I’m quickly discovering the limitations of Paypal.  OK so it may be cheap and easy to set up, but is it worth it if your customers are stymied when they go to use it?

flying-pigs

If you don’t have an account with Paypal and you checkout using your credit card, you will probably have no problems. If you have an account with Paypal and you login you may not have any problems, but if you get too confident and start using it all over the shop (‘scuse the pun) you will run into problems.

If you have an account and don’t login – the message is:

The card you entered cannot be used for this payment.
Please enter a different credit or debit card number


Which could mean just about anything! It could mean you are:

  1. using a card that is registered to an account
  2. using an email address that is registered to an account
  3. using a card that is over the limit with the bank
  4. using a card that has been flagged as stolen


For the first two, you may be lucky and see the specific message, not exact but something like:

You are using a card / email that is alread registered to a Paypal account, please log in or use a different card


This is fine, at least you know what the problem is and can either login to your  account or  use a card that you know is not registered to an account.


Then if you do login, you might get this message:

you have exceeded your per-transaction limit. To lift this limit, click View Limits on your Account Overview page

Who, but Paypal personnel, know what this means?

Now, because you are really, really determined to do this and prove that you are not a credit card thief, get on the blower to Paypal support.
*Search for that in another window for fear of losing your session*
No, it’s not too difficult to find so that’s a plus. So, I have to say in my experience, is their support. The very nice man I spoke to was able to decipher all the messages and explain what the problem was, so here it is..

When you set up an account with PayPal there is an automatic limit on the amount you can send 1) per transaction and 2) per year.  These automatic limits are really low so that if you use PayPal regularly you will reach them very quickly.

They do however offer a way to lift those limits but there are a number of steps you must take to do so. If you log into your account, you should see a (teeny tiny) link on your account overview page: ‘View Limits’ which will bring you to the list of limits on your account. You can check the boxes to lift limits and then go through a number of steps before they will implement the change.

These are:

  • Link your card - I don’t know whether they want the same card or they’re looking for a different one



  • Start process to confirm your card - ??? Whatever this may be
  • Fax proof of ID and location Fax documents to confirm your ID and address – fair enough, bit of a pain though
  • Supply Additional Information. Required for Premier and Business account holders OK

Fine! Problem solved. Now you know what to do to fix it. The trouble is, if you’re an online merchant, do you think that your customers will take the time to follow through with this? I very much doubt it.

The lesson here is one in usability and customer experience. How difficult would it be for Paypal to add some helpful hints in a BIG FAT OBVIOUS LINK right there on the payments page to explain these issues? This would help them and their customers enormously.


So how about it Paypal?