Alternative to Paypal?

[JohnD]

Personally, I think any company that ties their revenue stream to just one provider is asking for trouble eventually.

IMO it would make a huge amount of sense for SmiteWorks to at least have a second option that people can use.

You never know when something you or someone associated with you said 15 years ago will run afoul of the lunacy that pervades our culture today and poof... Smiteworks has no payment processing set up and has to scramble after the fact to mitigate damage to their business.

damned said it right; companies the size and $ value of PayPal don't just make oopsie "accidents" like this - it's reasonable to assume this will come up again sometime in the future, and the threat of account suspension is still there. Even if for some strange reason you agree with the thought process behind the "mistake", this crap should be a concern because sooner or later the worm will turn because this crap always needs a "guilty group" to persecute. PayPal assumed this would fly under the radar and they could pander and bask on virtue points handed out by a small segment of society.

IMO Doug/John would be well advised to be exploring alternative payment processing companies and let their customers decide which option suits their needs appropriately.

[ddavison]

Currently Steam is the only options outside of PayPal from our store. There are lots of things I would like about moving off of PayPal, but it is built into too much of our system currently (transactions, accounting, reporting, payments to publishers/community devs/affiliates/etc.) I have looked at other options. They solve some problems but likely introduce others. It would be a major project to switch things over and we would still have to keep access for all of the historical transactions we have on file. For all its warts, PayPal works in most countries around the world.

[Pendrake]

I was about to buy some gold for the Forge, but PayPal is the only option. I have closed my PayPal accounts because the "Oopsie" announcement should have never been drafted, let alone been through meetings, reviewed by legal, likely revised multiple times, then sent for publication. I don't believe that private companies should be "morality police".

I would love to give SmiteWorks my money for imaginary gold coins. Please let me do so. I didn't see an option for this on Steam.

[ddavison]

Unfortunately, this is the only option available at this time and we don’t have any plans to add another payment option in the near term. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.

[The Decepticon]

Unfortunately, this is the only option available at this time and we don’t have any plans to add another payment option in the near term. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.

Hopefully SmiteWorks looks at other options in the near future. I can only imagine the issues of linking accounts with purchases if it is by credit card, bank accounts, etc. and understand why it is not easy. Personally, I will still use PayPal for my SmiteWork purchases, but this could hurt the company if PayPal decides to escalate that policy in the future and there are no other options (I don't use Steam so I can't talk to how easy that is) on the SmiteWorks website.

[Jesse0317]

This seems to be one of those lesser of two evils scenario. I for one will still use Paypal but will limit my use until they've proven to be a neutral party once again. While I dislike Paypal's policy I'm hesitant to punish other company's such as Smiteworks because they are just trying to do business and be efficient as possible.

Also, just a friendly reminder that in using FG Unity they run that the hosting service that lets us run games without all that port forwarding we needed to do using FGC and have not charged a cent for it yet.

Just my two cents.

[BangsNaughtyBits]

I also would like to see an integrated alternative to PayPal.

Using Stream will screw with bundles as I have only purchased through the FG site, hoping more money ends up in the Smiteworks coffers to inspire more solid content. Unless Smiteworks has a work around for the bundle issue, Steam is not a solution.

An Example. I go to the Forge. I click Treasury. I click Buy Gold. I am presented with a Buy Now With Paypal button, only.


And if I attempt to purchase content directly from the FG main site you eventually get to

You will next be directed to the PayPal web site to continue the purchase by entering your billing information.

I am directly asking for an alternative payment option to using Paypal with your service. The above directly fails this.

Please investigate other options.

[Zacchaeus]

I also would like to see an integrated alternative to PayPal.

Using Stream will screw with bundles as I have only purchased through the FG site, hoping more money ends up in the Smiteworks coffers to inspire more solid content. Unless Smiteworks has a work around for the bundle issue, Steam is not a solution.

An Example. I go to the Forge. I click Treasury. I click Buy Gold. I am presented with a Buy Now With Paypal button, only.


And if I attempt to purchase content directly from the FG main site you eventually get to

You will next be directed to the PayPal web site to continue the purchase by entering your billing information.

I am directly asking for an alternative payment option to using Paypal with your service. The above directly fails this.

Please investigate other options.

The answer has already been given in posts #12 and #14 above; particularly post #12.

[Mytherus]

You know the funny thing for me is getting into using fantasy grounds was why I got PayPal before then I Resisted hard to try not to use the service. Now I added it to my steam account as well.

As much as I think the recent PayPal flub is both egregious and ridiculous I’ll keep to using it for steam snd smiteworks only. I also wonder how PayPal would know if someone did use “misinformation” to fine them? I mean if you are careless sure but couldn’t someone just post around the internet with an account that has zero ties to their PayPal? Anyway good night.

[Transbot9]

And they reverted it today. Claiming that they never intended to change it.
Not sure how that happens, but big corporations are known to screw up at times where one group does something without anyone else approving of it.
https://fortune.com/2022/10/10/paypa...ror-confusion/
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/...ormation-fine/

And they've put it back in again as soon as the news cycle ended. Honestly, Fantasy Grounds is the only reason I keep my old PayPal account open. Their terms of service has gotten increasingly vague over the years.