Photo taken by Kodak easy share M552

Last Sunday, I took some photoes using Kodak easy share M552 in Mont-royal. I think it’s worth of the price $83.29.

Kodak EasyShare M552 14MP 5x Optical/5x Digital Zoom HD Camera w/Case & 4GB SDHC Card (Blue/Gray) – One Touch Sharing!,- New,- 1 Year Direct

Why would we NOT accept Paypal as a mode of payment?

As a consumer, people really feel Paypal is a simple and easy way to pay online. However, many sites still don’t accept Paypal as a mode of payment. What are the downsides of offering Paypal as a shop owner?

1.As a shop owner, I’m offering 3 differents payment option : credit card with a service provider, paypal, and cash-on-delivery.
Paypal is well known and some users knows well Paypal and their policy. As a shop owner, I shall do whatever is possible to offer what my customer prefers.
Paypal only is not a good solution cause it could hurts some people to be redirected on an outside website for payment. Also, Paypal is known to be not always really fair with their customers (shop owners). If you have any problem with a payment, fraud or cashback, it would be very hard to speak with someone who could help you. As a smalll shop owner, I will probably have to accept their decisions, and I’ve always read that they could block your money for 6 months, if they wish !

2.Because of their high fees for transactions.

3.In the early days there was a lot of (fake) Paypal-spam and as an early player they were part of the discussion ‘Is paying via internet safe’, including the negative stories. The sad side of being an opinion leader and\or first mover.

Strange enough I know for sure that PayPal is safe but however there’s still a ‘be aware\fake’ alert in the back of my head when I need to pay via PayPal.

4.Because their payment processing system is so dreadful, and actually more expensive than other service provider for taking credit cards. I tried them earlier this year and got absolutely nowhere.

5.Paypal is frustrating. I’ve been trying to buy something from a store that only accepts paypal for over a week now. Paypal froze my account because it suspected something wasn’t right about the transaction. I don’t really have a problem with that, as I recognize that there are scores of people out there trying to fraud their way into a dollar. What I do have a problem with is the lengthy resolution process involved in getting my account back up and running.

My only option was to provide documentation about my bank account and have it manually reviewed by a PP employee. This took two days. Paypal’s resolution workflow is slow, so if your money gets stuck in their system, you’re pretty much SOL. After I got my account unfrozen, I found that my original transaction still has a temporary hold on it placed by PP waiting for yet another manual review. There’s no number I can call to clear things up, there’s no reasonably quick or convenient process for fixing this. I am held at their mercy until their people get around to their manual review. It might be today, it might be tomorrow, it might be next week. All I know is that my order is still on hold over something that I could have worked out easily had this store used a real payment processor instead of Paypal.

I’ve only sold a few things with Paypal, as my last experience with them a few months ago was frustrating enough to make me begin avoiding them whenever possible. I sold an HTPC via Paypal as I realized that it just working out for me, but figured some nerd somewhere would get a kick out of it. They put a hold on my transaction after I shipped the machine and wouldn’t free up my money until several weeks after the sale. I was out both the computer I sold and the money I should have gotten out of the sale, plus shipping costs, at the whim of Paypal.

If you can deal with constant frustration and having your money arbitrarily locked up for undefined amounts of time with no reasonable vehicle for recourse, then Paypal might be a good decision for you.

6.Nicholas has already offered an excellent list. I’ll merely add one more:

- A disinclination to frustrate your users/buyers.

I wanted to buy something from a merchant that only used PayPal, and found that my PayPal account had been silently frozen. PayPal insisted that I add a new bank account to unfreeze my account, but — despite adding three accounts — it took several days until I was able to use my PayPal account again. For some reason, unlike nearly any other payment service online or offline, PayPal wouldn’t simply let me prove my identity with a credit card.

On a related note, PayPal has a bad habit of badgering its users into using a bank account for purchases rather than a credit card, offering varying but equally patronizing (and sometimes intentionally-confusingly-worded) stumbling blocks to get buyers to use their bank account so as to save PayPal money.

In other words, many of us find PayPal to be user-hostile, and thus are reluctant to either support them or subject others to the service.

7.The answer is not so easily formulated as the question. Yes, it’s true that Paypal is a very easy way to buy stuff online from a consumer point of view.

However, like you presumed, there are many disadvantages to offer Paypal on your website in stead of connecting to the financial platforms “directly” through a Payment Service Provider. Let us take their wallet-approach aside for a moment and compare them based on creditcard service.

1 White labeling
Your customers are paying on your website and thus they’re more confident in getting the order done by handling the payment with the shopowner.

2 Cost
A direct link with us (disclosure, I consult for www.icepay.eu) initially costs you 2.7% + € 0.23 per transaction, discussable when history shows growth.
Having your payment processed via an extra party is more expensive, in this
case you’ll initially pay 3.4% + € 0.35 per transaction.

3 Holdback difference
I can imagine that the holdback will differ as well. We hold back 10% of the transaction amount till next month.
 
4 Additional services
It is possible to add 3Dsecure to a direct gateway. 3Dsecure does a
precheck before handling the order, results in a shift of responsibility.
If so appears the order is fraudulent then you won’t be held account for it, the bank now holds responsibility. Considering the serious amounts some shops are going to handle, this seems wise to me and is encouraged by all the stakeholders.

5 Chargeback
With a direct gateway, the acquiring bank offers you 7days to try and reason with the customers when they call a chargeback (customers who ask to turn back the transaction with creditcard company). While Paypal charges your account immediately (in the wallet). Chargebacks are expensive for all parties involved.
 
6 Order maximum of 8 times
A customer can order 8times on your webshop with creditcards, the 9th time he will be asked to create a separate paypal account. In the salesfunnel this is an extra bump to conversion-rates. When your webshop has a direct gateway this isn’t the case.

To conclude on creditcards: You’re outsourcing your payments which says alot about the way you handle your business.

Furthermore one of the biggest downside is the long list of rules you have to comply with. If you are in the MLM-branche, you will definetly have to look elsewhere. There are plenty of rules that can result in them freezing your account and holding your money throughout the investigation (sometimes up to 6months).

If you’re selling physical goods, you’ll be bound by the buyer protection policy.  If a buyer complains they haven’t received an item, you’ll have to provide proof of delivery to PayPal. This makes shipping a bit more complex, because you have to make sure to ship via a method that gives you verifiable confirmation of delivery, in case the buyer decides to file a complaint with
PayPal.

Letter from RipOffReport or CompalintsBoard

Here is a letter we got, after reading the letter, I am concerned about the business model of RipOffReport or CompalintsBoard. It’s a kind of rip off.

Your company has a rip off report or complaint link that ranks
on the first page of Google when you search your company name.

Your name was found on RipOffReport or CompalintsBoard

Our company can help you Remove these links FAST .

Fast Online Reputation Management:

Visit Our Site: http://www.PositiveBoost.com
Phone: 1-877-238-7902

Cease alerts with email in sub. line - we found your email on your website and contacted you based
off of the information you made public

川味卤牛肉的做法

作法

1.每次卤菜我用些这种川味的卤料(只加一点点。这料还特咸,把一包加下去,会太咸),然后自己加些姜,葱白,花椒,辣椒,草果,2-3颗八角,和一小块冰糖。最好买个大的网眼盒子,把这些调料放里面。这样你就省好多功夫。特别是当你要卤花生时。想想,你要花多少功夫把花生米和花椒,辣椒籽分开。如果颜色不够深,我还会加点深抽。
2. 加水把牛肉卤到,用筷子轻轻一戳,就能戳穿的地步。
3. 然后把牛肉和花生等都泡卤水里,等卤水慢慢凉下来。把花生用漏斗捞出来。
4. 卤肉可以多泡几小时,或者过夜。把卤肉捞出后,放冰箱过夜,这样第二天切就可以切很薄的片。
5. 卤肉的调料就更简单了。用些卤水,加红油,花椒油,葱花,就好了。用原味的卤水来做调料比用酱油好吃多了。
6. 把剩下的卤水,过滤,倒盒子里,冻起来。卤水越用越香。重庆卖卤肉店的卤水都是陈年老汤的。

卤菜是最偷懒的菜了,但总是很受欢迎。

 

 

 

 

 

 

08年开始的金融风暴的本质

本人的观点
我只应用简单的道理来说明从08年开始的金融风暴的本质

首先说明本人非专家,教授,有些概念不要和我咬文嚼字

基本理论: 任何财务实体包括政府,公司,家庭,个人的财务本质都是买和卖,低买高卖

,这个实体的财务状况才能正常,如果高买低卖,这个实体的财务状况就会出现赤字,直

到破产。

从几个层次看美国经济

公司: 低买高卖。依靠汇率,从中国和其他国家低价购进各种商品,现金充裕。面临的问

题是,美国国内的工作机会转移以后,美国国内的个人消费能力持续走低。没有了消费,

也就无法带动企业运营,所以企业虽然有钱,但是因为劳动力成本相对较高而不雇用美国

国内劳动力,而政府业务这一块,是唯一的肥肉,难怪hp 结束pc业务而收购一个软件服

务公司,但是政府也面临财政赤字的问题。
政府: 高买低卖,财政入不敷出,

花钱的角度: 美国政府通过税收和发行国债获得社会资源,然后为整个国家提供教育,医

疗,国防等公共服务。可以看出一点,政党给选民开了一大堆福利,医疗保险,退休金,

而美国的政府花钱过于大手大脚,首先军火商,建筑商,医药厂,IT公司均从政府获得了

丰厚的回报,

来钱的角度: 一个政府有三个收入来源,税收,国债,印钞。税收方面:美国政党又从来

不敢提征税(著名的Read my lips: no new taxes ),公司税基本别想,有各种避税途径

,基本上只能从个人税上开刀,但是现在劳动力市场萎靡,只能发行国债来补漏洞,而国

债已经屡次突破上限,只能印钞,这就有了所谓的QE1, QE2,甚至QE3。

个人: 高买  卖不出去,财政入不敷出。

花钱的角度: 在住房和信用卡上,美国人民水深火热,一直通过透支来购买价格过高的金

融产品(金融产品是财阀和利益集团的超级提款机,特别说明,美国的非金融产品是非垄

断性的,所以价格公道)。

来钱的角度:因为各种原因,劳动力价格始终过高,所以出现了哑铃就业,在美国,要么

是专业人士,要么是麦工,中间阶层萎靡。

综上所述,美国真正的领导力量是美国大的财阀和利益集团,他们左右了美国的经济。

现在他们手里的钱如何不贬值,是他们所关注的,所以会有金价急升。而股市,房市只是

他们失灵的提款机。

预测: 美国政府为了应付局面不得不大量发行纸币,届时美元汇率会降到1:5人民币,甚

至1:4,全球通胀加速,中国的劳动力优势减弱,美国就业缓慢恢复。