Opening A Paypal Account

[chesternim]

What do you call a "merchant account" ?

I know Thai having online stores and getting paid by customers who order directly on their websites.

They opened the Paypal accounts in Thailand and have never been abroad.

They also don't receive funds by Email, only through checkout process of their shop.

A Merchant Account is one by which you Sell things ONLINE - from your website - when people click on the BUY NOW Button.

[Phil Conners]

What do you call a "merchant account" ?

I know Thai having online stores and getting paid by customers who order directly on their websites.

They opened the Paypal accounts in Thailand and have never been abroad.

They also don't receive funds by Email, only through checkout process of their shop.

A Merchant Account is one by which you Sell things ONLINE - from your website - when people click on the BUY NOW Button.

A merchant account is something you get from a bank. You can charge credit cards on the web through gateway companies without having a merchant account.

[Soboringtochooseaname]

Actually a traditional "merchant account" is a bank account that allow you to charge credit cards directly. The advantage of them is the charges are a fraction lower. The disadvantage is they are difficult to get (banks outside USA are very hesitant letting anyone without serious money open merchant accounts) and the banks software API are usually atrocious.

These days the majority of internet businesses use payment gateways like thaiepay.com. This is for Thai businesses, and charge in Baht. (They might allow you to charge in other currencies, I havent' checked that). If you're not Thai based there are probably alternatives that would work better for wherever you are based.

I don't know about getting virus warnings. I just went to thaiepay.com and didn't get any warnings. (click on the UK flag to get the English website).

The difference between a payment gateway and Paypal is mostly that they're not Paypal. There are a lot of people who don't like paypal (see paypalsucks.com) and would refuse to do business with you if the only payment options you offer is Paypal.

No customer would refuse to buy on your shop if you use only Paypal, as its a lot safer for customers than any other bank system: Paypal refunds customers so easily that many even use it to cheat sellers...

The only ones who do not want to use Paypal are sellers who had problems as frozen acounts, too many documents asked, etc...

A Paypal pro account (what you call merchant account) is quite useless and difficult to set up, and you also have to pay a monthly fee.

Who is using ThaiEpay now ? No problem reported ? Do customers from abroad see that your payment gateway is based in Thailand ? (not engaging for customers in US or EU).

Cheers.

[Phil Conners]

Well that is your opinion which you are entitled to, however, I will repeat, just look at paypalsucks.com to see the many people who refuse to use Paypal. Your choice.

Paypal pro is not a merchant account. Only a bank can set up a merchant account for you. I'm not sure what Paypal Pro is, in fact. I have a Paypal business account and never saw Paypal Pro, but a quick Google on it seems to indicate it's a sort of shopping cart.

During the years I was running a web design business in Thailand we set up many ThaiEpay accounts. Yes it would be quite easy for customers to see that it is based in Thailand, and so what? Almost all customers were selling Thai products so why would that be so strange?

Of course if you're trying to sell knock-off football shirts, pretending to be a UK company it is not for you.

[Soboringtochooseaname]

Even not selling fakes do you really think that buying stuff from Thailand and pay to Thailand seems trustable for EU or US customers ?! It seems that you have been here too long.

So if ThaiEpay obviously show that they are Thai based, they are stupid.

And if some customers don't want to use Paypal when it's the best way to be refunded whatever are your reason, even when you just don't want the products you bought anymore, they are more stupid...

Merchant account is Paypal Pro, and Paypal provide a traditional gateway as a bank if you pay a monthly fee, but their system suxx and is not easy to set up:

https://merchant.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=merchant/merchant_accounts

"Accept credit cards online with Website Payments Pro—PayPal's low-cost merchant account and payment gateway in one"

[Nawtier]

don't want to use Paypal when it's the best way to be refunded whatever are your reason, even when you just don't want the products you bought anymore, they are more stupid...

Think you just answered why businesses don't like them then.

[Phil Conners]

Even not selling fakes do you really think that buying stuff from Thailand and pay to Thailand seems trustable for EU or US customers ?! It seems that you have been here too long.

I repeat what I wrote before: Most of our customers were selling Thai products to the international market, and it would actually be more strange for the buyers if the payment gateway was not in Thailand. But we also saw a few individuals trying to make a business out of selling counterfeit football shirts to UK customers, pretending to be UK companies. Obviously they would not be using ThaiEpay (and they got kicked off Paypal and a couple of other gateways in quick succession).

[englishinsiam]

An alternative to PP in Thailand is to have an account established in a Western country - if you wish to have a Merchant account for your website - PP won't give you one if you are in Thailand! <br>Of course you could have people order via email and send you funds via PP. I had no problems doing that between USA & Australia and Thailand<br>

Thats not true I have a Paypal acct linked and verified as a business account to my Kasikorn Virtual Debit Card and my Kasikorn Account. My clients pay me in Baht I withdraw in Baht no problem.

When the account was new I had 5 or 6 blockages but once I'd answered all their questions and provided the proof they were after all was okay. It was all done by email and with same day (within 24 hour) replies.

On another note

I am looking to set up a second Paypal acct as I run 2 different businesses and I want them to have their own identity.

Does anyone know of another Bank that grants Debit cards you can use on the internet the same as Kasikorn's Virtual card.

Ideally I'd like a Multifunction card like all UK banks provide but it seems your talking Alien when you show one to a Thai bank.

Edited May 11, 2011 by englishinsiam

[naugastyle]

My US foundation (no relation at all to Thailand) uses Paypal for sales of a few items although we're not a busy "shop" by any means. As I said on a previous page, we have the NGO account which I think is pretty similar to the business account. Our bank account is totally regular, but through Paypal we have a shopping cart and people can pay with credit card rather than Paypal accounts.

I don't remember how the nonprofit shop in Thailand used to sell things online, but they stopped a while ago. Maybe they used Thaiepay? I'm feeling a little edgy about potential complications as we might need TWO Paypal accounts whenever I can get the shop restarted. The mail-order account is already Bangkok Bank but we would keep donations separate and that's when we need to open a new account.

But thanks for discussing Thaiepay...I went to look them up and they apparently have a no-fee charity option. I do agree that Paypal has a more "international standard" feel to it, but maybe Thaiepay would be the way to go for us?

Edited May 13, 2011 by naugastyle

[4evermaat]

I opened paypal account no problem. They ask for two small test deposit amounts for bank account verification. For debit/credit card verification, they ask for 4 digits on the paypal transaction.

I've made several payments without problem, never received any money before to thailand account; usa account paid/received maybe over $40,000 over 6 years or so.

As far as merchant accounts are concerned, a Premier account should be sufficient. Local payments can be done with 7-11 cash cards or direct cash deposit into bank account. Not sure what it takes to setup 7-11 or Tesco payment system. Many companies use that for payment.

Paypal is convenient for int'l purchases. My experience with paypal back in USA and here has been positive. But the advice of not leaving too much money in the account (only enough to cover near future purchases). Paypal is NOT a bank account and you have no rights whatsoever if the money goes missing.

I know several freelancers that depend on paypal for their livelihood (to receive payment)

Paypal seems to work well now, the only thing to know is that when they ask you for documents, give them, even when you don't have them, give them fakes, as they don't mind and don't check, they just want to pretend to respect laws that countries ask them to respect...

I like your style.