I’ve been using PayPal for years. I like the convenience that if offers, but, lately I’ve been starting to wonder if the trade-off is worth it. For example, by using PayPal you will automatically lose a small % of each transaction you receive to fees. When you receive a transaction for a few thousand dollars the fee can start to add up. As far as I’m concerned, PayPal is NOT a good option for receiving payment for services. I would much rather wait for a check in the mail than lose even a small percentage. You have to figure it takes a few days for the PayPal money to be deposited in your bank account anyway, so why not just wait for a check to begin with?

It’s funny because it’s really easy to lose track of just how much money you lose in fees because after all, who cares about a dollar or so in fees? Well if you have a few hundred transactions that take a dollar or so then that’s a few hundred dollars that you missed out on.

The very best feature of PayPal and also the only feature that I use religiously is the IPN (Instant Payment Notification). With this I can receive payments for scripts, subscriptions, etc and the buyer can be automatically and instantly given access to what they just purchased. I am fine losing a dollar or whatever the fee is for these transactions because I figure it would take me a bit of time to send people what they ordered manually. It’s worth paying a small fee to save that time and instead be able to do business while I sleep. It’s a good feeling to wake up and see that a few sales have come in over night and that customers have already received what they paid for and are happy. For IPN’s I highly recommend PayPal. For manual jobs or payment for items I’m starting to lean WAY towards simply sending a check in the mail.