Yaaay Binks! BOOO PayPal!

“So... here I am, needing 4 tarps & some other BP stuff...and Binks HAS IT ALL! Great.. now I just have to figure out how to use PayPal.

Whew...good luck! I spend a TON of money weekly via internet purchases... all of my airline fees, hotels, etc., as I travel a lot for business. I also spend a lot of $$ ordering stuff for customers, sales reps, etc., so I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a "rookie". BUT... I found PayPal incredibly cumbersome & bureaucratic, necessitating that I go to my bank site, do this, do that, to he point where I was willing to cancel the whole @*$# order & go to a local retailer, spending an extra anmount of "who cares" just to get it done & move on.

What's your experience with Pay Pal? Is it just me (might be), or, are they suffering from an overdose of "security-itis?"”

“i love it. the site has good secerity. I just had someone try to change my password. they informed me and I took care of the little problem!


maple (password hell)”

“PayPal sucks. Especially for people who sell a lot of stuff on eBay (like me). It offers very little protection to the sellers with credit card orders and no protection for international orders. I use C2It for my credit card orders...but they just stopped accepting Visa...so I need to find someone to handle Visa.

Another bad thing is PayPal charges sellers out the ass for their service. C2It is free for the seller and buyer!”

“Maple between here and paypal, maybe you should just change your screenname to Passwordhell!”

“I found both binks site and paypall to be cake.”

“Maple - your response has me a little concerned.

Did you get an email from paypal asking for your password and other personal info and you responded to it?

Please say no.

Have you heard about the phishing scams? I've gotten several fake messages and even warned this board.”

“To answer your question wanderer - except for a little hassle to set it up, paypal works just fine.”

“I'm adding a different option this week where people can choose Paypal or they can just type their credit card directly in without having to fool with Paypal. Some like it and some hate it. So, I'll have the option for both.”

“That sounds cool and should save you some money. Who's doing your CC processing? I don't know how familiar you are with CC processing, but the fees your carrier charges you (just like paypal but smaller) are negotiable. The more business you do, the more power you have to lower the costs.”

“My fees through Paypal are great! Cheaper than anywhere else I found.

I'll keep them but the other one I am adding, People can do it themselves online or they can do a phone order and I can process it that way.

Looking like I'll open a retail store soon. Hopefully, I'll be signing the lease in the next 2 weeks or so. Then I'll have to have an actual machine as well.”

“You have a PayPal business account then eh? It's been awhile since I looked at that. They charge $9.95 a month plus .25 + .07% of each transaction? Or is it better now?

A retail store so soon? Man, you're moving along. Will the store be called "Backpacking Deals" too? I can just see it now...you have the huge REI in Washington and accross the street there is Brandon Binkley's huge backpacking deals shop taking all their business. All TTers on the board before you open the massive store get a discount, right?”

“Why don't I have to use PayPay when purchasing airline tickets, or when reserving hotels, rental automobiles, or buying gear from REI, etc., but do have to use it at some other sites? Why would a merchant decide to use PayPal, who, to me, seems like an "intemediary" who is also making $$ off your customers' purchase?

I know there's probably a lot more than meets the eye underneath... I just don't know what it is.”

“Paypal is simple. They are just a credit card processing company.

Fees for the retailers are 2.2% of the sale and then .30 per transaction. No monthly fee.”

“Just a heads up.

I worked on the c2it development team (user interface). c2it is going away soon. As far as Citibank is concerned the product was a failure and the only portion of it that will survive is the international part and that will be rolled into the cardmember central website.”

“Thanks for the heads up humanpackmule. I loved c2it. No fees for anyone. I was very upset when they stopped taking Visa. I don't think there are any other payment services online that have no fees for the buyer or the seller.

Wanderer, PayPal is easy to setup and easy to integrate into your website. Most CC services require you to have a business account in order to use their services. With PayPal you can use a personal bank account and can have CC services on your website same day...not so with other services.

Binks...do TTers get a discount or not in the big store? :-D”

“I think the store will be called "Bink's Outfitters" . Not sure yet. Backpackingdeals.com and that will be seperate businesses but really the same. The internet will mainly be in the back of the store where the inventory is kept and then the front will have the retail side of things.

Things are definately going very well.

Also, with opening up the retail store I can carry any brand I want especially since there aren't any gear stores within in 45 minutes or more where we are looking at. So, hopefully with the other lines like Kelty, Patagonia and Mountain Hardwear and others things should pick up even more.”

“Yeah, In the Big Store yes they will get da Hook up.

It's not that big, we're looking at 3500 square feet total.”

“what area of town are you looking at, got to keep it close to Hermitage”

“Bink's Outfitters sounds cool. I wish I had a backpacking shop other than Galyan's or Benchmark nearby. I thought about taking my computer business offline and into a storefront nearby where there aren't any computer stores. For a 2,000 square foot store front it would have cost me $30,000 a year to lease it. I decided I'd make more money from my garage, lol. Good luck with the store. I'll swing by it if I'm ever in TN.”

“about 40 minutes away Ewker. I can't say publicly til it's done. The competition could be lurking.”

“40 minutes away, heck I can be at the other stores by then....grrr”

“Hey Bink's !!

Hang in there dude...Good Luck !”

“Thanks everyone. Sorry Ewker. I can't really pass this place up.

I'll have to hire someone as soon as I open. It's all I can do to keep up with all the orders now. This all I've done know for the past 4 months. So far, I'm really pleased with business.”

“Just remember when you hire your new person. If you look at their salary as an expense they'll be an expense. If you look at their salary as an asset, that's what they'll be. At least that's what my economics book said...”

“Good luck with the new store, Binks! That's really cool.”

“Yo Binks

I just tried ordering an 8x10 w/ties but only got a PayPal method of payment, and unfortunately I don't have and never used Paypal before.

When is the credit card avaliability going to take effect?”

“I love "BinksOutfitters"! It has a great ring. I can well imagine someone saying, "Yeah, I have to run down to Binks', I need a new nalgene and a siltarp".


Congratulations BBinkley! =D”

“Sounds cool Binks. But I was just looking at the trips page. Would you really open a store only to up and go spend March to August on the AT? I'm no expert at business, but that sounds like a sure route to disaster.”

“Buddur-Paypal is just a credit card processing company, that's it. you got mail.

Sass-I like the ring of Binks outfitters as well.

lizs-ummm, well,,,i think i may have to rethink that trip.lol”

“Congrats Binks!

I never used PayPal until ordering from binks, but it was no big deal and I have no problems with it.

wanderer, I wonder if you got lost in that new thing PayPal is offering - where you don't have to use your credit card, but can have them whack your bank account instead.”

“Twigeater, I think you nailed my problem! I kept getting a page telling me that whenever I got my next bank statement that my password would be attached, but I couldn't order anything until I entered my password. Sheesh!”

“I didn't find PayPal to be any trouble at all. And the stuff I ordered got to me pronto (excellent service, prices, etc., binks!). Even though I made two separate orders (forgot one item until about a day later), they were shipped together, which I appreciated. Now, if I can just find some time over the next 10 days to seal up the seams on that pack rain cover....”