PayPal and You

Professor said:
I think Paypal absorbing 3.5% of transactions is excessive when you're buying/selling custom pieces ranging in the thousands of dollars. For them to assert flat fees on a scale based on purchase price would make more sense, to me at least. It's a double whammy when buying selling on the Bay, where you're being charged by both Paypal and the Bay.

On smaller purchases, no, I don't think it's unreasonable. I find Paypal convenient and expedient in all instances.

I'm guilty of requesting addition of the 3.5% rather than simply building it in, since I've sold things by example, having seen others do this for years. I intend to change my practices, however, to build the price in, as I see everyone's points in this and similar threads. I'm also not too stubborn to change at 38 years of age. :)

Prof.
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I have spent many, many hours searching for an alternative to PayPal, and I hate to sound like a shill, so if anyone knows different from what I say below I would love to be set straight.

Check with your bank or other major card processor and see what the requirements and fees are to process credit card payments. You will have monthly fees for equipment, minimum monthly fees for the privilege, and in addition to the roughly 2.5% base discount rate, 3.5% for Amex (also charged on the entire purchase price with no "ceiling" just like PP) you will pay additional fees ranging from .5% up to 2% or more when your buyer uses a credit card that accrues "miles", "points" or "rewards" towards all kinds of neat "free" things for them (someone has to pay for that, and it sure ain't gonna be the bank). There are additional costs/fees to be set up to accept credit card payments through your own website as well.

The number one shortcoming of every other credit card processor I can find, and makes the PP fees almost trivial? ZERO "seller protection" for online transactions. Which means if you don't have the cardholder and his/her card physically presented to you and you swipe it in your terminal and have the cardholder sign a receipt for the purchase, the cardholder can claim he didn't authorize the purchase and you will (in all likelihood) be left using the legal system to try and recover your money/property. Even PayPal doesn't protect you when you use their service designed to take payments over the phone.

It does take a few days to transfer money from PayPal to your checking account, but there is no charge to do it.

I have found PayPal to be superior in almost every way I can imagine to traditional card processors for a small business that primarily does business online or over the phone.
YMMV
 
Use it all the time and will continue. The convienience is the big thing for me. I personally have no issue with the fees and often pay them for purchases from individuals rather than gifting and such. I have done that but won't any longer. They provide a service and deserve to be paid. Basicly it's their sandbox and they make the rules. If I don't want to pay I'll just go away.

The only issue I ever had with them was when I paid for something through them while out of town. The different ISP address threw up a flag and they froze my account. One phone call with a very helpful representative fixed it. She asked a few questions that only I would know the answer to and we were done.
 
I like paypal alot, its easy, quick and keeps a file of all transactions et. al. The creator evidently had a genius of an idea.
 
Ken44 said:
They suck! I can't even get Contender barrels with PP(or ebay) anymore!

The giant monopoly really needs some competition, but they have gotton so big I feel they will never have any, and can continue with there high fee's and political agenda.
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You can't buy gun barrels with a CC from an online shopping cart? PP is a private business and can unfortunately choose to sell or not sell whatever they want.

Ken44 said:
I've never been ripped off, but feel they don't protect the seller as they should IMO. There was a recent thread about a guy from Canada that has ripped off a few people claiming he didn't recieve the knife and would file a PP dispute. I'll never ship out of CONUS if PP is involved.
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I'm sorry, but if you are getting ripped off it is because you are not covering your own butt. I have yet to see a thread claiming a rip-off where I haven't shook my head knowing it was the accuser's fault. The OP of that thread you refer to did EVERYTHING WRONG and knew it... he might as well just sent the guy some money as a free gift..... bad example but a common theme. The fact that the scammer was from Canada has nothing to do with it. He could have easily been scammed in the US... so the whole CONUS thing confuses me, too. TRACKING, SIGNATURES. Try selling your goods through a pawn shop for 25-45% consignment or place a newspaper add that only reaches your county readers, hold a yard sale, drive across the state to find a store that has what you need, thumb through the yellow pages for your next purchase.... then tell me how EBAY and PP fees suck. It is an online service that requires upkeep, not a stagnant webpage where you post stuff up like corkboard. I agree with your comment that they need competition... but until somebody steps up to the plate, we have what we have.

I double-dog-dare you to look into merchant software and banking options that allow you to process cutomer payments...... you will be very surprized at the crap you have to go thru and fee you have to pay, just to have someone use a CC to buy from you......... and the security is practically non-existent!!

Ken44 said:
And I'm sure not going to eat there fee's if it is a very expensive knife. I like usps mo's, and will give a 3.2% discount on a high dollar item paid with usps mo.

Way to many threads pop up here about PP, and CONUS shipping. Maybe a sticky up top for these two issue's are needed, because it seems these type of threads about PP will NEVER stop.
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You may want to reconsider USPS m/o's and postal shipments for that matter... http://blogs4victory.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/us-postal-service-on-the-brink-of-bankruptcy/

Please link me to a thread where the buyer/seller did everything right and still got scammed? That is what this is all about, really. I too am sick of these threads because folks seem to fall into the same traps over and over again.
 
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FLymon said:
I have spent many, many hours searching for an alternative to PayPal, and I hate to sound like a shill, so if anyone knows different from what I say below I would love to be set straight.

Check with your bank or other major card processor and see what the requirements and fees are to process credit card payments. You will have monthly fees for equipment, minimum monthly fees for the privilege, and in addition to the roughly 2.5% base discount rate, 3.5% for Amex (also charged on the entire purchase price with no "ceiling" just like PP) you will pay additional fees ranging from .5% up to 2% or more when your buyer uses a credit card that accrues "miles", "points" or "rewards" towards all kinds of neat "free" things for them (someone has to pay for that, and it sure ain't gonna be the bank). There are additional costs/fees to be set up to accept credit card payments through your own website as well.

The number one shortcoming of every other credit card processor I can find, and makes the PP fees almost trivial? ZERO "seller protection" for online transactions. Which means if you don't have the cardholder and his/her card physically presented to you and you swipe it in your terminal and have the cardholder sign a receipt for the purchase, the cardholder can claim he didn't authorize the purchase and you will (in all likelihood) be left using the legal system to try and recover your money/property. Even PayPal doesn't protect you when you use their service designed to take payments over the phone.

It does take a few days to transfer money from PayPal to your checking account, but there is no charge to do it.

I have found PayPal to be superior in almost every way I can imagine to traditional card processors for a small business that primarily does business online or over the phone.
YMMV
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Out of the park, brother.... out of the park.
 
Ha! Nice, Ken... point taken... I apologize if that came off as rude. Thanks for replying.
 
I have had several businesses over the years and Paypal's fees are just something I have to pay, I find it more affordable than setting up and paying for a credit card machine.
 
Rick Marchand said:
Ha! Nice, Ken... point taken... I apologize if that came off as rude. Thanks for replying.
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I'm not sure that it was rude, but it is 100% correct. Nice
If you ship within your own country without insurance, delivery comfirmation, and signature and the buyer claimed he did not receive the item PayPal would side with the buyer as well. International is not the problem, the type of shipping service paid for is.
As far as custom seizures I do not believe PayPal would back a claim where the buyer tried to import something illegal to the country.
 
I'm not sure that it was rude, but it is 100% correct. Nice
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Well, Ken gave his comment and I kinda picked it apart... I hate it when folks do it to me (which happens a lot... lol)
 
masa said:
I used to sell on ebay and paypal sides with the buyer. If a buyer buys from you a knife and claims that they did not receive it and receive something cheap instead and files for a refund, I do not know if the seller would win the case.

If the buyer opts for no insurance/ tracking, he literally can get it free.
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You need to know the rules and you need to follow good practice. Insurance has NOTHING TO WITH THE BUYER. Insurance is available to PROTECT THE SELLER.

I don't care what the buyer wants. I will buy insurance to repay me if the shipment goes astray. I will quote a price that includes everything, and specify how much of that is shipping. The rest is the price, take it or leave it.

The buyer has no say in insurance. The seller should know enough to insist on it.
 
http://www.paypalsucks.org/


As I understand it, quite a lot of people have had funds seized.

If you are reported for selling knives - a restricted item according to their policy, you can have your $ seized.
Possibly the bank account connected with it affected too.


I use it for sending payments, but for receiving payments - only low value non-knife stuff that I can afford to lose.
 
12345678910 said:
http://www.paypalsucks.org/


As I understand it, quite a lot of people have had funds seized.

If you are reported for selling knives - a restricted item according to their policy, you can have your $ seized.
Possibly the bank account connected with it affected too.


I use it for sending payments, but for receiving payments - only low value non-knife stuff that I can afford to lose.
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eBay sells thousands of knives and people pay with paypal. Never heard of what you are claiming.
 
12345678910 said:
http://www.paypalsucks.org/


As I understand it, quite a lot of people have had funds seized.

If you are reported for selling knives - a restricted item according to their policy, you can have your $ seized.
Possibly the bank account connected with it affected too.


I use it for sending payments, but for receiving payments - only low value non-knife stuff that I can afford to lose.
Click to expand...

From Paypalsucks.org:

What's Going On?
Currently Active Users: 57 (0 members and 57 guests)
View Who's Online
Most users ever online was 401, 06-19-2009 at 04:48 AM.
PayPalSucks.ORG Forums Statistics
Threads: 31, Posts: 65, Members: 838


That forum has been around since at least 2005. That is roughly 1 new thread every 10 weeks, and the threads average 2 posts in each.
Those 57 guests are probably the people from this forum who clicked on 12345678910's link.
A company as big as PayPal can't generate any more haters than this? They're doing better than I thought.
 
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12345678910 said:
http://www.paypalsucks.org/


As I understand it, quite a lot of people have had funds seized.

If you are reported for selling knives - a restricted item according to their policy, you can have your $ seized.
Possibly the bank account connected with it affected too.


I use it for sending payments, but for receiving payments - only low value non-knife stuff that I can afford to lose.
Click to expand...


In fact it says only CERTAIN knives regulated by law:

You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:
1.
violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation

2.
relate to sales of (a) narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety, (b) drug paraphernalia, (c) items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity, (d) items that promote hate, violence, racial intolerance, or the financial exploitation of a crime, (e) items that are considered obscene, (f) items that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary right under the laws of any jurisdiction, (g) certain sexually oriented materials or services, or (h) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or (i) ,certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law
 
GWashington1732 said:
I hate Paypal. I used it twice for buying stuff and hated it, I found it confusing, so I closed down my account. Though, I don't do much selling, or buying for that matter. The whole concept is unappealing to me; it just bothers me for some reason. No thanks Paypal, I'll stick with waiting in line for my money orders if I have to sell something.
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Confusing?... like infernal-internet-clicking-buttons-and-typing confusing or math-in-your-head-understanding-what-you-read confusing. OR.... if you don't like it..... "juss cuz"... thats fair enough and equally confusing, I guess.

Rick
 
I found your post frustrating and annoying. Go back to Whine & Cheese to complain about reality being too hard to understand. This is a serious and important discussion. Your intellectual incapacity is not PayPal's fault.
 
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