IMPORTANT: if you have direct sales, please read!

[Jack Norton]

Note: maybe the reason is fraud prevention, see discussion below my initial post

I just got in past months some serious complaints about buyers or better, potential buyers of my games when it comes to pay with Paypal.

Why? very simple: both BMT and Plimus (the 2 vendor I use but I bet also many others) still require full details of the customers (name/address etc).
Normally, with Paypal this isn't necessary: you just click on buy and enter your email/password and stop.
Many users, fooled also by the eternal fear of "identity theft" etc, refuse to enter all those info.
For buyers used to pay with CC, doesn't matter - but for those using mostly Paypal (a very big amount) it's rather annoying.

So what to do? please ask BMT/Plimus to remove all the user info needed for a Paypal purchase. I'm going to write to them too asking about this.

If they don't change that, unfortunately I'll have to link directly to Paypal, since now I'm sure I lose a consistent amount of sales because people simply don't want to enter all the info in the order form (honestly, I can also understand them, they want to buy the game fast!).

[GBC]

Hi,

this is to prevent fraud: by matching the address with the profile, they make harder to use stolen PayPal accounts the credit card number. If you take it out, I'm afraid your fraud ratio will increase significantly. Explaining to users in the payment page why they are required to insert their address, and ensuring that the data will not be used, usually goes a long way in addressing this.

Cheers,
Giordano

[Jack Norton]

Forgive me my ignorance, but with paypal, vendors can know the real address of the person? isn't always hidden?

If has a real fraud importance, then ok I can understand, but in this case I'm not really sure it works this way :confused:

[Bad Sector]

Forgive me my ignorance, but with paypal, vendors can know the real address of the person? isn't always hidden?

I've purchased some stuff which was sent to my address via PayPal, so yes the address is shown :-).

[Nexic]

I'm considering leaving Plimus and just using PayPal anyway. Since it's actually pretty easy to integrate their IPN system. Less fees, quicker to buy, no extended download nonsense.

[Jack Norton]

If I had a online-only game I'd surely use Paypal only. Even if someone makes a fraud order, I simply close his account, and in case of a MMORPG/MOG he loses also his "savegame" with his character and he can't play anymore. So I would be in peace with the world :D

[Sybixsus]

Whenever I send money in PayPal, there's a checkbox which lets me choose whether my address is passed on or not. I think it used to be checked by default, but it's now unchecked by default. I'm not sure if the default is a personal setting or a system-wide default, but I don't remember setting any personal defaults, so probably the latter.

I can't really see any anti-fraud value in collecting that data. I mean, if you can get into someone's PayPal account, finding their address is not going to be a challenge for anyone who can read. Perhaps the system just hasn't been setup to allow some information to be optional, dependant upon the payment method.

[Spore Man]

I don't see the point of collecting the personal data. You need a PASSWORD to use a PayPal account, so if a fraudster is going to use a stolen account, then that means they have the password, which also means they have access to the account's personal information! All the fraudster needs to do is type in the info they copied from the acct. So what's the point?

I use the PayPal shopping cart, and never had a problem or complaint:
http://www.lilgames.com/store.shtml


.

[czigh]

I'll certainly forward the idea of removing the address collection section for PayPal purchases to R&D. That said, there are actually some benefits to this. Remember, just because someone starts the process of buying doesn't mean they'll necessarily close - and having their contact information is a valuable thing at that stage, because you can contact them directly to see how to close the deal. In fact, many vendors use our Newsletter functionality to automatically contact these individuals every day.

PayPal certainly offers some great service. Plimus offers additional features and capabilities, of course, including the ability to take pretty much any credit card you like, checks, wire transfers, local bank transfers and so forth. And of course we'll help you deliver your order pages in over 20 languages and currencies without your having to manage the process.

Incidentally, we're starting to roll out out Plimloc option, which gives you license management, piracy protection and copy protection with a hosted activation process - exactly the sort of thing PayPal doesn't offer, as their sole purpose is to help you take payment.

[Backov]

I'll certainly forward the idea of removing the address collection section for PayPal purchases to R&D. That said, there are actually some benefits to this. Remember, just because someone starts the process of buying doesn't mean they'll necessarily close - and having their contact information is a valuable thing at that stage, because you can contact them directly to see how to close the deal. In fact, many vendors use our Newsletter functionality to automatically contact these individuals every day.


They use this data to contact these individuals by post?

If not, I agree - there's no reason you should be asking for that info, it's useless in fraud prevention and you already have their email if they are doing it through paypal.

[Jack Norton]

I don't see the point of collecting the personal data. You need a PASSWORD to use a PayPal account, so if a fraudster is going to use a stolen account, then that means they have the password, which also means they have access to the account's personal information! All the fraudster needs to do is type in the info they copied from the acct. So what's the point?


Yes that's what I mean. Entering personal data is both useless (For reason above) and also annoying (many customers choose paypal exactly for its anonymous nature).
Also, adds extra steps that they aren't used to - if they pay with paypal in all those micro-transaction MMOG/MMORPG they never have to enter their address, phone number, etc.
I really believe that all vendors should automatically remove the extra field if the buyer choose to use Paypal as payment method.