Paypal fees discussion

One of the things that really bugs me is that once you register to accept CC you get charged fees on ALL payments received, even if they are from paypal balances. I had someone, (not on DoA,) refund me an overpayment of shipping but because she did it as 'send money' not 'refund' I got charged fees to get my own money back.

Now they've introduced 'personal payments' where the sender can pay the fees upfront, if they use a CC maybe that would allow non-CC accounts to receive CC funded payments? I don't know. Might be useful for GOs.

I don't like asking for fees, and I do resent paying them when asked, but unless I want my choices restricted even more than they are now, (not everyone will ship to the UK,) I'll pay them, and with the cost of shipping to me plus the risk of customs/VAT on imports, it makes for a lot of hidden' expenses in this hobby. But since it's the simplest and most accessible way of sending money internationally, they've got us over a barrel.

 

okay I admit I'm too lazy to read through 14 pages of posts to find out if this had been mentioned already, I don't think is illegal to ask for fees but actually against paypal & ebay's policies. It's also I think against terms of service most people sign when they open a paypal account.

I have an account that takes cc payments and I will say the fees for small things under 15.00 kinda of hurts.


Moulin -- I don't know about your refund/send money situation but I do know after a while (two months?) you can't refund payments.

 

This is such a tricky topic. I can understand if a person i selling something they just want to make back what they spent on it, why they'd want to add in the fees. And groups orders I understand too. There are many reasons why a person may want to add the fees in. It may be that they really need the full amount they asked for, they may be tight on money or what have you and need the money. I wouldn't call those who do ask for the fees greedy, especially if you don't know the situation. However, I do feel that if a person is going to ask for the fees to treat it as a handling fee and perhaps add it to shipping and make sure to mention the price is for shipping AND handling. They could also add the fees into the price of the item but I don't know, that seems sneaky to me. I can accept PP fees being considered as a handling fee. Or the seller could just charge one lump sum that includes the price of the item and the shipping and handling altogether. I neither for or against charging fees because like I said you don't know the seller's situation, but I do think the seller should put it into the price instead of having sellers calculate it.

 

I am really quite shocked by reading all the replies to this one Most people are really anti paypal fee....

I have to agree with Kiyono on this one. I let people choose by giving them multiple options of payment.
And sorry people but I do not see the difference between "upping your price to cover the fees" and actually stating that you claim fees on the buyer. It's the same in the end. It's just another way of saying so.
And if you up the prices and someone does pay with a method that does not require fees, do you exclude the fees again???

 

I think that handling fee could still play part in different pay methods. For one, if a person sends cash, money order, or check the person still has to go down to the bank to deposit it. That is time out of their day and on some things they have to wait a couple of days to make sure things clear then make another trip to the post office to mail the item instead of mailing it on the day they received payment. And I really think if someone is just trying to cover the price they paid for something and they are not making a profit off of it they should be able to include the fees in the price some how. The person paying with PP is using it for convince and if the person offers other methods of payment then I think the buyer should pay for that. Don't get me wrong, I know its not fair to the buyer either to pay the fees, but if there are other payment options I think they seller should be allowed to include that in the price.

Mouse

 

So what is the difference between paypal chargings fees and say Aldi in Australia who charge I think a nominal 1% of the bill to cover fees with their merchant bank if you choose to pay via debit or ccard to keep prices low? I think that YOU are splitting hairs, it is a common business practice for bigger business to absorb the cost of the ccard fees by getting better rates from the merchant banks. However smaller business dont always have this luxury and will often include it in their costings and at the same time be savvy enough to offer smaller discounts to those paying cash . also paypal is a service that is offered and if a smaller merchant wants to use paypal and does or doesnt charge fees and that is their only method of accepting payment it is the choice of the buyer as whether or not they will patronize that establishment. Remember that in this instance of purchase this is internet based only in most cases and so the opportunity for Money i.e legal tender notes not cheques or m.os to be presented to the seller is not possible so this would be the best method for both parties. and whilst we all dislike paying fees I think need to realise we are doing it everyday we the cash buyers are unable to secure discounts from the bigger merchants like wallyworld etc whilst some who also shops at this very same establishment pays with their ccard because we the cash buyers are paying for their card fees because that is how the cost of the merchants banking is done.

Clever costing by the seller allows for paypal fees to be absorbed and beside s the seller could alway incentivise the buyer to purchase by offering reward schemes and the like not unlike the ccard companies

 

I recently paid for a DOB with CC over PayPal and there was a miscommunication with the fees and I was told it was .5% which I was fine with, but then was told that wasn't enough and had to send enough to cover the rest of the actual fee (5%) and the fee on that transaction. Annoying.

 

Not saying that the person I was buying from was annoying, mistakes happen, just the circumstances.

 

I can understand why people want to have the fees covered but I'd prefer it if they'd just shove it into the total price. Now I often agree to buy something for the price they state and after that get the "oh please to be adding 4% fee" thing. I prefer knowing in advance what I have to pay instead of having to cough up another 100$ on unmentioned fees. I don't have a creditcard so I have to manually transfer the money to my paypal. This already takes about a week so I transfer it before I agree to buy so sellers won't have to wait. Adding the fees afterwards takes another week of waiting. Secondly...I can't just charge the unexpected extra to my cc and pay it off later. I need to have the money on hand. I tend to keep a marge on how much I can spend and what I actually spend but I don't always have the requested fee covering extra on hand.

Also, when I pay paypal shows me the account status of the seller if they have a business or premier account. For the those accounts I know they get charged fees on all payments. A few times sellers requested I paid fees eventhough paypal didn't mention them having an account that charges fees on balance payments. I'll pay it, I'll hand them 100$ extra but I'm never dealing with them again.

I can understand a seller not wanting to lose out on fees but I'd appreciate it if they'd be upfront about asking fees and not screw me over by requesting fees they don't have to pay.

 

i also agree that anyone who excepts credit card is getting charged fees yet when you go to a resturant or a fast food joint you aren't charged those for useing a credit card.

would you like to go to a taco bell and pay with a credit card and have to pay a fee to use it? i highly doubt it. your $1 taco just went up to $1.50 to cover the fee.

small business because of this sometimes have a minium purchase for credit card. and i see that to be very fine. and could work for paypal, account balance only unless your purchase is over insert $ amount here. but saying they have to pay a fee or worse not telling them till they already agreed for the purchase or sent the intial funds it hogwash.

 

I think it makes you uncomfortable when it says you have to pay a paypal fee.

 

Hmmm... I like that philosophy... very fair and straight forward.

I know that it is against Paypal policy to charge customers fees for using Paypal (I am sure that is a 'merchant' policy, because merchants cannot ask fees for accepting credit cards, they must factor it into their bottom line).

That being said, they also force you to upgrade to a Premier account, which charges you fees regardless of the type of payment you receive, if you sell more than $500.00 in one month (at least if used to be that way) so that puts an individual selling in the market place at a disadvantage, because selling one doll can put you into that range even if you only sold one doll in a year, and from then on would have to pay fees on all sales.

I roll the fees into my asking price (or just eat them if it is a small sale) to follow paypal's rules, but I understand people wanting to be transparent about why they are asking a certain price...

The one thing that irritates the 43ll out of me is when someone doesn't tell you about the fee until after you have agreed to the sale. If you don't want to add it into your sale price, put '+paypal fee' in your listing. If it isn't a group order, and it isn't listed in your sale thread, I don't expect to be charged for it. Since it is officially against paypal rules to charge fees for using their service, it shouldn't be a given to expect your customer to know that you charge paypal fees.

 

paypal don't like to tell you about it but there is such a thing as a micropayment account option, the fees work out lower for smaller payments

you may want to look into that

 

If I was part of a group order and the leader needed to charge paypal fees then I could understand that. That could end up to be a good chunk of money that would need to come out of the leader's pocket.

I normally don't like it when people charge the fees, but as long as they make it clear that's what they're doing upfront I don't have a problem with it. I dont' really like to have to do all this extra math to figure out what the total price is. I also don't have a problem with them increasing the shipping cost by a small amount to help cover the fees either. I know what it's like to have paypal take a fee for EVERYTHING, even if it's a $2 sale.

 

Oh yes, definitely not fair to spring paypal fees on someone after the sale has been negotiated. When someone asks you what the price is, or you quote a certain price, that should be the price that sticks. Surprise fees tacked on at the last minutes piss everyone off, and they are no good. I would think surprise fees void the agreement of the sale (you never agreed to pay additional fees, therefore you can walk away with a clear conscience even if you had already committed to buying).

 

I had sold some items on ebay for $100 and charged $5 for shipping. Paypal ended up taking out basically the shipping amount in fees. That kinda sucks. I wouldn't ask someone to pay extra to cover the fees. I think people know what they are getting involved in by opening a paypal account and need to take the responsibility for having it. Paypal is so convientent I love it. I don't buy items from people who ask buyers to pay the extra paypal fee. I view it as nickel and diming people to death. I wish they would just hide the fee in the price of the item. I would never know the difference.

 

For smaller items from dolly market, most of the time I don't have cash funds in my paypal, So sometimes, I voluntarily pay the fee to be nice. I wouldn't buy from a seller that asked for paypal fee reimbursement unless it was a extraordinary price on whatever it was that I wanted. That's the whole point to paypal. If you want to be able to take credit card, you have to take the fees that do along with them also. Paypal isn't going to let you do it for free.

 

I dont and would never change paypal fee's. To me as a seller its just a cost of doing business. ebay is alot more annoying then paypal is when it comes to fees i think.

 

A valid point regarding credit cards... but I'm not entirely convinced that it's the best hypothetical situation to be equating with paypal fees...
The way I see it, the fees exist because paypal provides a service to people, which is a lot more like an ATM machine - and ATM machines do actually charge a fee when you use them. (as well as your bank... which can double it sometimes) Of course, you could avoid this by going to your bank and withdrawing the money you need, but the point of most ATM machines is that they're placed in convenient locations (like malls and pubs ) so most people don't even think twice about it.
Personally, I don't charge the fees - I see them as a small price to pay for the convenience that paypal provides.

 

i didn't even know people did that!
it seems a bit ridiculous.
i'll have to look out for that (o__o)