Why I would love to use DC... and why I'm not.

[Former_Member]

The idea of having a direct checkout is awesome. My 6 year anniversary is coming up and dc, like other things, has been a long time coming. Now that it is here, I'm sad to not use it. Financially it doesn't make sense. If you're a seller that has such a high volume that you get a good paypal discount, most likely you won't use dc if given the option.

Etsy - it would benefit you greatly to offer a tiered %. Wouldn't you rather have 2.5% from high volume sellers than send it to paypal?

I would rather give Etsy 2.5% than paypal any day. But would I rather give Etsy 3%? No. B/c that means I'm losing even more money on fees. That would be an extra mortgage payment every year.

If I left it turned on, my paypal volume would decrease and it would mean that my % there would increase too. So, that doesn't make sense.

99% of my paypal income is through Etsy - Etsy knows how much I sell - they can easily set up a tiered system based on sales - it's not secret information!

If this changed, I would turn it back on immediately, regardless if issue #2... which is the holding on to the money until the item is shipped. All of the orders from my wedding ring shop are custom orders. My timeline right now during the busy wedding season is about 5 - 6 weeks. It will benefit Etsy greatly to be earning interest off of all of the money they get to "hold" for me. I often do orders on a deposit basis. Which would not make any sense w/ direct checkout, at all. The main reason for getting the deposit is to cover materials to get started. I would never make a $500 or $1000 ring before getting some sort of payment. Long term, it would make me a bit nervous to see the account balance get higher and higher with no way for me to tap in to it. It's possible it would work out fine, but at this point, I'm not willing to risk it.

So - one option I see - allowing transfer of a deposit transaction. I don't know how that would work, but it seems like there could be some way to allow that. Do I ever see that happening? No.

And though I wouldn't be happy w/ Etsy holding on to a big pile of my money, I would still use direct checkout if they used a tiered %. It is logical for Etsy to want to have higher volume sellers using direct checkout. More income! Would it really be that difficult?

I want to use direct checkout. Please Etsy, let's make this happen!

[heartsabustin]

I won't use it in my purse shop for the same reason - I HAVE to have the money before I get started on custom bridal orders. I have to order supplies. So, that shop won't be getting direct checkout. I've got it available, but I won't be turning it on.

[Former_Member]

The tiered percentage is a great idea. I hope they put it in place.

But your assumptions about how much money you would lose don't allow for the possibility that you might increase your sales! Paying an extra percent on a lot more income might not be horrible. Of course you wouldn't know until you tried, but a lot of people take alternate payment forms that may cost more than Paypal.

I'm with you on the custom/hold issue though - I sort of can't believe Etsy rolled out this feature with it set up this way. So many people here do custom work - this is clearly a bad fit for a handmade community.

[Former_Member]

@Helen - do you really think sales would increase using dc? Honestly it wasn't something I would have thought of...

If I have a couple that wants to buy wedding rings from me, we can work out payment in multiple ways. I can't imagine I have lost a sale of a wedding ring based on not using direct check out... I guess I wouldn't really know.... seems like the sort of purchase that if you find what you want, you figure out how to pay for it.

Credit cards can be run through paypal w/o having an account. I also take checks or money orders (which.. honestly, are my favorites - NO fees!) I have another couple credit card processing methods that can be used, just in case. and now, that is what dc is.. one of those, "just in case" options. which is great, but I WOULD like to be able to leave it on all the time.

[OriginalsbyLauren]

Beth, I definitely think DC increases sales.

You can only use a credit card through paypal 3 times before they make you join. There are alot of people that don't want to open a paypal account.

I also think it is one less step when checking out, and everyone likes that.

I understand that for shops that get a discount through paypal that it is more expensive. I am not one of them.

I also think I read somewhere that etsy is working on a better system for custom work.

[Former_Member]

Well for me it was an easy decision since I already had a few regular customers who didn't want to use Paypal - and they are regular enough that I wanted to keep them happy, if you know what I mean!

But yes, I think we get used to Paypal as the standard because we're sellers and so accustomed to it, but I think a lot of people just want to use their credit or debit cards and not think about anything else. Of course, so far, it's extrapolation but I do think it's helpful to think of it in terms of additional potential customers. So far half of my customers have used it (for March and April.)

Also, you can really only use your c.c. with Paypal a handful of times before they make you sign up - and Paypal won't tell you how many times you can do it (it varies by customer!) so I've never quite been satisfied with that angle and didn't like telling my customers they could pay that way.

[Former_Member]

hm, interesting. I guess it's a good thing I don't have a bunch of repeat wedding ring customers!? haha! Maybe I'll get it turned on for my regular jewelry shop (which is slow and sadly neglected) and see what happens...

[collageOrama]

I've been struggling with this also. I currently give Paypal 2.2% and Etsy 3.0%, and I'm definitely going to get knocked down one tier - at least - with DC.

We don't really have any real data on how many people abandon their shopping carts because they can't/won't figure out Paypal, and I wish we did. It *appears* that sales might be up a little when I've forecasted them to slip with the time of the year, but I really have no idea as to why.

If I just get 2-3 extra sales a month because of DC,then it's definitely worth it. But I don't know for sure.

[CobwebCorner]

I also agree that DC increases sales. I have purchased items from shops using DC and it is SO much easier (less confusing) than going through Paypal to pay with a credit card.

MANY of my orders are people who signed up for Etsy and are making their first purchase. If they get into the checkout process and then get confused - they are very likely to just back out. ALso - many people just have trust issues with PayPal. They see the PayPal logo during checkout and ASSUME they must have a PayPal account.

I'm convinced I'm getting new business due to DC.

My motto over the last 10 years has always been "NEVER make it hard for the customer to pay!"

I will always choose to pay via DC when it is available on ETSY. I usually purchase personal items on Etsy and want to use my personal credit card. I know I can do that with the Paypal checkout - but it is faster and easier with DC.

That said - shops with large custom orders have a valid point. I wouldn't want to wait for the money either.

[LLFarm]

I was on the fence about the holding of money until the order is shipped. I decide to try DC for 6 months

So far I have notice around 1/2 are using DC so this $$ in our pp account to cover the shipping cost there. I still use pp for all my shipping. It is a pain in the you know what to transfer/type the shipping info over from the DC orders. But worth it if it makes our customers happy.

I have received several notes from customer who are happy we offer DC.

Bottom line a pain I need to adjust to

1. the holding of $$ until an order ships
2. using PP shipping for DC orders
3. the loss of tiered discount through PP because of DC.

If it brings more business than I can live with that. I like happy customers.

[Former_Member]

Carla EkmanfromCobwebCorner says

Many people just have trust issues with PayPal. They see the PayPal logo during checkout and ASSUME they must have a PayPal account.

I totally agree, Carla. I've had DC for two weeks and every sale has been paid for through it. And, I just got a sale from New Zealand this morning, My first overseas sale!

[Former_Member]

well, when it is turned on, people assume that is only the way they pay w/ a credit card, so unless they specifically want to use paypal, they're going to use direct checkout. so the fact that once you turn it on, and you have customers using it, it's a no brainer. 99% of my customers use a credit card, so when they see the little credit card symbols, that's what they choose. unless they want to use money out of their paypal acct most people will just choose the credit card option.

i'd rather get a check personally... save on all those fees! and yet many sellers don't offer that as an option and lose sales b/c of it.

maybe i'll just raise all my prices and then turn it back on :-/

[Former_Member]

I would love to take checks/money orders, but in my experience of trying it, I only had about 50% of the people actually follow through and send them. For me, I like the instant payment, and don't mind the fees or the holding period.