posted on September 12, 2000 10:28:49 PM new
Logging into my PayPal account tonight, I get a long message from them basically saying that I MUST UPGRADE if I sell anything at any time on any site.
The only people who can have Personal Accounts are those who use it strictly for personal use, i.e. buying stuff on eBay.
So, the time has finally come... PayPal is no longer free for eBay sellers.
Ah well, we knew it would happen.
I'll still stick with them... Cheaper than others I guess.
Just kind of disappointed that even us part-time eBay sellers have no choice in the matter.
"My possessions are causing me suspicion." - Neil Finn
posted on September 12, 2000 10:40:34 PM new
A Message to Our Sellers
X.com's Premier and Business Accounts have the web's best payment tools - they give online sellers the competitive edge. When you upgrade to either a Premier or Business Account, you'll enjoy all of the following benefits:
Receive Unlimited Credit Card Payments — Buyers can pay you with a credit card without affecting their spending limit.
Instant Purchase — Accept payments directly on your website or auction listing (and still earn $5 referral bonuses for new users).
Automatic Invoicing — We'll save you time by pre-filling your auction invoices.
Download Transaction History — To Quicken, QuickBooks, and Excel.
24/7 Customer Service — Around the clock live support.
You can take advantage of all these premium features for the low cost of 1.9% + 25¢ on payments received; there is no setup fee or monthly maintenance charge.
And, within the next month, Premier and Business users will also enjoy:
International Payments — Receive payments from 25 countries at no extra cost.
Debit Cards — Get cash from your PayPal account at any ATM, or use your debit card to buy from online or offline merchants.
High Yields — Earn income on funds in your PayPal account.
Electronic Checks — Accept payment from a sender's bank account at prices significantly below prevailing credit card rates.
All consumers are welcome to use our premium features by upgrading to a Premier or Business Account, but our terms of use require companies and individuals using PayPal for business use to upgrade. Our terms of use have stated since June that PayPal is free to consumers, but business users are required to operate using a Premier or Business Account.
What type of activity do we classify as "business use"? Using PayPal to collect payments for goods or services sold on a corporate website, personal homepage, or other forum counts as business use. Auction sellers — both individuals who make it a full time job and those who sell on a recurring, part-time basis — are also engaging in business use. If you have a Personal Account and you use it for business purposes, we ask that you comply with our terms of use and upgrade.
X.com is committed to keeping its PayPal service free for personal use. To remain a strong and viable business, however, we need sellers to accept their fair share of the costs of accepting credit cards. Visa and Mastercard charge us for every transaction we process, and we need to pass this fee on to sellers to break even.
Other companies charge twice as much — a $50 payment with X.com costs $1.20; with Billpoint the cost is $2.34; and Bidpay charges $5.00. Don't be fooled by promotional offers from unproven services — no one else can offer instant, safe, and fraud-protected payments on a sustainable basis to online sellers at a cheaper price. And no one else has 3.5 million users who trust PayPal to pay you online.
We ask sellers who currently have a Personal Account to play by the rules and upgrade to either a Premier or Business Account. We count on your honesty when we give you the choice of an account type.
Please reaffirm your account type now:
(edited to add): And then you have three buttons to choose from: Business / Premier / I Am Not A Seller
posted on September 12, 2000 10:42:50 PM new
It's a bunch of CRAP. When I signed up for Paypal in January, they said that PayPal was free and would stay free - forever. The auction functionality was in the software at that time.
- problem is, I understand their point of view. they must be getting screwed to the wall by MC and Visa.
BUT - I just don't like it. Free is what I was offered. Free is what I agreed to. Most of my sales are small -- $2 to $4 usually. another 25c out of that hurts me. They said "we'll make our money off the float." NOW they're saying, "we don't make enough money off the float." Sooner or later they'll be saying "We need more money. pay up or get bit."
It's Crap. crap crap crap crap. Just Crap. X.com BITES
posted on September 12, 2000 10:43:05 PM new
I was in my PayPal account tonight and I thought (but could be wrong) that they are pushing the "verified" accounts for sellers and have a contest or drawing for sellers who choose to be verified within the next month or so. I didn't see anything about upgrading my account - or I missed it.
posted on September 12, 2000 10:45:50 PM new
I just went and checked my paypal account, I didn't get that message.
I'm VERIFIED, do you think that makes a difference?
posted on September 12, 2000 10:46:40 PM new
I think it takes Big Brass Ones to say over and over that it'll always be free and then shove this down our throats before they even have many of the "premier features" available.
I don't mind upgrading, in fact I was probably going to when the debit cards were available. But I HATE being lied to.
posted on September 12, 2000 10:47:21 PM new
and what's even WORSE is that if you start the upgrade to a business account, you have to give them all sorts of information about your 'business', even if all you're doing is selling stuff out of your closet. There's a whole page devoted to your rseller number, your business classification number, type of business (incorporated? sole proprietor?), state of incorporation, blah blah blah. I bailed when I got to that. they can bite my butt.
posted on September 12, 2000 10:47:29 PM new
packer -- I just got that message right before I posted it a couple of minutes ago. I'm not verified. Maybe that makes a difference.
posted on September 12, 2000 10:51:33 PM new
I am verified and I got the message screen upon login. I backed right out before making a choice. I'll have to sleep on the decision of whether I want to continue on with a company that will blatantly lie like this. At least BillPoint didn't lie to me. They told me right up front that they were gonna charge me.
Edited to add:
If I do decide to continue accepting PayPal (which I likely will), I definitely won't promote its use anymore. Out of my auctions and out of my emails effective immediately.
[ edited by borgt on Sep 12, 2000 10:54 PM ]
posted on September 12, 2000 10:52:07 PM new
I'm verified too. I suspect it is triggered by how many incoming payments you have in your 'inbox'. I had 5 or so waiting to be 'filed'. They probably see that and say "hey, a seller - get 'em to upgrade". I filed all my payments and logged out, then logged in later. no upgrade spiel.
posted on September 12, 2000 10:52:20 PM new
I am definitely VERIFIED... Have been for several weeks.
I don't know why the Upgrade Warning isn't popping up for everyone. I had logged into my account a few hours ago and did not receive this message, but then got it 15 minutes ago.
"My possessions are causing me suspicion." - Neil Finn
posted on September 12, 2000 10:57:47 PM new
Bait and Switch...
The bait: Free online auction payments.. Not a mention of impending charges! Thousands of people sign up... Many of us become dependant on PayPal... then the switch...
posted on September 12, 2000 10:59:13 PM new
I am also verified, but I did get the message.
When I signed up with paypal, paypal said it was free and would remain free.
What they have done is dirty and sneeky. They pulled everyone in with promises of free accounts - 'Don't worry folks, we get our money from the float time.'
If you sell items on ebay and do it as a hobby, as outlined by the IRS, you are not a seller, you are a person running a HOBBY. But now Paypal comes along and says, no wait, we are going to re-define who are sellers and who are not, and you don't have a choice about it.
What's worse is that they tell us how great they are for charging less than billpoint and others. Nerver mind that they have LIED to us.
So now if I sell on ebay even part time, I will get charged for each transaction, and to top it off, they earn money on the float time of MY money.
posted on September 12, 2000 10:59:32 PM new
Here's what I got when I logged on:
"A Message to Our Sellers
X.com's Premier and Business Accounts have the web's best payment tools - they give online sellers the competitive edge. When you upgrade to either a Premier or Business Account, you'll enjoy all of the following benefits:
Receive Unlimited Credit Card Payments — Buyers can pay you with a credit card without affecting their spending limit.
Instant Purchase — Accept payments directly on your website or auction listing (and still earn $5 referral bonuses for new users).
Automatic Invoicing — We'll save you time by pre-filling your auction invoices.
Download Transaction History — To Quicken, QuickBooks, and Excel.
24/7 Customer Service — Around the clock live support.
You can take advantage of all these premium features for the low cost of 1.9% + 25¢ on payments received; there is no setup fee or monthly maintenance charge.
And, within the next month, Premier and Business users will also enjoy:
International Payments — Receive payments from 25 countries at no extra cost.
Debit Cards — Get cash from your PayPal account at any ATM, or use your debit card to buy from online or offline merchants.
High Yields — Earn income on funds in your PayPal account.
Electronic Checks — Accept payment from a sender's bank account at prices significantly below prevailing credit card rates.
All consumers are welcome to use our premium features by upgrading to a Premier or Business Account, but our terms of use require companies and individuals using PayPal for business use to upgrade. Our terms of use have stated since June that PayPal is free to consumers, but business users are required to operate using a Premier or Business Account.
What type of activity do we classify as "business use"? Using PayPal to collect payments for goods or services sold on a corporate website, personal homepage, or other forum counts as business use. Auction sellers — both individuals who make it a full time job and those who sell on a recurring, part-time basis — are also engaging in business use. If you have a Personal Account and you use it for business purposes, we ask that you comply with our terms of use and upgrade.
X.com is committed to keeping its PayPal service free for personal use. To remain a strong and viable business, however, we need sellers to accept their fair share of the costs of accepting credit cards. Visa and Mastercard charge us for every transaction we process, and we need to pass this fee on to sellers to break even.
Other companies charge twice as much — a $50 payment with X.com costs $1.20; with Billpoint the cost is $2.34; and Bidpay charges $5.00. Don't be fooled by promotional offers from unproven services — no one else can offer instant, safe, and fraud-protected payments on a sustainable basis to online sellers at a cheaper price. And no one else has 3.5 million users who trust PayPal to pay you online.
We ask sellers who currently have a Personal Account to play by the rules and upgrade to either a Premier or Business Account. We count on your honesty when we give you the choice of an account type.
Please reaffirm your account type now:
Help on Account Choices
Upgrade to Business: for companies that sell online.
Upgrade to Premier: for individuals who sell online on a part-time or full-time basis, or who simply want all of our best features.
I am not a Seller: for individuals who use PayPal for non-business purposes only and wish to remain a Personal Account.
X.com expects users to comply with its terms of use, and is currently reviewing options for enforcing its business use policy."
posted on September 12, 2000 11:00:41 PM new
amy -- I just logged in again and viewed their fee schedule, and it says the fees will be effective as of 10/1. So you were right!
I am not at all happy about this situation. What happened to "Always Free"?
posted on September 12, 2000 11:01:01 PM new
I backed out without hitting any buttons, then went back to the PayPal site and the message is no longer appearing.
I sell on eBay very PART-TIME, and it's little stuff, $10 average.
I will not upgrade until PayPal threatens me, and when they do I'll just open up another Personal Account at PayPal.
"My possessions are causing me suspicion." - Neil Finn
posted on September 12, 2000 11:01:08 PM new
I just checked out PayPal and it still has Auction Tools listed under Personal Accounts.
Features Personal Account Premier and Business Accounts
CORE FEATURES:
Send money
Request Money
Auction tools
Account insured up to $100,000
$5 sign up and referral bonuses
Email-based customer service
I do not see this message that you are talking about here. But it does have me concern. Maybe only people who receive lots of funds using PayPal are getting that message.
I LOVE getting paid using PayPal. I don't know that I LOVE it enough to pay for it.
posted on September 12, 2000 11:03:01 PM new
Isn't what PayPal is doing a great deal like ebud. You sign-up or buy with certain guidelines and then they change the agreement?
posted on September 12, 2000 11:03:49 PM new
I am very tempted to take paypal out of my terms. it was easy to put it in, it will be easy to take it out. people still send me checks. I'll survive.
