Pay Pal pros andp cons

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about signing up for pay pal to take deposits. Not very familiar with it, even as a consumer. I'm curious for those of you who use it, what are the pros and cons? Over all, do you recommend it? Also, does it have special features like prompting clients to pay or agreements to terms and conditions of deposit and services when they pay? Like, it's non refundable if they cancel, or can be applied to another event if rescheduled in advance, stuff like that.

I really appreciate any help. Thanks!
Lindsey

Ill get back to this when i can type from a computer. Im not at all happy with them

since you are in the US, I think you'd have a better time with a Square reader for your smartphone. I've tried using PayPal and I will still take it if that's what the client prefers, BUT the emails requesting payment can be confusing to people who are not already familiar with it, you can put your "terms" into the message with the request, but they won't be binding with PayPal, and there are extra fees when you want to transfer the money out of PayPal and into your bank account.

I have a PAYD reader (the Canadian "almost" equivalent to Square) and I'm having a much better time with it. Some people don't know what to do with paypal, but everyone is familiar with giving a business their credit card. I get my deposits immediately at the time of booking, I get extra business at festivals even when the ATM on site is out of cash, and it all goes straight into my bank acct without my having to do anything.

Is there a 'square' eqivilent for Australia? Is it a secure thing?

I'm interested to know that too. Paypal has just introduced into asutralia a reader that goes into your phone similar to the square reader thingie - I can find articles about it but not where to get it or anything on paypal..but i only started searching today...

I'm willing to bet that it would go into your paypal account and you'd still have to pay the fees to get it to your bank.

No, they don't charge a fee to transfer to your bank account.

If you are in the US you can get a debit card attached to the balance of your paypal account ( this is the department I used to work in at Paypal) Only fees (at least when I was there just left in April) were ATM fees Pay Pal charged $1.00 and the bank would charge whatever they would charge. And international purchase fee for charged done out side of the US and over the counter cash advance fees. Other wise it was accepted where ever MasterCard was accepted and there were not fees to use it for every day purchases. If you have questions let me know and I get do the best I can with what I know it was before I left not sure if there are any changes. I have been broke for several months so haven't been able to use my card and I don't take deposits any more.

ALSO trick I learned, make sure you send your invoice as services NOT for items (meaning do NOT use their invoice since it does not allow you to bill it as a service) Just sent a request for money as services and send them a separate email with an invoice using your own software or something... Billing as a service will not be subject to any holds where as billing from the invoice or billing as a product means it can be subject to the funds being put on hold for 21 days or being held until 3 days after confirmed delivery. Since we can't give a tracking number for us going to a party you have to wait the full 21 days. I learned this the hard way at Christmas time... Gig on the 18th client failed to pay at party and finally paid his bill on Dec 23rd. I didn't see a dime of that money until some time in January...