posted on November 14, 2000 05:31:29 PM
For Sellers who must charge a fee for Paypal useage -- and they do exist, I then suggest that they refuse to accept Paypal altogether and direct their customers to more respectable online institutions.
posted on November 14, 2000 05:46:51 PM
amy:
mrpotatoheadd:
It's nice to see that there are a few folks around who "get it".
PayPal is the "merchant" in the credit card transaction. The seller pays PayPal a fee for the service of transferring cash from the buyer's PayPal account to the seller's PayPal account. The seller never has any involvement with the buyer's credit card or bank account whatsoever. PayPal does. It's beyond me why this is such a difficult concept to understand.
It's also beyond me why eBay seems to be taking the position that the seller is the "merchant" as far as a credit card transaction goes. But it does indeed apear that they are taking this position. Simply incredible.
posted on November 14, 2000 05:50:06 PM
Jwpc..I wasn't addressing what you said specifically. I was addressing the mistaken notion some have that it is illegal for paypal to pass the fees onto us, the sellers.
Do the current paypal rules forbid the seller from passing the fees on to the buyer? Note, I said CURRENT as paypal's rules are changed more often than a baby's diapers are.
Setting the ebay or paypal rules aside for a moment and assuming the argument that the seller isn't the merchant account and is not covered under the credit card rules or laws is correct...just how does passing on the fees give all sellers a bad name? It is normal business practice to recover all costs to a business from the business' customers. When we buy something we presume the business built in all costs + a profit...so why is it unethical to pass along the paypal (or billpoint) fees.
posted on November 14, 2000 05:57:39 PM
Abington...I'm not so sure Ebay really believes the sellers who accept paypal or billpoint come under the credit card laws. I think it is a convenient "hook" to hang their rule on.
Although there is nothing unethical about passing on fees to buyers, when the buyers see the added fees (instead of the fees being hid in the opening bid price or a handling fee or fixed shipping fee), the buyers get angry. I think ebay thinks the passing on of fees would drive many buyers away.
In my opinion, ebay forbids this practice to keep the buyers happy.
posted on November 14, 2000 06:07:26 PM
How about this for a TOS:
"A certain payment service is charging me 2% to accept it. Ebay and some folks feel that it is not fair to make buyers pay it just for choosing to use this service. I am therefore adding 2% handling fee to the final price. If you agree with Ebay and these folks, pay the 2% no matter what method you use to pay. If you disagree, pay with Exchangepath, Moneyzap, Payplace, Achex, existing Paypal balance, check or money order and I will waive the handling fee."
Want to take bets on how many of my auctions winners will pay the 2%? In the past 2 weeks, a grand total of zero.
Excellent suggestion in your last post. One question however:
How can you as the seller "enforce" your rule that the only PayPal payment that you will accept is non-credit card? You cannot refuse a PayPal payment. It just shows up in your account. You won't know the source of the funds until the transaction is complete (by then it's too late). Am I missing something? Is there a way to "enforce" it?
BTW I have started adding the link to your PayPal page to my EOAs. I'll let you know how well it works out for me.
posted on November 14, 2000 06:28:40 PM
I have both a personal and a business account. I tell my buyers I only accept CC payment from verified accounts and they must add the 2%. This payment must be made to my business account. If they are paying non-cc, they can send it to my personal account. I add that if they omit the 2% or are not verified or send cc payment to my personal account, I will return the payment minus 2%. I started this about 4 weeks ago and so far the few PP payments I received were non-cc. Only one PP payment in the last two weeks. And no, I don't see a drop in business.
