Paypal for knives

cramsey3006

cramsey3006

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Aug 2, 2010
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Not sure where to put this, so mods feel free to find a suitable home for it. :thumbup:

I see posts all the time like this:

paypal +3%, paypal +4%, etc.

I know it's because paypal charges fees...

BUT...

If you have the paypal payment sent as a gift (either to you or from you) under the personal section where you choose payment type, then there aren't any fees. :D

I don't remember to do it every time, but more often than not, I do. Saves me a little, saves them a little.
 
People are in business to make a profit and pay employees. If it is not a gift, it should not be marked as a gift in my opinion. Again this is just my opinion, when I use a service that charges a fee for what I am using the service for, I expect to pay the fee. If everyone tried to avoid the fees, how long will the business that is liked and used by many survive?

By misrepresenting the payment type as a gift, I feel it is nothing more than theft.
That is just my opinion based on my personal interpretation of what is right vs wrong. Three percent is not the level at which I am willing to bend a rule and avoid fees by misrepresenting a fact. YMMV.
 
Bastid said:
People are in business to make a profit and pay employees. If it is not a gift, it should not be marked as a gift in my opinion. Again this is just my opinion, when I use a service that charges a fee for what I am using the service for, I expect to pay the fee. If everyone tried to avoid the fees, how long will the business that is liked and used by many survive?

By misrepresenting the payment type as a gift, I feel it is nothing more than theft.
That is just my opinion based on my personal interpretation of what is right vs wrong. Three percent is not the level at which I am willing to bend a rule and avoid fees by misrepresenting a fact. YMMV.
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Absolutely. +1
 
I did the "GIFT" thing recently at the request of the seller and was charged $1.78 so looks like Paypal has caught on.
 
It's a gray area, IMO. When paypal first started, it was a free service to encourage fast and easy payments for ebay auctions.

It was only after it took off and they started promoting it for all types of internet purchases AND spun it off into it's own entity that they created business accounts, started charging fees, etc.

I have a paypal business account and I never ASK anyone to send as a gift. Some do, some don't. I also NEVER pass along the fees to people who buy from me.

Do you also know that a seller that has chosen to accept credit cards or other electronic payment methods that charge a service fee is not legally able to charge the customer an extra fee to cover the expense?

BTW, do all of you pay sales tax for your state on out-of-state internet purchases? If you don't, then you're cheating your home state out of revenue. Just sayin'.
 
If the buyer pays by sending the PP as a "Gift" he/she loses the right to file a claim should something fraudulent happen. If the seller asks for it to be sent as a "Gift", the buyer had better be aware of this. I would be extremely wary of buying from a seller who demands this form of payment.

If the seller's terms are "$XXX +3.9% or as Gift", it's the buyer's prerogative to pay the fees, take the risk, or simply choose not to deal with that seller, for whatever reason(s), be it for cost, morality, or "buyer beware" reasons.

I was only recently aware of this "Gift" option, having received payment for a knife this way and being surprised that no fees were charged. In my more recent sales, I asked that payment be sent as a gift*, but I made it very clear about them losing the right to file a fraud claim, I thought that was only fair. If they had preferred for that reason, or for ethical reasons, to pay the traditional way, I of course would have accepted and eaten the fees. No way would I have charged the extra 3.9% - I don't understand the people who do this...why wouldn't they just add the fees into the asking cost of the item?

The thing is, PayPal used to have different fees for different accounts. A "Personal" account didn't charge fees, but a "Premier" (I think that was what it was called) did. A Personal account couldn't accept CC payments, but a Premier could. Then they changed it so a Personal account could, but charged like a 6% fee. Then they changed Person accounts to a flat fee. Then they changed definitions and fees about 8 bazillion times since then. They've also changed the amounts/times you can PP balances into a bank account. I have no idea when the "Gift" option came to be. The fact that it used to be free and no longer is kinda gives me the feeling that I'm being bilked, which led me to ask for payment with the "Gift" option.

I fully understand the ethical/moral reasons people have against "cheating" PayPal out of their fees by sending a gift, even if I don't fully agree, at least in my case. If I were a power seller, or was selling on eBay, I'd feel different. Actually, I'm feeling different about it as I type this and think about it. Especially if I think of it as PP saving me time and a PITA visit to the bank to deal with a Money Order (and the buyer too, probably). One could also think of the fee as a "Piece of Mind" fee that you're selling to the buyer as fraud protection. I probably won't ask for for payment to be sent as a "Gift" again.

Although if the buyer does this of his own free will without asking, I'm not going to feel guilty and PP some money to PP.:rolleyes:

*FYI, if you use a credit card to send money as a "Gift", rather than using an existing PP balance, or the standard bank transfer, PayPal will charge the sender a fee, not the receiver. I found that out recently at the unfortunate expense of my one of my buyers, but we resolved the extra cost post-sale.
 
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cramsey3006 said:
When paypal first started, it was a free service to encourage fast and easy payments for ebay auctions.
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Are you sure? I have been with Paypal since they started and there have always been fees on the receiving end. Also, they were not associated with eBay the first few years and only became so embedded when eBay bought them out in the mid-1990's.

If you compare their cost to accept credit cards and provide for order tracking and shipment management; they are a bargain. I'm sure they will eliminate the "gift" option altogether due to people skirting the fees.
 
cramsey3006 said:
It's a gray area, IMO. When paypal first started, it was a free service to encourage fast and easy payments for ebay auctions.

It was only after it took off and they started promoting it for all types of internet purchases AND spun it off into it's own entity that they created business accounts, started charging fees, etc.
Click to expand...

I got curious, since I couldn't remember exactly when fees and account definitions started changing, so I did some quick research.

Actually, eBay started in 1995 (but exploded in 1997), and PayPal started in 1998. eBay bought PayPal in 2002. I first opened both a PayPal and eBay account in 2004 (joined PP to pay for something I just bought on eBay), so I don't know/remember when the fees started changing.
 
Planterz said:
*FYI, if you use a credit card to send money as a "Gift", rather than using an existing PP balance, or the standard bank transfer, PayPal will charge the sender a fee, not the receiver. I found that out recently at the unfortunate expense of my one of my buyers, but we resolved the extra cost post-sale.
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OK, this doesn't seem to be exactly the case either. I just checked my account and the transaction where my buyer paid by "Gift" with a credit card not only charged him a few bucks, but charged me the standard PP fees as well.:confused:
 
I was NEVER charged a fee by paypal until I changed to a business, premier, whatever it was called at the time, account.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Paypal/When-Did-Paypal/520184062

Couple of people talking about paypal........

I did some research into paypal.

Paypal didn't come into existance until 2000. Ebay acquired it in 2002.

Before paypal existed, in 1999, ebay acquired Billpoint and called it "ebay payments", but it was only good for ebay stuff. I was confused when I said paypal was started for ebay, this is what I was referring too. I thought it was the same company as paypal.

When paypal hit the market, you could use it for anything, not just ebay. It was so successful that ebay bought it and now the ebay corp. generates more revenue from paypal than it does from the auction site.

The ONLY thing I don't like about paypal and ebay is that they are so anti-gun. I know for a fact that paypal WILL close an account and freeze/confiscate the funds in it if they find out you're using it for firearms in any way that they don't agree with. It happened to a friend of mine and he spent months in litigation over it. He wasn't using it for complete and functional firearms, just gun parts, and he ended up winning the case and getting his money back from them.
 
I just checked mine, I had three people use the gift option and I didn't get charged any fees.

I think they'll get rid of the personal option soon, in my research, they dropped that option in Taiwan 7/2010, without giving users any notice about it.
 
I think if you're selling the product and have the convenience of getting instant payment,you should accept the fees incurrent and not plead for "gifts".Buyers throw away all protection when they send funds this way.
 
cramsey3006 said:
I just checked mine, I had three people use the gift option and I didn't get charged any fees.
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Must not have paid with a credit card. I had 3 transactions in 1 day (this is just last week), all used the "Gift" option. 2 had no fees taken. One did (he used a CC), plus he was charged a few bucks himself. I don't know what it charged though; he said it was less than $4, but mine had $5.81 taken out of a $190 total.

From PayPal's Fees page for "Personal Transfers"
Free when the money comes from PayPal balance or bank account.

2.9% + $0.30 USD

when the money comes from a debit or credit card or PayPal Credit

(the sender decides who pays this fee)..​
Click to expand...

The last bit seems to refer to a normal transfer vs "Gift", but I still don't understand why we were both charged, and charged different amounts.

The explanations they give are entirely too vague.
 
Planterz said:
*FYI, if you use a credit card to send money as a "Gift", rather than using an existing PP balance, or the standard bank transfer, PayPal will charge the sender a fee, not the receiver. I found that out recently at the unfortunate expense of my one of my buyers, but we resolved the extra cost post-sale.
Click to expand...

From what I understand, if you don't link your paypal account to your bank account or have a balance in paypal, when you choose "Gift" there is a checkbox asking if the sender is going to pay the fees or if the receiver is going to pay the fees. It even says "<Receiver> is going to receive $XXX.xx" So if you are paying $150 for something and you are paying the fees, it says "<Receiver> will receive $150"

I would rather pay via the standard method and be able to dispute any issues. I have had nothing but awesome transitions here on the Exchange, but I have also been burned on eBay and on other forums.

I would also rather the seller list a price that includes all fees and postage. Personally, I am willing to split (or even assume depending on the price) the fees on any transaction.
 
One problem I have is sellers all saying to add X% if using paypal. That's BS to me. I don't feel like I should have to cover the seller's fees. It's against the Paypal rules, as far as I know, to pass that fee on to the buyer. And, it just rubs me the wrong way, for some reason. I'm buying a $300 knife, and you're too cheap to eat your own fees? At least, if you -are- going to do it, just say you want $310 for the knife. That way you get your $300 plus your fees are covered.
 
Or, you could offer a small (say, 2.9% +$.30, perhaps) discount to those who don't pay with PayPal.:D

What I don't understand is people who say "PayPal Only" and still add the fees to their price. "PP+3% or MO" is one thing, "PP Only +fees is another".
 
EMT_Lee said:
One problem I have is sellers all saying to add X% if using paypal. That's BS to me. I don't feel like I should have to cover the seller's fees. It's against the Paypal rules, as far as I know, to pass that fee on to the buyer.
Click to expand...

It absolutely is.

4.5 No Surcharges. You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions.
 
People do it all the time on the net and it drives me crazy. To each their own, but unless it's a good deal or something that I can't readily find elsewhere, I won't pay the extra %.

What would those same people do if they went into Wal-mart and saw something for $9.99 and then saw a sign that said "+4% for using paypal or credit card"?

Think that they'd pay it? :rolleyes:
 
cramsey3006 said:
People do it all the time on the net and it drives me crazy. To each their own, but unless it's a good deal or something that I can't readily find elsewhere, I won't pay the extra %.

What would those same people do if they went into Wal-mart and saw something for $9.99 and then saw a sign that said "+4% for using paypal or credit card"?

Think that they'd pay it? :rolleyes:
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That is exactly what happens at some gas stations.

You see a sign with the price and then when you pull in, they say those were the "Cash Prices" and to add $0.05 a gallon if you pay by credit card.

I don't carry enough cash on me EVER to fill up my truck. Drives me nuts.
 
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