New Wrinkle (Hassle?) w/Paypal

Kickin' Chicken

Kickin' Chicken

Kick Shot Aficionado
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I just rec'd the following message from the good folks at paypal.

Maybe I'm wrong but why should they care if I receive money as a gift so as not to incur their fees?

Don't they get their fees from the sender, if it is sent as a gift?

Has anyone else dealt with this?

Best,
Brian kc

Thank you for using PayPal to accept money with your PayPal account. We recently changed our pricing structure so that you can receive money from friends and family for personal payments within the US for free. Personal payments are for sending a gift, splitting a lunch bill, paying your share of the living expenses, and everyday exchanges of money between friends and family.

If you receive money as a payment for a purchase or service, you will continue to incur fees.

We've noticed that some of your customers are sending you personal payments for purchases of items or services. Unfortunately, this is against our rules, and we need your help correcting it. Please don't ask or allow your customers to use personal payments to pay for their purchases.

If we continue to see such activity, we may have to disable your ability to receive free personal payments, and then you will pay fees for all money received through PayPal.

Here's how you can find more information about payment types and fees:

1.Click "Fees" at the bottom of any PayPal page
2.Click "Legal Agreements" at the bottom of any PayPal page, and then click "PayPal User Agreement." Sections 4 and 8 refer to receiving money and fees.

If you have any questions, concerns, or think we may have made a mistake, please contact us at P2P@paypal.com.

We value your business and appreciate your cooperation.

Sincerely,
Cathy
Personal to Personal Team

PayPal
 
They dont if you are paying with a checking account. If you are paying with a credit card the payer will incur the fee.

This is how paypal makes their money, of course they are going to come down on you if they think you are trying to get out of paying the payemnt..
 
Your post made me curious, so I went out to Paypal and nosed around. It turns out that the Personal Transfer service is free to both sender and receiver if the funds come from a bank account or an existing Paypal balance. Therefore, there's a potential for abuse if trading partners use this service for a purchase transaction, since apparently Paypal doesn't make any money at all on these Personal Transfers.

Here's a link to a fee summary from Paypal.
 
it's a decent workaround to their fees if you're in a transaction for a low amount or in a transaction where there's little or no risk. If you send as a gift and get a box full of air instead of a $2000 cue, I don't think you could dispute that one.

I was wondering if there was a volume limit on those transactions past which PP would take notice and investigate. It looks like there is.
 
"There are two types of people who use PayPal.
Those who HAVE been screwed by PayPal and those
who WILL be screwed by PayPal." ---- Reno Rex
 
the solution, I think...

will be to simply ask that buyers add 4% to cover the fee rather than sending the money as a gift.

that should do it.

if anyone sees a problem with this, please let me know.

thx!

best,
brian kc
 
Last edited:
Just add the 4% in your asking price. If you'll accept a money order your buyer will be happy when you knock 4% off the agreed upon price. I hate when people say add this for fees and that for shipping. In my opinion an out the door price causes less misunderstandings, and more interested parties.
 
Yeah, you don't want to send the money as a gift if its not a gift. Number 1, as you just found out, do it enough and PayPal will bust you. But more importantly, you are preforming a financial transaction, you want to be as above-board as you can in case there's a problem. Try filing a "non-receipt" dispute for a transaction that you lied and told the company was a gift.

Yes, PayPal charges fees for their services, most companies do, that's why they are in business.
 
Just an idea

Maybe we can just split the fees betweet the sender and receiver. They are catching on and will start freezing our accounts if we dont watch it. Just my humble 2 cents.

Frank
 
I don't get it

you think it would be okay for someone that purchased something from you to imply that you were screwing them because you charged them exactly what was agreed upon?

Everyone knows that paypal has charges.
If they didn't they would not exist.

You are paying for a convience, if the price is to high have your customers mail you a check.

I am not trying to start an argument, just cannot understand why you think that paypal is being invasive by wanting the fee that they are due.

SLIM
 
SLIM said:
you think it would be okay for someone that purchased something from you to imply that you were screwing them because you charged them exactly what was agreed upon?

Everyone knows that paypal has charges.
If they didn't they would not exist.

You are paying for a convience, if the price is to high have your customers mail you a check.

I am not trying to start an argument, just cannot understand why you think that paypal is being invasive by wanting the fee that they are due.
SLIM
Click to expand...

Not sure if this is aimed at me but if so, please read my op again.

Never said anything about paypal "being invasive by wanting the fee that they are due."

I simply wondered why they would care if I transferred their fee over to the buyer by requesting they (buyers) pay me as a gift so I didn't incue the fee.

It was then explained in this thread that there are a couple of scenarios where the buyer may choose to pay by either paypal balance or from their checking account and therefore not incur any fee themselves, therefore paypal gets nothing.

I never knew this was the case.

Now I do.

Best,
Brian kc
 
The solution is to pay the fees you are supposed to. Period.

That's what I did and if I sell anything again here or anywhere else and accept Paypal that's what I will do again.

It is, in my opinion, wrong to lie, wrong to cheat, and wrong to steal.

You sign up for a service, you agree to the terms.

Anybody who asks me to "gift" them the money can take a hike. I will openly advise anybody interested in a transaction to never do one with somebody that asks them to do such a thing.

I have been asked already to perform fraudulent transactions by people posting here. I will not do it.
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
Not sure...

Maybe I'm wrong but why should they care if I receive money as a gift so as not to incur their fees?.

Best,
Brian kc
Click to expand...
The answer is insde the question...and the cookie.
fortune-cookie-rectal-use-only.jpg
 
Chopdoc said:
The solution is to pay the fees you are supposed to. Period.

That's what I did and if I sell anything again here or anywhere else and accept Paypal that's what I will do again.

It is, in my opinion, wrong to lie, wrong to cheat, and wrong to steal.

You sign up for a service, you agree to the terms.

Anybody who asks me to "gift" them the money can take a hike. I will openly advise anybody interested in a transaction to never do one with somebody that asks them to do such a thing.

I have been asked already to perform fraudulent transactions by people posting here. I will not do it.
Click to expand...

You aiming that at me? If so, I take great exception to your remark as I am neither a liar, a cheat, or a thief. Bet real high on that! :angry:

I'll say this for the final time:

When I suggested that my buyers could send their pymt to me as a gift, it was offered as a convenience to them, not intending to shortchange paypal. I suggested either they can add 4% or send it as a gift, thinking paypal still gets their vig, just that they take it from the buyer rather than the seller. No harm, no foul, I figured.

My terms are always clear that the buyer covers paypal's fee.

Now that I know that certain payment methods may circumvent paypal fees, I won't be offering the gift option anymore.

And of equal importance to me, it was also pointed out that if the gift option is selected, this can potentially bite someone in the behind if a deal has a problem. Makes sense that it could.

Best,
Brian kc
 
I don't mean to start any crap.... but why do some people say add 3% and some people say add 4% for these fees? Which is it? I always thought paypal charged 3%? Not saying you Kickin (because we have always had good dealings) but are people just confused as to which it is? Or are people trying to squeeze out that extra 1 percent.

I agree with the poster that said here is the end all be all final price that includes all fees without being said. Makes things much simpler.

I'm just the curious type, what can I say. :sorry:

r,

Greg
 
Hi Greg;

I actually don't know if it's 3 or 4% that paypal takes as their fee.

I used to see guys regularly ask for 3% but it seems that for the last 6 months or more, they ask for 4%.

I'd have to look back at my listings here to confirm but I'm pretty sure I've asked for 3% or simple said buyer to cover paypal fees.

Best,
Brian kc
 
Cool. Like I said... I was just curious. I wasnt trying to call you a dirt bag scummy looser turd sniffer or anything. :thumbup:

Totally just kidding Kickin!!! You have my permission to make it 4%!!!

Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas.

R,

Greg
 
KC,

i was not trying to insult you.
I, as did at least one other person, interpreted your original post as a complaint that paypal called you on getting around their fee.
Looks like we interpreted it incorrectly.

All the best to you & yours,

SLIM
 
So here's my most recent Paypal story. After three years of doing business via Paypal and paying all necessary fees on literally thousands of sales, they have decided in their infinite wisdom to hold all payments sent to me for 21 days before releasing the money into my account. They offered some weak explanation of why they felt that was necessary. I have exactly two disputes (one as result of an attempted scam, one for a book lost in the mail) during the course of thousands of successful transactions.

I wrote back and let them know how I felt about this decision. I told them that all they would do with tactics like this is drive their good customers away. No response so far. As advised to me last year, I now keep my balance relatively low on there. I almost got screwed last year for $500 by a scammer operating on Paypal. If I didn't have complete records of my dealings with this guy (including all e-mails) I would have been screwed. Paypal did nothing to protect me! As it was, it took one month to have the money restored to my account. Now this little slap in the face. Reno Rex is probably right.
 
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