PayPal: No. 1 Online Payment Service, but Slow, Study Finds

PayPal Most Popular for Online Payments

But the payment gateway ranks average for speed, study finds.

By Olga Munoz · May 22, 2012 · 4 Comments
TAGGED IN: payments, paypal

PayPal may be the most popular payment gateway on the Web, but it could use a little improving when it comes to speed, according to a recent study by New Relic, an application performance management company.

It found that, though eBay’s payment processor accounted for about 60 percent of the more than 65,000 online transactions that took place during its test period—making it the most popular gateway on the Web—PayPal was 10th in terms of speed, with a mean transaction time of 1.45 seconds.

That may seem fast to some, but it was just “mediocre,” notes John Koetsier, reporting for Venture Beat.

Google, which was the fifth-most used payment processor, had a transaction time of just 0.26 seconds, making it No.1 for speed, the survey finds.

John Essex, a spokesman for New Relic, tells reporters that speed is important when it comes to keeping customers.

“As with any step in the online shopping experience, it’s increasingly critical for the payment gateway functions to happen quickly and effortlessly for the consumer,” Essex says. “Any lag in transaction time can lead to loss of a return customer. No one likes to be kept waiting.”

Authorize.net, the second-most used payment gateway, was the fourth fastest with a mean transaction time of 0.93 seconds. Eway.com.au, an Australian payment gateway, was the slowest payment processor with a mean transaction time of 4.16 seconds. It was ninth on the popularity scale.

Olga Munoz is editor of TheOnlineSeller.com. In addition to writing news and feature articles about e-commerce, selling trends, online marketing and other topics of interest to online sellers, Olga manages the site's social media efforts. A journalism graduate of Chico State, Olga says her favorite part of being a journalist is learning interesting facts that help put stories into perspective, attending industry events and meeting interesting people "that leave you smiling, even in tough situations." Opinions expressed here may not be shared by The Online Seller and/or its principals.

Peter S

I cannot understand why speed, when it comes to tenths or hundredths of seconds should be so important, when the all important issue about PayPal is the cost for sellers: Both their fees and, for international sellers who have their home account in a different currency than the one in which they receive most payments, the exchange rate applied by PayPal when withdrawing funds. The reason why this is “the most popular” payment method is, as far as I can judge, not the free choice by buyers/sellers, but only the monopoly by their owners ebay, who make acceptance of PayPal compulsory for sellers; Even the suggestion of any other payment method, however secure and well established in normal society, will cause ebay to cancel your auction! Without that, I would be one of very many who would like to refuse to accept PayPal, as their fees and unfair exchange rates cost me appr. 8 to 10% of the gross amount my buyers pay! That’s much more expensive than any alternative payment service that I know of: A standard bank transfer (BIC/SWIFT/IBAN) is only fractions of a percent! I’m actually thinking of offering a discount to buyers who pay by other methods than PayPal, but guess that I would be expelled permanently from ebay if I did, as they’ll always want their pound of flesh…
- Anthony McMillan
  
  Ebay went from being a good online auction house to a subpar online marketplace for new merchandise. Their fees are along the lines of those cash advance places percentage wise. They refuse to allow you to even mention you would accept other forms of payment, other then paypal…and they generally treat their smaller sellers like dirt. And forget about customer service. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to call ebay and spend two hours talking to some “representative” who couldnt even answer simply questions about a problem. I eventually grew tired of giving all my money to ebay and jumped ship. I think if another online marketplace opened and got some good traction…lets say if google opened up a auction site….ebay would drain of sellers in a week.
Anthony McMillan

Paypal’s customer service took a serious dive after Ebay acquired it. I’ve had several serious issues with Paypal, including them holding funds in my account for no reason. You usually have to email them three times to get a answer about anything and it takes up to two weeks to resolve any issues you might have. If there was another site that buyers would use, I would jump ship in a heartbeat. Another issue is if you ever have a dispute with a customer, you can forget about a fair ruling as Paypal immediately sides with the buyer in any customer dispute. They will even refund a buyer from your account without even contacting you and if Ebay is involved in the transaction, you might as well forget about your money…or your sold product usually.
- Csemmes007
  
  I agree with all that is said herein. Sellers alike on Ebay need to find another selling site that will be userfriendly towards what buyers want, Not what ebay says or thinks buyers want. Ebay has never come out with facts,graphs or charts to confirm what buyers want esp on the return policy. Ebay needs to do more improvement to their auction site with more advanced features for the seller. Guildlines are fine but it is up to the seller to offer their own return policy. Sellers (Esp store sellers) are paying for a rental fee to ebay to host their wares. Ebay takes their fees all the way around. Monthly store fees, listing fees, and end of auction selling fees not to mention what Paypal takes out. GREED is the Five letter word that only ebay understands.
  Their customer service is terrible. I get people who are winging it. They then have to put you on hold for several minutes to find a response. Many times they don’t have an answer. Unless you get a more seasoned person that understands your issues you will get answers.
  Have you ever been on hold and had to listen to that awful music, or whatever they call it. It really isn’t music,sounds more like a messed up nursey rhyme.
  Someone please put out a list of other top 6 available auction sites to choose from that one can feel good about supporting and they supporting their sellers in an honest open way that isn’t ruled by a company like ebay. Name the sites in a no holds bar put up fact sheet that tells all.
  Don’t hold back or be wimpy about it either.