Paypal FnF

G

gkgeiger

Basic Member
Feedback: +0 / =0 / -0
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
55
At the top of the Exchange page it says Exchange rules, no PP FF. So why does every item being sold say FF and Zelle only?
 
No, you're right. This is what it says.
  • The rules for The Exchange can be found here. Please read and follow them. Stop using Paypal Friends & Family and follow our best practices to prevent getting ripped off or having a bad deal.
 
People don’t want to pay income taxes when they sell used items. PayPal now collects taxes as income if you sell $x worth of stuff in a year. This is based off G&S sales you make. Hope that helps.
 
The reason I asked is I don’t use PP or Zelle. I have bought and sold a lot of firearms and firearm equipment on several gun sites. I personally prefer accepting and paying with a check. Obviously the seller can hold the item until the check clears. As I stated originally most ads say PP or Zelle only. I guess I just won’t buy from them. Thanks for the replies.
 
gkgeiger said:
The reason I asked is I don’t use PP or Zelle. I have bought and sold a lot of firearms and firearm equipment on several gun sites. I personally prefer accepting and paying with a check. Obviously the seller can hold the item until the check clears. As I stated originally most ads say PP or Zelle only. I guess I just won’t buy from them. Thanks for the replies.
Click to expand...
Like is said above, it is due to taxes...if someone wants to write a check and wait for it to clear, i have no issues doing that either. Not many people do that anymore, so i don't really advertise that in my posts. Never hurts to ask the seller if it's something you want
 
LOL When I started it was all USPS MO's, and the "scam" or hassle you had to watch for was fake Western Union MO's. It was cool when you'd been around long enough that folks would trust you enough to ship the same day you mailed your MO. Good times...

Anyhow, times change, and stay the same. Like Ben, I also accespt MO's and checks, but of course, it doesn't ship until it clears, and I never think to list them as an option on a for sale posts.
 
It's not for tax reasons it's to reduce scamming on BF. If you pay F&F that's basically a gift with no recourse if/when things go badly. When you pay G&S there is a better chance of recovering your payment.

The scam goes like this:

A person lists a knife for sale.

Someone replies and says "I'll take it but I can't PM because I'm not a paid member so here's my email." (They post their email publicly).

Minutes later a third party scammer contacts the Buyer via email and says "Great please send the payment via F&F to this address (and they provide an email that has nothing to do with the seller).

The Buyer sends the Scammer money.
The Seller knows nothing about this.
The Buyer has lost their money and the Seller has lost their sale.

DO NOT POST YOUR EMAIL OR ACCEPT F&F
 
XJ-linux said:
People don’t want to pay income taxes when they sell used items. PayPal now collects taxes as income if you sell $x worth of stuff in a year. This is based off G&S sales you make. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Certainly mostly tax related, but
IMO more that they don't want to keep the ecords needed and file the tax forms. Most won't be paying much or ny un taxes, since they don't make a profit
While i understand this, I still think PP G&S is the proper way to go,and would help(though not all you can do) getting rid of the scammers
Spark and the mods have given good guidance, it is up to the members to take it.
 
Last edited:
Peter Hartwig said:
Certainly mostly tax related, but
IMO more that they don't want to keep the ecords needed and file the tax forms. Most won't be paying much or ny un taxes, since they don't make a profit
While i understand this, I still think PP G&S is the proper way to go,and would help(though not all you can do) getting rid of the scammers
Spark and the mods have given good guidance, it is up to the members to take it.
Click to expand...
Correct, we shouldn't have to keep records to prove to the IRS that we didn't make a profit selling something we were already taxed on when purchasing. That's why people use F&F. This isn't a side business for 99% of folks here, and shouldn't be scrutinized as such.
 
The main reason is people want the benefit of using a service that transfers money relatively painlessly most of the time but don’t want to pay for that service. The tax issue is relatively new,the people who think it’s just fine and dandy to use a service without paying for it have been doing so far longer than PayPal started doing anything to do with taxes owed or reporting sales to the IRS.
 
JohnWE said:
The main reason is people want the benefit of using a service that transfers money relatively painlessly most of the time but don’t want to pay for that service. The tax issue is relatively new,the people who think it’s just fine and dandy to use a service without paying for it have been doing so far longer than PayPal started doing anything to do with taxes owed or reporting sales to the IRS.
Click to expand...
True- there have always been those thst did not want to pay, but they were a minority(and buyer would have had no problem just paying the fees). Now the majority are asking for F&F, many of whom were against the use before.
The tax situation has certainly created a problem, but I can't see how the Fed would sort out the hobby sale from those using PP for income, until you file. That is when you can make your case that there are no profits.
I still use G&S when selling, but admittedly try to keep under the limits, so as not to have to file. I have an accountant, so the work would be minimum, but I am sure there would be a charge. Which would furter my losses.. On purchases i might offer a money order , if I really want the item, but pass on many.
I do wish the limit was at a reasonable level vs the future $600.
 
Last edited:
gkgeiger said:
The reason I asked is I don’t use PP or Zelle. I have bought and sold a lot of firearms and firearm equipment on several gun sites. I personally prefer accepting and paying with a check. Obviously the seller can hold the item until the check clears. As I stated originally most ads say PP or Zelle only. I guess I just won’t buy from them. Thanks for the replies.
Click to expand...

One thing to note, using a check or MO is pretty uncommon, to the point that most of us don't think to add that as a payment option. I've sent and received both, and would again after my trading partner and I vet each other. So don't be afraid to PM a seller and ask, they just might.
 
Peter Hartwig said:
Certainly mostly tax related, but
IMO more that they don't want to keep the ecords needed and file the tax forms. Most won't be paying much or ny un taxes, since they don't make a profit
While i understand this, I still think PP G&S is the proper way to go,and would help(though not all you can do) getting rid of the scammers
Spark and the mods have given good guidance, it is up to the members to take it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm in one of the '$600 states', so don't accept G&S for that reason. You can actually protect yourself quite a bit by funding F&F with your credit card, and doing a chargeback if paypal refuses to help. One caveat is that you also need to vet your buyer no matter what form of payment you accept, because of the possibility of the aforementioned chargeback or other hijinx.
 
Lone_Wolfe said:
Yeah, I'm in one of the '$600 states', so don't accept G&S for that reason. You can actually protect yourself quite a bit by funding F&F with your credit card, and doing a chargeback if paypal refuses to help. One caveat is that you also need to vet your buyer no matter what form of payment you accept, because of the possibility of the aforementioned chargeback or other hijinx.
Click to expand...
Doing a chargeback on a PPFF transaction after reaching out to PP for "help" is a good way of getting yourself banned off of PP.

Do what you like but PPFF is just not a good idea if you don't know and trust the other person. And that's putting aside the obvious issue of ripping PP off.

If the tax considerations are your concern then PPFF isn't some magic bullet. The tax authorities, state or federal, aren't stupid and they have (or can easily get) your PPFF transactions just like that can get anything else.
 
ooitzoo said:
Doing a chargeback on a PPFF transaction after reaching out to PP for "help" is a good way of getting yourself banned off of PP.
Click to expand...

That's why I said "if paypal refuses to help". I thought the implication that you would have contacted them first was pretty clear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top