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I just bought two mugs in the Stack Exchange Shop.

It would have been nice to be able to pay with PayPal.

Is there a reason it is not supported?

Credit card companies charge a fee for using the card for international payment, PayPal does not; that's why I'd prefer PayPal.

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  • 11
    Interesting. Actually, I'd be interested in seeing what options they take without having to put in all my details first...
    – Marc Gravell
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 10:23
  • @Grace: aah, that's why the shop tag didn't exist yet... thanks!
    – fretje
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 14:26
  • 2
    There's a Stack Overflow store? Can someone edit the question to include the link???
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 14:43
  • 1
    @Adam done
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 14:51
  • 2
    What the krutz? The header image on the page says "Stack Exchange Store", but the URL is shop.stackexchange.com (and redirects there from store.stackexchange.com)? Looks like we'll need to have a synonym indeed.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 14:53
  • @Grace I thought about it too, being pedantic and all, but was left scratching my head at what Stack Exchange was actually going to call it. I don't remember if it's been "officially" officially announced or not, so they may still plan on making various changes. I'd hold off on dealing with tag disambiguation until it's actually linked at the bottom of each page...
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 15:23
  • @Hannes how much was the shipping fee?
    – tugberk
    Commented Jul 10, 2011 at 8:08
  • Shipping was $14.97 USD
    – Hannes Niederhausen
    Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 15:05
  • I've wanted to buy things from the shop for a long time with Paypal, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'd definitely buy several tens of dollars' worth of things! I agree, please add this feature.
    – Ry-
    Commented Jul 20, 2011 at 21:18
  • @minitech I clarified my answer so you know its from a credible and official source.
    – Michael Pryor
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 13:55
  • @MichaelPryor: I know, I looked on your Stack Overflow profile to find out - that was just the message that fit best. Sorry. Is this ever going to be a possible consideration someday?
    – Ry-
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 14:21
  • @minitech probably not. I don't think we'll ever have the volume.
    – Michael Pryor
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 14:23
  • @MichaelPryor: If 500 people upvote this question, then maybe? :)
    – Ry-
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 14:25
  • 2
    No store anymore so this is status-not-relevant :-)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 27, 2013 at 14:44

3 Answers 3

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+1000

It's an accounting issue. Essentially, taking Paypal as another payment method creates additional overhead that isn't worth it for the volume of sales that we currently have on that store.

-- source: I'm the CFO at Stack Exchange.

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  • 1
    But this could change when thousands of people buy stuff every day?
    – uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐN
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 16:38
  • @George Sure. If it became worth it, I'd reconsider the hassle tradeoff to getting it set up. Don't hold your breath though :)
    – Michael Pryor
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 17:09
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    I'm all for PayPal, since I don't have a credit card.
    – takrl
    Commented Aug 4, 2011 at 14:39
  • 1
    Holding breath... :)
    – Ry-
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 3:34
  • 4
    @minitech Uuh... you are looking pretty blue, there!
    – Andrew Barber
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 5:26
  • I'm surprised the store as a whole has income that would pay for the necessary accounting, Paypal or not.
    – Scott McIntyre
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 14:53
13

How about...

StackExchange RepPal

Trade your reputation for Store/Shop items...All the buying goodness without "bank accounts" or "credit cards" or "money" :)

If this were to be taken seriousy, perhaps your store rep credit is based off recently gained rep. However, it's a good thing you're not selling Porsche's in there...fair use policy?

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  • 1
    hmmm...repcoin?
    – Laura
    Commented Mar 8, 2012 at 16:11
  • @Laura - Way too easy to "farm"
    – cdeszaq
    Commented Mar 22, 2012 at 12:53
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Stack Exchange currently only accepts credit cards. However, they are using the Shopify service, which allows multiple payment types, including paypal.

http://www.shopify.com/faq#customer-payment-methods

Stack Exchange will have to create a business paypal account and provide that information to shopify in order to start collecting payments via paypal. Note, however, that they may have better rates through their current credit card processor than they would through paypal, so there may be an accounting decision here to specifically avoid paypal.

While they used paypal it early on for careers subscriptions, they have since incorporated and have a different business legal and accounting structure. Their previous paypal accounts may not be usable for business.

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  • 1
    Unless they have a lot of sales (which I highly doubt since no one even knew this store existed) paypal should have substantially less fees than processing credit cards directly.
    – Andreas Bonini
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 14:53
  • @Kop You might be surprised at how reasonable it is to accept credit cards these days.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 14:54
  • 2
    Well I only see, I have to pay an international payment fee for my credit card which I wouldn't with paypal. That's why I asked.
    – Hannes Niederhausen
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 6:56
  • 1
    @Hannes That's a good point - you should update your question to point out why you would like the paypal option.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 11:29
  • 5
    Isn't it more costly not to have PayPal if it means less sales than if paypal was an option?
    – davidsleeps
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 12:28
  • @davidsleeps - Depends on how much administrative overhead it adds.
    – cdeszaq
    Commented Mar 22, 2012 at 12:54

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