Another Paypal Discussion

I kind of agree with chevyscott and a couple others that have indicated some interest in another option for payment.
We have money orders available, personal checks, some people use EMT (electronic money transfer) through their bank, & paypal. I'm starting to think that these electronic payment options (short of direct credit card) are being bound by some legal jargon that we as basic users might not be familiar with. Who knows.

The bottom line in this whole discussion should be that buyers are just as responsible as sellers in using Paypal as it was intended. If you send money as gift and get burned, that is on you the buyer. We can warn you, advise you, and recommend not doing it. You the buyer at the end of the day will do whatever you want to do, as you can exercise your freedom of choice. But, we will not be able to monitor each deal, nor help in recovering funds or other corrective actions if you threw caution to the wind despite our efforts to help you protect yourself.

Do your research, make wise decisions, don't impulse buy, and if a deal is too good to be true, it just might be. Common sense should be your guide. You want to gift someone money, do so at your own risk, regardless of whether the seller is asking for whatever percentage on top of it. We cannot control that, we just don't want people burning one another here.
 
I'm curious to know if anyone has been burned in the past by using gift on this forum...and I'd assume the seller had zero feedback to start with.
 
uofaengr said:
I'm curious to know if anyone has been burned in the past by using gift on this forum...and I'd assume the seller had zero feedback to start with.
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You're kidding right. The last half dozen threads about being burned have been because of using gift option.
 
Scam payments? Seriously? If I want $200 for my knife and you want to use PayPal then you can pay the fee. I only accept it when I sell because buyers request it. Having said that though, I prefer a postal money order for payment.
 
RevDevil said:
You're kidding right. The last half dozen threads about being burned have been because of using gift option.
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You're right. There are so many of these threads that I lose track of which one I'm in. So sounds like a lot of bitching going on and not a lot of solutions except make anyone who requests PP gift to feel like a worthless human being.
 
91wm6 said:
Scam payments? Seriously? If I want $200 for my knife and you want to use PayPal then you can pay the fee. I only accept it when I sell because buyers request it. Having said that though, I prefer a postal money order for payment.
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You do realize that's the exact same thing, right? Its about trust. Using PayPal affords the buyer a level of protection against fraud by a new / untested seller. Postal Mo, while providing nominal protection, is far from the same thing.
 
I don't sell or pay by Gift option.
I sometimes do ask for 3.5% for the fees, particularly if I'm selling the knife at a pretty good loss already. Of course, I could just add that fee into the asking price, but don't see what the big deal is. Most folks can use a calculator.
If I am going to let 3.5% keep me from buying a knife, I must not want it very bad in the first place.
There IS NO SCAM when the conditions are plainly stated...regardless of what you say. IMO
 
Grizzley said:
I just sold about 6 or 7 items recently. 1 here and the rest elsewhere. I asked for flat prices for each item. No extra money for fees or shipping. All prices were "to your door". I asked for payment via Paypal. I DID NOT ask for payment using the GIFT option. Of those 6 or 7 items that I sold. All but 1 person paid using the GIFT option. Only 1 used the "Goods and Services" option. Now being that the GIFT option is so frowned upon here on BF, what should I have done? Immediately refunded the buyers money and demanded that they use the "goods and services" option? Report them to Paypal? What would have been the acceptable action for me to have taken in that situation? Just curious. A little food for thought.
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Payment by PayPal goods only please.
 
Grizzley said:
I asked for payment via Paypal. I DID NOT ask for payment using the GIFT option.
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Oh, not you again. :rolleyes:

Did you specifically mention that you will only accept payment by "paypal goods" in the thread? If not, then don't come trying to hijack this thread with your nonsense again.
 
Sonnydaze said:
I don't sell or pay by Gift option.
I sometimes do ask for 3.5% for the fees, particularly if I'm selling the knife at a pretty good loss already. Of course, I could just add that fee into the asking price, but don't see what the big deal is. Most folks can use a calculator.
If I am going to let 3.5% keep me from buying a knife, I must not want it very bad in the first place.
There IS NO SCAM when the conditions are plainly stated...regardless of what you say. IMO
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Paypal fees are 2.9% + .30. Why charge 3.5%?
 
Grizzley said:
I just sold about 6 or 7 items recently. 1 here and the rest elsewhere. I asked for flat prices for each item. No extra money for fees or shipping. All prices were "to your door". I asked for payment via Paypal. I DID NOT ask for payment using the GIFT option. Of those 6 or 7 items that I sold. All but 1 person paid using the GIFT option. Only 1 used the "Goods and Services" option. Now being that the GIFT option is so frowned upon here on BF, what should I have done? Immediately refunded the buyers money and demanded that they use the "goods and services" option? Report them to Paypal? What would have been the acceptable action for me to have taken in that situation? Just curious. A little food for thought.
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To the question I highlighted. Yes, I would have sent the funds back and told them to send it the correct way since they are buying goods.

This happened to me a few months ago. I had "send PP as Goods only" in the add, but the person sent the payment as a Gift.
I Immediately refunded his money and asked him to send it as a Goods payment.
 
Grizzley,
You should have your own well developed moral/financial compass to guide your decision making. Asking, as an example doesn't really hit the nail on the head. It's more when people try to consistently use that option with the intent to potentially steal another persons money. We've seen that before.
 
I have noticed that some sellers state "no other fees" when they mean "PayPal goods only, NO GIFT". I think the former may confuse some buyers into thinking the seller doesn't want to pay fees and the latter states plainly how the seller wants you to pay.
 
I know that I might be starting this up again... and I really only skimmed through the thread. But I would like to say my piece regarding Paypal...

It is awesome.

It is awesome IF... you adhere to the policy/user agreement, which includes...

- NEVER "gift" if it is indeed a "sale".
- ALWAYS ship with a "signature" request.
- NEVER charge your customer for Paypal Fees.(I'll address this bit in a sec)

No amount of disclaimer verbiage on your invoice, website or in the details of your money request is going to save you if you didn't adhere to the user agreement. If your customer claims to have "not received" an item and you didn't ship with a signature request, no amount of tracking/delivery verification will clear you of a claim, even if it is false. As for passing on the fees... It explicitly states in the user agreement that the SELLER is responsible for the fees. ANY attempt to pass on those fees breeches your contract with Paypal. That is not to say you can't work the fees into your selling price... you just can't advertise that you do. I see sellers in the Exchange tacking on PP fees and it makes me cringe because they could get dinged by Paypal at any time and are at risk of membership termination.

Paypal's fees are much more reasonable for a small online business than most eCommerce software/Bank services. It removes much of the responsibility and headaches of website shopping carts, securing CC info and exchanging international currencies. It is all relative, though. A business that moves a LOT of money could benefit from purchased eCommerce programs.

Anyway... In short, many people view Paypal as a greedy, evil, monopolizing company. I personally think that is an uneducated conclusion. Paypal has served me well.
 
I'd like to see people do 2.9% + $.30 instead of asking for 4% or whatever random number they come up with.
 
Fanglekai said:
I'd like to see people do 2.9% + $.30 instead of asking for 4% or whatever random number they come up with.
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Considering that I just pointed out that publicly charging for Paypal Fees is in breech of the user agreement and subject to PP membership termination... I would rather not see it at all and have folks incorporate it into the selling price(behind the scenes) if they so chose.
 
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