PayPal screen changes
I have read your articles about the lack of transparency concerning PayPal opening screens and that clients are not easily drawn to the fact that they can pay on business standard or webshop pro accounts with a credit card. However, my problem is the fact that each time a person makes a booking and goes to pay they get one of 3 or 4 different screens (mostly Screen 1 shown below). None are the same as mentioned in your articles. I don't know who is causing this. I thought I would start with you first. Screen clips are attached.
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Support Staff 2 Posted by Jo Potts on 07 Apr, 2010 09:51 AM
This is very strange. The PayPal account used on the example pages use a PayPay Website Payments Pro account to take the payments. That the one used in the screenshots in the other articles.
Try this link to log you into a test booking I have made, then click through to the PayPal payment page and see what is shown for you.
http://bookwhen.com/booking/login/i02bdpm28g2oizwn9x/9tft7
I'm about to try it with a PayPal personal account to see what screent that produces.
3 Posted by kbrady on 07 Apr, 2010 09:57 AM
Thanks for the test link. Your great!
However, I still get screen 1 example. This is interesting.
Look forward to your reply.
4 Posted by kbrady on 07 Apr, 2010 10:01 AM
Also tried to clear cache and cookies to see if this effects the outcome.
Support Staff 5 Posted by Jo Potts on 07 Apr, 2010 10:22 AM
I have tried multiple PayPal accounts and either end up with your screen 2 which is the screen for a PayPal Personal account, or the screen in this article which is the screen for PayPal Business accounts (Website Payments Standard or Website Payments Pro).
Your screen 1 is the screen that follows on from your screen 2 having clicked the 'continue checkout' link and never appears as the initial page for me.
I have never seen your screen 3 before(!). However, PayPal do have different versions of their accounts which can lead to different results. Perhaps that's the reason for that.
As another example for you, here's a link to another test booking page that uses my PayPal Personal account (and leads to your screen 2 when I go to pay).
http://bookwhen.com/booking/login/1acg8gpk0z1jfswnhh/dzym6
I have a feeling that the answer is that your PayPal account (assuming it's a business account) is not fully setup yet. Either you've not gone through all the hoops that they require like confirming your bank account etc, or perhaps they have it in a pending state waiting for some form of vetting.
When you set up a business account you shouldn't have had to go through a site vetting though as far as I remember. I could be wrong on that front though. Having just checked, the majority of my users that take payments have business accounts and there's never been a problem before. Perhaps it's time you contact PayPal.
6 Posted by kbrady on 07 Apr, 2010 01:02 PM
Thanks,
i have a call with PayPal support which hopefully will explain how this
problem occurs. As soon as I have info form them I will add to the
discussion.
7 Posted by kbrady on 07 Apr, 2010 10:17 PM
Ok the feedback from PayPal is interesting. They say that Business Standard /Webshop Pro where a PayPal email address is used to initiate a transaction have a number of opening screens as shown above. Apparently it is all related to whether the client has been a previous paypal member or not. They can be detect in a variety of ways from Cookies stored on your browser to other things that the support person was not prepared to disclose. It is also important to know that until your business account is verified this can have also an impact on the screens shown.
One point which came through loud and clear from PayPal was that they want users to pay via there PayPal account wherever possible and via credit card so that a bigger proportion of their 3%+ charge per transaction is retained by them.
The only way round this whole uncertain user experience is for bookwhen to adopt with each client a full PayPal Website Pro integration. This is something I am sure Bookwhen will offer as a service in the future if we all continue to ask for it and support Bookwhen where we can.
Support Staff 8 Posted by Jo Potts on 08 Apr, 2010 11:23 AM
Thanks so much for taking the time to contact PayPal and get to the bottom of this Kevin. It's very helpful and also very interesting like you say. I will certainly try to integrate the full payments pro integration in the future. It's now on the list. All gentle reminders will be noted.
9 Posted by kbrady on 08 Apr, 2010 12:19 PM
Jo I really admire what you are trying to do with this site. I believe its
going to be a great business for you. If I can help in anyway please let me
know for example beta testing your work etc. I would be very interested as I
think the big boys operating in your market need a wake-up call and I want
to be part of the community that makes this happen. Also if you ever need an
Angel Investor to add some capital to your business when you think you need
it just give me a call and lets talk.
Ow by the way can I buy an extra years subscription if I wanted do that now?
Support Staff 10 Posted by Jo Potts on 08 Apr, 2010 01:56 PM
Subscriptions are setup using PayPal's recurring payments system. It's convenient but not the most flexible thing I've come across. It won't allow me to manually change your subscription to a biyearly one and also it wouldn't fit in with how bookwhen's subscription management is setup.
Your second (and third etc.) years will be be charged for automatically as part of the subscription and your account will be kept up to date accordingly.
I have an alternative payment solution however which is to manually invoice you and then set the expiry date of your account from my end. I normally use this method for people who have no choice but to pay by cheque but it could also be used to pay for two years in advance.
I just re-read the question. Do you mean 'extra' as in a second account? If that's the case, simply sign up for a new account and pay as normal. You'll need to use another email though as it's a one account per person/email system as it currently stands.
ps Thanks for the offer. I've sent you a separate email about that.
Jo Potts closed this discussion on 08 Apr, 2010 01:56 PM.