit cards directly on their website and get the fastest checkout available with PayPal can upgrade their service to Website Payments Pro. With this solution, a retailer can get the features of an Internet merchant account and payment gateway at a low cost. For more information on PayPal’s offerings, see here.
LF: Not just for web retailers can use PayPal to accept payment on invoices and phone and fax orders as well. How does that increase the speed in which vendors and retailers transfer payments?
AN: PayPal offers a Virtual Terminal product that allows a customer to accept payments on invoices via phone and fax orders. This offering allows web retailers to expand their business by capturing sales beyond the Internet. Retailers pay the same, low per-transaction price for any major debit and credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Switch/Solo, Visa Delta, Visa Electron) and Virtual Terminal allows retailers to ship products faster with an automatically created custom packing slip. And, as this offering is integrated into PayPal reporting to help give retailers more insight into their sales.
LF: There is a Mass Payment Option in PayPal’s business account services… please explain how in an economy of standing apart and offering customer rewards this service works for the business owners?
AN: Mass Payment allows customers to send multiple payments instantly, which helps avoid the hassle of individually sending funds to every payment recipient. In today’s economy, these options are valuable to our customers because it saves time and money, which many businesses are keeping a close eye on.
Using Mass Payment is faster than a check because these online payments are instant and it’s flexible for recipients as they can electronically transfer their money to a checking account, send money to friends, or shop online. In addition, Mass Payment minimizes your accounting paperwork with a downloadable transaction history, allowing you to reconcile exceptions easily by automatically returning unclaimed funds.
LF: You have a new invoicing tool, what does it consist of and is it included in the business account service or something that needs to be added on?
AN: The invoicing tool allows retailers to send detailed business invoices in a matter of minutes. A business can send an invoice via e-mail for goods or services. PayPal Invoicing can also provide detailed line items by specifying quantity, unit price, item description, shipping details, tax and currency. It also allows a retailer to generate automatically calculated totals. Because this tool lets customers review totals on their invoice in an easy-to-read format, a retailer will be able to close the transaction and quickly receive payment.
LF: For a fashion designer that really wants to start selling their merchandise on-line but is wary of the technical strains it might make on their non-computer savvy business skills, what type of support or information can you give them to help them from implementation through being a regular PayPal customer?
AN: Whether you’re a computer whiz or have minimal computing skills, implementing PayPal on your Web site is easy and involves just a few steps to start up. PayPal also has several ways it can help its customers at its Help Center. Retailers can ask questions via an automated service representative, e-mail or a customer can also speak to a live customer service representative over the phone.
LF: Explain why PayPal is a great choice for that small business who sells their goods on an international level?
AN: PayPal is a great choice for small businesses to sell overseas because it accepts a wide variety of global payment methods without opening multiple local merchant accounts. Small businesses have access to PayPal’s large base of buyers and sellers – the company has more than 184 million accounts in 190 markets worldwide and sells to customers in 19 different currencies.
In addition, businesses get an average sales increase of 14% when they add PayPal. By selling internationally, small merchants can increase sales, gain global market share, diversify and reduce dependence on local markets, and stabilize seasonal market fluctuations.
LF: What is new on the horizon for PayPal?
AN: Later this year, PayPal will be opening up its platform to developers, which will bring further innovation on the Internet with PayPal as the payments engine. Interested developers can sign up for more info at www.x.com
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