Ebay seller charging to use paypal

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Posted By: Shannon

This is the first time I have seen this, a seller charging 2.9% of the total price to use paypal. What do you all think?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8742590842

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Posted By: .

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

Everytime this has happened to me I have politely informed the seller of Paypal's policy [once I had to send him a copy of the Paypal conditions]and he has promptly dropped the fee.

Frank

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Posted By: Shannon

I emailed the seller with those exact words. Oh yeah I also told them it is ajoke for charging those fees.

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Posted By: Bob S

FWIW,

I totally agree withe Frank and Blacksox.

Bob S

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Posted By: Keith

I know it is not the popular opinion, but I have no problem with what this seller did (I know, I know, its against the rules).
The seller has to pay the listing fees and the final value fees. And on top of that has to give a percentage to paypal? Thats ridiculous. I have a problem with Paypal fees in the first place, especially given that ebay and paypal are owned by the same corporation.
I think paypal gives benefit to both the buyer and seller. I know I hate those rare occasions when a seller doesn't accept paypal and I have to trudge off to the postoffice to get a money order. I think splitting the paypal fees in half is a fine alternative, since both parties are gaining from the ease and convenience of instant online payment.

KJ

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Hi Keith,
It doesn't have anything to do with being "popular", it's simply against the law to pass along processing fees for credit purchases. Best Buy, Sears, McDonalds, PayPal, all play by the same rules. I'm sure Best Buy would rather have me pay cash for my new computer, but since they "choose" to accept American Express, they must not charge extra for the processing fee's it will cost them. So, if you don't want to pay processing fee's don't accept PAYPAL, but I believe the convience of the service and the increase in the number of bids in your autions will make the added fee tolerable. Be well Brian

PS I am not a lawyer, but do own a company that accepts all major charge cards.

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Posted By: pete

I agree with keith on this one...although i do use paypal on most if not all of my sales and purchases, I hate having to pay $44 for a sale of a $1500 card so I wont accept paypal on large item cards/sales, I will split the fee in most cases or just wont accept it for that deal.

Paypal should do a flat fee for ebay sales instead of a % of the purchase price...they dont have to be greedy

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Posted By: jay behrens

Pete, you logic about not accepting it on large purchases is flawed. The fee you pay is something like 30 cents pllus 2.9% of the amount. Your actual percentage is much smaller when you sell items for a large amount of money than if you make a $40 sale. Example, if you sell a card for $100, you pay $3.20, or 3.2%. On a $1000 sale, you pay $29.30, 2.93%. In the long run, you are costing yourself more money taking paypal for small purchases than if you took it for large purchases.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: Jason

I no longer take paypal as a method of payment and my auctions seem to do fine. Of course I value customer service so that helps. Some people inflate shipping to compensate. I choose just to accept checks or MOs. I am very happy waiting on those. Paypal is a convenience that you will PAY for. If you can wait a little while just don't accept it. When the dust settles at the end of the day......if you don't like the terms (shipping fees, handling fees, restocking fees, papyal fees, etc..) just dont bid!

regards,
Jason

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Posted By: CN

I find that I am much more likely to not bid on a card unless they accept paypal. The only exceptions are sellers I have dealt with before and know my cards will be shipped out promptly. I hate waiting 3 weeks for my cards to arrive. CN

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Posted By: Scot Reader

I sell and buy cards on ebay. I pay with paypal whenever possible as a buyer and accept paypal as a seller. I take the laissez faire view that ebay/paypal should be able to charge whatever they want for their services. However, I think ebay/paypal would be wise to lower paypal fees in order to encourage more sellers to accept paypal. The number of sellers who refuse to accept paypal due to high fees is nontrivial and this is lost revenue to ebay/paypal. Plus I am sick and tired of running to the post office to get money orders.

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Posted By: rob

It works in a very simple way: a seller accepts Paypal, the item is mailed, if the seller does not buy delivery confirmation, the buyer claims he did not receive the item, then Paypal screws the seller. Paypal disregards YOUR rules as a seller. This has happened to me once for a small $ item, it WON'T happen 3 times.

You can not buy delivery confirmation on an item which is less than .75 inches thick. I've stuffed newspaper in an envelope before for a high $ card to get this service where the buyer doesn't purchase insurance.

SC Gaynor had stated in his listings in the past how Paypal has screwed him, which is why he doesn't take it. There are several websites which have a litany of horror stories of Paypal ripping off sellers. Perhaps Paypal is better now, but I doubt it.

BTW, IT'S NOT AGAINST THE LAW IN MANY STATES to charge paypal fees, I know it's not in my state. It's a PAypal policy. As far I am concerned, as long as a seller does not put a Paypal icon on their listing, you should be able to use a phrase, "Paypal accepted by special arrangement", ie buyer pays the fees. I did that for a while, but some do-gooder didn't like that, so I got a nasty gram from Ebay to stop.

At this point, I take Paypal after hiking the handling fees. I do appreciate how Paypal gets you a better price even on moderate priced items, if either the winning bidder OR the underbidder (the underbidder importance is lost on many people) don't show up, or don't bid as aggressively without a Payoal option, that slighly lowered price can be more than the Paypal fees for a half dozen auctions. I also think Paypal can be useful where there's an impulse buy and someone can instantly pay. But you don't see the big auction houses taking credit cards, the guys spending 50K on an item got the cash to spend.

Of course, on a $10 item, that 6%, plus another .55 for delivery confirmation. So charge for shipping accordingly.

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Posted By: Charlie O'Neal

I have been thinking about dropping Paypal for my auctions b/c of the additional fees and switching to BidPay. From the way I understand it the Buyer pays the fees for the transaction in return I would offer free shipping and insurance would be added into that when the amount was over $100. Does anyone use BidPay often? Think this idea would work?

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Posted By: jay behrens

PayPal still screws the seller, even when you use DC. I recent sold a Warfield concert poster. The post shipping tube was crushed by the post office and the buyer filed a complaint with PayPal that the item he bought was not as described. Well, duh. But is was crushed by the post office, not me. Yet PayPal refunded the money.

The most frustrating aspect of the process is that there is no way for you as the seller to give PayPal your side of what is happening. Your only options are refund money, refund partial money, or no refund. After that, PayPal will decide after an "investigation" (ROTFLMFAO!!!) what to do. I was contacted by PayPal, yet it was determined that I was the one that damaged the item.

I have no idea how PayPal determined the item was damaged and they didn't bother to ask me anything about the incident until AFTER it was settled. I told them, what's the point in asking me what occured after everything has been settled. Their response was that they wanted to make sure that I was satisified with how everything happened. Needless to say, I told them their whole process is a total joke and the seller doesn't stand a chance when a buyer files a claim against them because PayPal doesn't do an investigation when they claim that they do. All they did was keep saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" to all my complaints.

I would prefer to not take paypal, but it does make a difference in the final price of auctions.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: Bob S

As I just posted on another thread, thanks, folks for great posts in response to Shannon's question.

I'm learning a lot and everyone who posts their opinions on these "logistical" issues deserves a big

Bob S

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Posted By: John Effenheim

You can get delivery confirmation if you print your 1st class mailing label off on Paypal, and it costs only 13 cents. (Free is you're sending the item Priority mail). According to the guidelines on Paypal's website "If not greater than ¾ of an inch thick, the contents must be prepared in a strong and rigid container." I just shipped several cards this way in bubble mailers. Since the cards were enclosed in 2 pieces of cardboard, I figured I had the "strong and rigid" criterion met. I was also able to check on the delivery status right on Paypal's website. All were delivered without a hitch.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Our local post office won't take even if it is packed as you described. They said that the thickness requirement is there because of the way the automated sorting machine handles the mail. The cheapest solution is to just throw a single piece of foam popcorn into the envelope.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: John Effenheim

I had the same problem trying to take them to the counter of our local post office. This time I just dropped them in the mailbox. I paid for postage, insurance, and delivery confirmation right out my Paypal account and it was coded right on the mailing label. The printout from Paypal also gives you a receipt.