Dwolla vs... PayPal? Or Stripe?

[Varen_Tai]

Just out of curiosity, I'm looking at maybe using Dwolla for my online business instead of Stripe or PayPal. I'm reading reviews and such but I'm curious if anyone here has any thoughts about pros and cons about Dwolla vs other major Pay Online Services. It only charges $.25 (yes, a quarter) for transactions over $10, so that seems much better than a 2.9% charge, but I feel like I'm missing something that might be a major downfall.

Thoughts, oh ye app savvy folks?

[snowblizz]

The only thing I've heard of there is Paypal...

Something to keep in mind.


Or more wordy answer.

Make sure people can and will be able to use this payment method without hassle. Can they use creditcards with it? Does it require a 15 step* registration prcess that still means they have to give someone else their credit card info? Will it add another option to dozens of barely supported "fintech" entrepreneurs who think their exactly the same solution is the hawt new thang?

*frankly anything more than 3 steps is too much.

[DeTess]

You should also consider where your target audience is. If your audience is in the states, anything that takes Credit-cards is probably fine. However, if you're also catering to Europe, you generally need something that takes debit cards as well, which is one of the things paypal is good for. So in addition to pricing, you should check what kind of account people need to access Dwolla.

[Varen_Tai]

Both excellent thoughts, thanks! From what I can see, Dwolla only does bank transfers, not card transfers, so I think the wisest approach is to have a Dwolla account for those that already have one, but use PayPal/Stripe for everyone else.

[Peelee]

Haven't heard of Dwolla or Stripe, but I have heard that if you use Paypal and there's a dispute, Paypal almost always sides with the customer. I have very little experience and this is third-hand information, so take that for what it's worth,

[Varen_Tai]

One advantage of Stripe for a small business owner is that someone else doesn't have to be signed up on Stripe to use it. I can send them an online bill, they click the link and pay. I know PayPal also does this, but PayPal has other fees hidden in the process that Stripe doesn't have.

[Knaight]

Don't use PayPal. They're rolling out a recent policy change where if you refund someone they don't refund their cut - which means you get to pay it out of pocket.

[Varen_Tai]

Don't use PayPal. They're rolling out a recent policy change where if you refund someone they don't refund their cut - which means you get to pay it out of pocket.

Oof, that's terrible.