A small but rather nice detail from a recent checkout experience.
The Credit/Debit option on the payment page was selected by default:
Reluctant to enter my card details all over the place, I opted for the PayPal option instead, but unusually (to me) I saw the price then increased slightly, alongside the new line item for ‘PayPal surcharge’:
Looking closer I saw the PayPal option stated that this would happen (but who reads the text next to a familiar option!). Despite this being an unusual experience, and being denied the ease of using PayPal, there was something about how clear this was made and the use of the words ‘PayPal surcharge’ that shifted the annoyance on to PayPal, in a way that I don’t think ‘PayPal fee’ would have.
Service fees I expect to be absorbed by a retailer, and as though they’re trying to catch consumers out by adding them at the checkout, but the accusatory nature of ‘PayPal surcharge’, along with it all being made so very clear, shifts it to feeling like PayPal being unfair to the seller.
I don’t know, maybe I over thought it, but given the option I decided that the PayPal ease was not worth 53p to me, so I happily went the Debit route instead.
I said it was a tiny detail.
Also, I do love a ‘Next step’ button that’s disabled until you complete the whole form… though I wonder how less experienced users would see if, perhaps not knowing that they have to check the terms box, and thus being unable to get an error message to tell them so?
Documenteering 