opinions on paypal fees

Jeremy_K

Registered User
i'm not trying to stir controversy here just getting opinions form others' experiences. when you buy something from someone using paypal and they get charged a fee to receive the money. should you:?
A. pay the fee for the seller
B. split the cost of the fee
c. tell them "piss off, you should've included that in the price to begin with"
d. none of the above
It's not such a big deal when you're buying something cheap. but that fee adds up when you buy an expensive item and are taken by surprise. it's also a pain when some ebayers are mutes and refuse to respond to emails with questions regarding this. :confused:
 
I think PayPal or eBay rules forbid the seller from charging the buyer extra for choosing a certain type of payment from those that the seller offers.
 
My thoughts on this as a seller of SC parts is very simple actualy. Figure the cost of such fees into your selling price to begin with. However with that said I DO NOT use PayPal anymore. I set up a reg account with them to help some of the guy's that wanted to use it for buying a radiator. PayPal let me accept 1 $250 deposite and then told me I had to confirm my account(give them my checking account info as well as account #'s) in order to accept anymore payments. I contacted them because I was supposed to be able to do $1,000 worth of transactions before that would become an issue. They would not answer my qeustions and just told me thats the way it is.
I'm of the opinion that once you come to an agreement on price with someone thats it! Should you later learn that YOU as the seller are being charged an additional fee thats your fault and NO responsability of the buyer AFTER the 2 of you have already decided the sale price, end of story!
 
MIKE 38sc said:
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I'm of the opinion that once you come to an agreement on price with someone thats it! Should you later learn that YOU as the seller are being charged an additional fee thats your fault and NO responsability of the buyer AFTER the 2 of you have already decided the sale price, end of story!

I agree! It happened to me this week when an SCCoA buyer paid me using his credit card and PayPal informed me that I would have to switch to a Premium Account in order to receive credit card payments. This meant a charge of 2.9% plus $0.30. I didn't go crying to the buyer.
 
If the seller just has a regular PP account, they don't get charged a fee for receiving payments. I've sold a few things on Ebay, and as long as I use PP's EFT option, no charge.
 
lrsudog said:
If the seller just has a regular PP account, they don't get charged a fee for receiving payments. I've sold a few things on Ebay, and as long as I use PP's EFT option, no charge.

That is what PayPal says in there rules, polocies or whatever you want to call them. But I've learned that they CAN and DO change things without any kind of notice to suite whatever there whims are at that given time.
Case in point:
I set up above mentioned reg PP account and had 1 $250 transfer of funds to my PP account, everything went just as PP claims. Maybe 3 weeks later I had another customer that wanted to use PP and he sent the funds through his PP account to mine. PP held that money HOSTAGE claiming I could not have access to it UNLESS I turned over my above mentioned financial info.
PP showed the money in MY account but told me that I COULD NOT access that money unless I gave in to there demands for my financial info.
I could find NO provisions for this in any of there rules or polocies so I contacted them concerning this because I just felt at the time that it was a mistake. I was told by PP that was the way it was and that the customers money was stuck in limbo in my account UNLESS I REFUSED the payment and it would then be returned to the customers account or I give in and supply the info, and only then. This WAS NOT a credit card transaction, it was instead a transaction of funds the customer had in there PP account to mine and in my case involved NO fees to either party except for the $2.50 (1% of the amount) charged to ME whenever I withdraw funds from MY account.
I never did or planned to hit the customer with a bill for more money to cover MY end of that fee. I knew before hand about that fee and ate it myself as a cost to do buiseness trying my best to keep my product as low in price as I could. PP seems to be very wishy washy and change there rules to suite there wants or needs whenever they like. I WILL NOT use PP anymore.
 
I had a regular PayPal account and a buyer sent me a credit card payment. PayPal then informed me that I could switch to a Premium Account (with the fee for receiving payments) or decline the payment. I wonder if, at the time of payment, PayPal informs the buyer that the seller is not set up to receive credit card payments. Does anyone know?
 
I accept it as a part of doing business. The Paypal system alows me to send and receive money fairly quickly and efficiently-the little that Paypal grabs as a fee offsets what it would cost for a wire transfer.
 
J.D. said:
I had a regular PayPal account and a buyer sent me a credit card payment. PayPal then informed me that I could switch to a Premium Account (with the fee for receiving payments) or decline the payment. I wonder if, at the time of payment, PayPal informs the buyer that the seller is not set up to receive credit card payments. Does anyone know?

I do not believe they do in that case. I had a fella try to use his CC to pay me once and PP told me the same thing. I told my potential customer that I COULD NOT accept CC payments to my account and his reply was he DID NOT know that. I looked at that as partly an error on my part because at no time did the customer mention that he was going to use a CC. But on the other hand I did'nt mention it either so I felt I was at fault for the misunderstanding because I as the SELLER did not mention it myself.
 
I think PayPal does this on purpose to encourage sellers to 'upgrade' to their more lucrative accounts. It worked with me. So now I'll have to pay a fee even for non-credit card payments.
 
I realize that paypal assesses fees to provide their service. what it comes down to is people who say they want or prefer paypal because they want their money fast. you can use the EFT or electronic check and there is no fee but you need to wait a few days for it to clear. it just pisses me off that these impatient people expect you to pay for the convienience of them getting their money fast. i bought a vehicle on ebay for $5,450 and sent them the money that day and they cry to me that they got charged $170? all i'm saying is people who want their money fast should include the charges in their asking price. i was new to paypal and did not know of these fees to begin with so i bit the bullet and paid them the fees.
 
Paypal fees

I think as a seller It is the discretion of the seller whether or not they want to accept paypal And If they are willing to pay the paypal fees
If the seller does not offer any other payment option besides Paypal then I beleive that the seller is responsible to pay thier fees
But If the seller offers multiple payment options and the Buyers chooses to use paypal over the other options then The buyer should pay their fees
I myself Accept multiple payment options. When a buyer wants to use paypal I make it clear to them that THEY WILL PAY the paypal transaction fees When you aggree on a price on a item you should get exactly what you agreed Not the agreed price minus 3%


Paypal charges 3% on every transaction on a bussiness account
 
Agreed. You cannot get a paypal account or recieve payments without first agreeing to the fee structure. Most people do not read it carefully or perhaps don't understand what it all means. That's the way it is in life.

I got caught unaware on a credit card purchase once. Suck it up and be more prepared next time is what I told myself. It doesn't matter if it's a $10 or $10,000 purchase. The old saying "ignorance is no excuse" comes to mind in this case.

That being said, I don't like Paypal either. However, for very small internet business applications, it's the best thing out there.

:)
 
I've been using PayPal a bit for receiving payment on the brake brackets I've been selling, and a few other misc. sales & purchases. I just have a Basic account, so when I'm selling something, I try to make it very clear to the buyer that the payment can't be from a credit card. If they do send a credit card payment, I decline it and wait for them to be able to make it a payment from their bank account.

Personally, for the amount of transactions I do, I'd rather not have to deal with the extra fees. It's like any other aspect of the transaction, the onus is on both the buyer and the seller to make sure that all the details are clear before agreeing on the sale.


cheers,
Ed N.
 
I except paypal.And when selling it states on my price sheet to add 3%
to cover paypal cost.It has been less than 50% of my customers that add
the 3%.Most do not pay the sur-charge.I just see it as part of doing buisness.If you do not include the pay-pal surcharge in the original sales agreement the customer is not liable for the charge.

I allso except all credit cards.The bank that I am set up with charges my buisness 5% of the total amount of all credit card payments I receive.
This has been the same for over twenty years.And I am not allowed to add the 5% charge for many years.This has since change I beleive mostly because at first gas staition were not suppose to have two price,One for cash and one price credit cards.This has now changed.Two pricings are allowed.

RANDY
 
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I agree that it is just one of the things you have to accept when doing business. I ended up in the upgrade situation for the last item I sold (and FYI, there is another 1% charge or some such if they have to convert currency). I think paypal took a 3.9% cut out of the deal. Bottom line for me is that I had the money in hand immediately, generally speaking, I'd rather have money in hand and get the transaction taken care of than wait for a money order or whatever else to come by mail. Paying for convenience... just like the overpriced suits I've been buying in Mens' Warehouse ;-)
 
Conan56 said:
I think as a seller It is the discretion of the seller whether or not they want to accept paypal And If they are willing to pay the paypal fees
If the seller does not offer any other payment option besides Paypal then I beleive that the seller is responsible to pay thier fees
But If the seller offers multiple payment options and the Buyers chooses to use paypal over the other options then The buyer should pay their fees
I myself Accept multiple payment options. When a buyer wants to use paypal I make it clear to them that THEY WILL PAY the paypal transaction fees When you aggree on a price on a item you should get exactly what you agreed Not the agreed price minus 3%


Paypal charges 3% on every transaction on a bussiness account

I agree completely. I always offer my customers the option of either paying via money order or paypal. I give them both prices up front, and let them decide which payment method they would like to use.

-Rod
 
Randy N Connie said:
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I allso except all credit cards.The bank that I am set up with charges my buisness 5% of the total amount of all credit card payments I receive.
This has been the same for over twenty years.And I am not allowed to add the 5% charge for many years.This has since change I beleive mostly because at first gas staition were not suppose to have two price,One for cash and one price credit cards.This has now changed.Two pricings are allowed.

RANDY

The rascally DMV has been charging a "convenience fee" for credit card payments for quite a while. Wow! I actually used "convenience" and "DMV" in the same sentence!!!!
 
Most credit card processing companies take 2.9% off the sale. Visa/MC at least, American Express is a little different and even more, I think (hence, some stores not taking American Express, but do take Visa/MC).

When was the last time you walked into a store with your Visa card and got charged an extra 2.9% because the middle-man (Visa) is taking their cut? Answer: Never. Sometimes they have a lower limit on what you can charge in their store, like $10, but that's it. Gas stations used to have different prices for credit, but that seems to have gone away.

I've used Paypal combined with Ebay quite a few times - I use EFT so it's convenient, and I have no problem coughing up part of my profits to Paypal for using their very convenient system. I've been a member since they started and while I didn't like the new fees, I really don't have a problem with it.

As for Paypal's reliability, no problems in 4 years, many $K moved, but not more than $10,000 total
 
queenbird said:
When was the last time you walked into a store with your Visa card and got charged an extra 2.9% because the middle-man (Visa) is taking their cut? Answer: Never.
It a fairly well know fact that retailers have already worked the 3% overhead into the price of every consumer good out there. We accept it for the "convenience" and never think about it again. That's why gas is cheaper at the cash-only or debit card only gas stations. In the end, you can thank the collective actions of the consumer and the numb-ness for paying this w/o thinking.
 
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