posted on December 15, 2000 10:58:01 PM
I am not a bigtime seller. Just a mom with out-grown toys & clothes to sell. I have not made a whole heck of alot of money,but I enjoy doing it anyway. PayPal has been a wonderful service for me so far. But tonight I received an email from them that said this:
We are sending you a reminder that you are approaching your
PayPal credit card receiving limit.
In order to reduce the cost of processing credit card
transactions associated with accounts that do not pay fees,
PayPal has introduced a limit on Personal Accounts: a $500
limit on receiving credit card payments every six months.
It goes on to say that in order to continue receiving money I have to upgrade to a premier account. That just isn't fair!!!! I'm not a business. I shouldn't have to have a business account! So now I haveto close my account. I'm reallybummed about this.
posted on December 16, 2000 01:00:49 AM
You've been an AW member since June and are just now figuring out the forced upgrade. Didn't you read the emails they sent you or notice the link well displayed on your account page telling you all about the receiving limit?
posted on December 16, 2000 03:02:40 AM
What cix said!!!!! Whenever you log into paypal, the View Limits sign is right next to your balance. What did you think that meant? Why not just upgrade? Even if you don't consider yourself a business, you still have to pay taxes on the ebay income and this is just another expense tied to that income.
posted on December 16, 2000 03:34:29 AM
I finally gave in and upgraded to the PREMEIR account... I don't view it as a business account because I'm not a business either. We sell items that we own from our collections, etc. Anyway, it was no big deal... I think I've paid .60 cents in fees from two transactions... and it comes right out of what is deposited into my Pay Pal account. I am one of the ones who has stuck with Pay Pal only because so many people use it. I use it to pay for auctions~ it just makes online auctions so much easier. I know... some of you are thinking, "stupid woman... they will screw you!", but I don't look at life that way. I try to see the good in everything. Pay Pal was free and is still free in certain situations~ but if we make money with them~ it's only reasonable that they make money. (Please don't start the old arguments about bait and switch and all that... I struggled with my decision to stay with Pay Pal way back when). Anyway, luvmy2bears the upgrade isn't life-ending...really!!! I'm still alive!
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posted on December 16, 2000 07:26:32 AM
If you want to keep PP for free, put in your auctions that you can accept non-credit card payments only, and offer a credit-card site such as PayDirect as an alternative.
This has worked great for me. I've had many many PayPal payments that didn't tap into my limit at all. Funny thing: since they changed the rules to a $100 limit per month, I"ve been encouraging people to pay me using a credit card so I can spend down my limit, and they STILL pay me out of their PayPal accounts.
If I had a business account, I would be charged fees for ALL incoming PayPal payments, even non-credit card.
posted on December 16, 2000 07:26:42 AM
roxw, I agree with you. At this point, I'm still accepting PayPal because that's what customers seem to want. I'm not selling in categories with a high rate of CC fraud, but I still take precautions by not leaving a large amount of money in my PP account. I've not yet taken the step of opening a different bank account to link to my PayPal account (although I will, if they continue come up with justification to dip into verifying accounts at the drop of a hat). I will not use PP to pay for items costing more than my PP account balance, because I am still so PO'ed about them arbitrarily deciding that they have a right to choose the verifying bank accounts as the default source of those funds, rather than using the credit card which I'd opened the account to use. If the seller offers any other viable means of payment, I won't use PP to pay for purchases at all.
posted on December 16, 2000 08:35:48 AMUm, ExchangePath?
ExchangePath suffers from the same disease that PayPal does: they put a kid in charge and he's learning how to run a financial business. A kid who apparently never so much as held his own merchant account, let alone processed them. He knows he should be cautious, so every time things look a bit scary he stops to check things out, by "locking up your money.
posted on December 16, 2000 10:09:39 AM
I received the same email from paypal and was surprised I'm reaching the limit so fast. I was quick to realize that this is nothing but a ploy to get their customers to upgrade so they can charge them a fee. I'm thinking, since using paypal, my sales haven't increased. Since I dropped the paypal logo from my listings, my sales haven't decreased. Therefore, paying fees to paypal is only worthwhile if it helps increase sales. It doesn't, therefore it is merely a conveinance to buyers, so they are the ones who should pay fees.
All these business savy posters on his thread who claim to be a business sure act sloppily in their decisions. Is paypal entitled to a profit? Or do they have to achieve it like everybody else? Should I pay fees so they can earn their profit, or should I wait until I find value in what they offer? In other words, customers won't hand you their money just so you can stay in business. You have to fill a need. Paypal hasn't fulfilled my need.
Does a bank say, "you've put your limit into your savings account, please upgrade to the business account so you can add more money."
If I put $1 a year into my savings account, they never complain or send notices, "We aren't making a profit off you, please send in fees." Their vision is to look foward to increase activety in the future. You may take out loans, you'll make more money to put into a CD (creating a relationship). Paypal should look longterm. Paypal should be thinking, "Maybe all these parttime sellers will open an online business and they will want to have a business account with us." To me, it makes me very cautious to want to put my money with a company that only thinks shortterm. As a matter of fact, I'd rather pay someplace like Billpoint more in fees, because they set up their business wisely from the start. Paypal seems so incompetant and untrustworthy because of their changes faces.
So you see, it's not just an issue about money. For paypal, they need to think long term and make people want to stay around long enough to achieve a viable business. Putting caps on accounts for sellers scares these people away. Sellers, if your sales or patronage don't increase, don't pay fees just so paypal can stay in business.
posted on December 16, 2000 01:17:06 PM
to cix: Do we really have to resort to name calling? And YES, I expect that when I sign up for a program that calls itself FREE, and advertises itself as FREE on the homepage and referral links and site banners.......I DO expect it to be FREE!
FREE dammit!
to avaloncourt: I didn't receive any emails referring to having to upgrade or any limits until now. And on my account page it says that my credit card limit is $5000 not $500. And furthermore, it doesn't say that that is my receving limit so I assumed that it was my charging limit.
to rarriffle: See above & I have to claim that on my taxes??? Call me stupid (as I'm sure you will) but I didn't know that I had to claim it as income. I don't claim my yard sale profits or consignment store profits, and it's the same items being sold in either case. Do I really have to claim it???
To everyone else: Thank you for not being rude. I am very new this whole computer thing and sometimes I rely on help from kind folks like you. Thank you for your input & ideas. I will look into exchange path & paydirect.
posted on December 16, 2000 01:34:42 PM
luvmy2bears
Ignore rarriffle's tax comments. Check with someone who KNOWS what they're talking about -- your accountant.
Considering that you're selling personal items and as long as you don't sell them for more than you paid for them, you should be in the clear.
If you were selling your collectibles that have appreciated in value since you purchased them, you'd have to pay taxes.
As for ExchangePath, I'd stay away from them until they get their act together. ExchangePath suspended a lot of accounts recently for no good reason.
BTW, the credit card receiving limit on your PayPal account will reset to $100 on December 20th. That's the new monthly credit card receiving limit for personal accounts.
As I understand it, it will reset to $100 AGAIN on January 1st and the monthly cycle starts from there. That might buy you some breathing room.
posted on December 16, 2000 01:42:29 PM
luvmy2bears- I was surprised how PayPal works as well, accept I spent my account money before it hit the limit. Now with that said, PayPal will not allow me to spend anymore until I upgrade, even though I am still collecting monies into the account?
I was lured into PayPal when a buyer sent money via
PayPal. I guess from reading other posts, there is
A way to Play PayPal without getting trapped into the
Upgrade, but it’s too late for me too.
posted on December 16, 2000 01:42:53 PM
vargas, thank you. Yeah,I only sell used kids stuff. Sometimes bigger things like formula, but since joining ebay I have only made about $1500 total. And that's in a years time. I figured it wasn't enough to claim. But even if i do have to claim it, it probably isn't enough to change my status or anything.
And I really do like paypal. So I'll probably stick with them. May even upgrade. We'll see.
But I have a quick question. (Probably a dumb question too!) I see that there is a fee on all incoming money, but are there any other fees? Like a monthly service fee or membership fee? I don't want to be surprised by them. I don't see anything anywhere indicating that there is, but I just want to be sure.
posted on December 16, 2000 05:37:44 PM
If you've "made" $1500 this year in eBay sales (net, not gross), you're almost certainly going to have to claim that as income. But the bright side is that you can also claim all pertinent and allowable deductions, such as postage, PayPal fees, wrapping materials, etc. And, if you maintain a qualified home office, you can deduct a percentage of your home expenses (utilities, mortgage, etc.) as well.
SEE AN ACCOUNTANT OR ENROLLED AGENT! But be aware that being in business has its upside in terms of taxes. Even having made $1500, you could possibly have enough expenses to zero that out or even claim a small (legitimate) loss that could lower the rest of your taxes.
