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help! trying to understand paypal


JamesG

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I'm quite new to ebay and I've just sold something on it. Only problem is that the buyer has sent the payment via credit card (i selected Paypal only but i think Paypal supports this).

 

This would be okay, but the email from Paypal says that I cannot accept payment as my account is a "Personal" one and that I need to upgrade to "Premier/Business". If I do this, all payments into my account will be charged in future (1.9% - 3.4%). The Personal one is free to accept payments.

 

I'm not really sure what to do now. I could tell the buyer to choose another method of payment, but this would probably piss him off. If I accept it and change to a Premier/Business account, this transaction will cost me an extra fiver in fees and I won't be able to receive money for free any more.

 

Advice greatly appreciated.

 

James.

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Welcome to the world of rip off eBay (they own Paypal) - it's a cunning plan they use to lure people to sign up on Paypal and then the promise of a payment forces you to 'upgrade' and get charged.

 

Initially I'd probably contact the buyer and explain the situation and see if they can send the payment using Paypal funds or another option and then in any future auctions mention that you can't accept credit card payments. Or upgrade and pay the cash / add 3% to the final selling price to cover costs.

 

Personally I just took the business account and get shafted, you pay to list the item, you pay a percentage of the selling price and then they charge you to accept the payment, it's no wonder eBay are doing so well ;)

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Yeah payments coming in are charged but only a £1 or what ever the amount is. Payment debited the account is free. You need to do this really is you want to sell alot of stuff on ebay as it is the main payment method. In the mean time you could ask them for a cheque.

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As far as I know it always costs a percentage to receive momey, paypal have to get their cut for the services used. :)

 

Not on the personal account, this is offered as being free as a carrot on a stick but they offer no real way to notify buyers that you can't accept certain payments.

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Tell you will accept (you will have to upgrade) but he will have to pay the extra fees, if he says no then say he will have to pay by another means.

No, you're not allowed to do that on Ebay anymore, if you've agreed to accept paypal then you have to pay the charge if you're receiving the money.

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Tell you will accept (you will have to upgrade) but he will have to pay the extra fees, if he says no then say he will have to pay by another means.

 

The problem is that the buyer has purchased the item on the grounds that the listing mentions paypal is accepted and doesn't have any mention of additional charges. Therefore the contract is made and the buyer appears to have gone by the book and done everything properly. I'd upgrade and accept this one and put the loss down to experience (it's all in the FAQs on the Paypal site) - in the future try to cover your paypal fees by asking for them from the seller in the listing or add a little bit to the postage costs and be sneaky :)

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in the future try to cover your paypal fees by asking for them from the seller in the listing or add a little bit to the postage costs and be sneaky :)

Are you allowed to ask for paypal fees in the listing, thought they stopped this?

 

Like you say, cover your costs with the postage.

 

I don't think you can expect to use Paypal for free though. :D

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Are you allowed to ask for paypal fees in the listing, thought they stopped this?

 

I don't remember seeing anything about it but I tend to ignore most things they send me :)

 

I don't think you can expect to use Paypal for free though. :D

 

I didn't mind the fees when they were their own company but now eBay own them I think it's a little rude that they charge so much, they make enough money in interest just by having so much of other people's cash in their accounts IMO :)

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Thanks very much everyone. That really cleared things up. I wasn't sure if I'd missed something - now I know they stitch you up!

 

I plan to sell more stuff in the future so I'm going to upgrade and put up with the extra fees.

 

The Paypal email definitely said I was entitled to refuse the payment, but I think that would be horribly messy considering the payment must already have been authorised by the credit card company and the buyer now assumes he has paid.

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