Sell vouchers online

[mimmo]

Pm is  able to sell simcard online, why not sell vouchers in the same way.  This would allow people to use PayPal as a method of payment and allow them to get a receipt for their purchase.

The two systems( selfserve and store) are seperate  so it is only a matter of being able to generate a valid  code that selfserve will recognized in selfserve.

Doubt this will go anywhere but thought I would throw it out there.  Who knows the new community moderator might take notice of some of the requests.

[pakmode]

Good idea @mimmo

[NDesai]

There might be some complication to this using paypal. $10 online order using paypal is not a lot, but with vouchers there will be a huge chunk of transactions and there are all sorts of fees involved to buyer and seller in some cases for using paypal. There is even a way to directly top up the account just by providing the phone number or very least they can email or text the voucher code. So that is not an issue but i think there must be something to do with paypal. 

[mimmo]

@NDesai agreed PayPal might have some additional costs, but I don't think the retailers selling vouchers currently   are doing so without any compensation. So I would think the difference would be significant. Worst case add a convience fee.

[Michael77]

Yes, there might be complications. 

[David_J]

 @mimmo 

Certainly there is a element of online fraud to be concerned with, and adding to that the value of the transaction goes up significantly with voucher sales. We're investigating it though.

[mimmo]

Thanks @David_J , glad to see some movement in the public lab. I am sure there is a cost to PM in selling vouchers at retail locations so as long as online is cheaper then it should be a no brainer 🙂 the fraud aspect however might be another matter.

[lbwran]

I would have been a PM customer, along with many of my humans, had PayPal been totally accepted here by now and not just a tease.... if you take it at one place on your secure domain, you should be able to create a few more PayPal buttons for the rest of your products. It'll be time consuming for the initial set-up of all the voucher options, but worth it for all sides. Heck, if yas need someone to do the delightfully monotonous task, my plate is clear and I survive off barter exchange! *wink wink* lol

For anyone worried about fraud or whatever, every PM page starts with https://, with the little green lock locked in the address bar, so we can trust they are already paying for the extra security.

It'd be nice to hear something from the devs on their (your) thoughts on the status of this PayPal issue... I'd love to become a Public Mobile customer! 

[stonechucker]

I would have been easier for me (back in the day also), but I found  a prepaid reloadable AND affordable credit card (basically use as cash) prior to VisaDebit cards coming out.

I prefer PayPal also.

[lbwran]

I'm yet to be a PM customer - getting to a brick and mortar is pretty near impossible so I rely heavily on PayPal and Interac e-Transfer services (as also suggested above and throughout the other discussions of this same topic over the years, it seems...) 

Using a Visa gift card or reloadable credit card costs fees- (up to $7!) on each purchase or top-up PLUS a "monthly maintenance fee" ($3ish/mo?...wtf?!)...and even annual fees of a few more bucks! 

So, the cost of service fees to use a prepaid credit card has climbed above $10 a month just to use it to pay for stuff online - where I'm also going to be charged more fees and taxes and whatnot on top of my purchases... that'd be added on top of the cost of my package with Public Mobile. All in all, it's just not an affordable option for me. I prefer completely online payment solutions. It's not that hard to set it all up...boring and annoying for the right geek behind the curtain for an insomniac weekend or so, but it can be done.

Most people throughout this Community are probably pushing more for PayPal since PM already uses it as a method of payment (sorta) - but as mentioned, there are other options. The fact that PayPal is an option tells my brain that it's just a matter of PM simply doing a few flicky do's in the background (proper lingo, right there) and we should be able to pay online in a zippy.

Anyhow, hopefully something will be figured out. Even if it costs them fees to set that stuff up or even to run it, the people that will use the service will pay that off right quick.