posted on June 1, 2002 07:08:51 PM
Does Paypal charge the seller fees if the buyer uses a debit card? Just received this from the seller --- "If you want to use Paypal you must include 3% additional for Paypal fees.
Paypal charges us a fee to be able to receive payment from a Paypal user.
(which is why we prefer other payment forms)
The fee is 3% plus 30 cents per transaction. We pay the 30 cent fee.
Total due (if you use Paypal) is $13.42 for this auction. (39 cents extra).
<P> Is this correct?
posted on June 1, 2002 07:30:36 PM
This is from the PayPal board from Damon. I hope this is the answer you want.
Hi all,
I just wanted to remind users that they can't charge a surcharge for payments.
No Surcharges. Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge". You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods).
posted on June 1, 2002 08:25:41 PM
A seller I bought from added a paypal surcharge after the auction, and gave me a couple free things to cover it. I thought it was a great deal because a money order would have costed me three times as much, and I want sellers to keep offering paypal so I'd be happy to pay the additional surcharge.
One way or another the buyer is going to pay for the sellers overhead, so no use making a case over it.
posted on June 1, 2002 08:31:28 PM
I just paid the amount requested. Not worth quibbling about and I do like the convenience of paypal and, as quickdraw29 pointed out, is still cheaper than getting a money order and using a stamp. Still not sure if he is doing the right thing (I sent him the info listed above and he still disagrees) but what the heck ... it's Saturday night and the living is easy!
posted on June 1, 2002 08:34:09 PM
Didn't mean "doing the right thing". Meant not sure if the buyer is doing this right (correctly). Don't want to start a fiasco here so I am correcting since I haven't figured out how to edit! Thanks for all the help ......
posted on June 1, 2002 09:09:08 PM
I always call a seller when they want to charge a surcharge, because it is against the terms of service. I give them a choice of selling it without the surcharge, or they can keep their item. I don't really care on my buyer account if I get a neg, and I certainly would report them to both ebay and paypal if that happpened.
posted on June 2, 2002 06:38:43 AM
how about if the seller said,
-for those who make prompt payment in check or money order,please take 10% off shipping & handling.
posted on June 2, 2002 07:41:19 AM
If a seller offered 10% off for check or money order, it would be ok. Discounts are ok, surcharges are not. I recently bought a video where the seller gave free shipping if you used Paypal.
All retail and mail order businesses pay a fee to process credit card payments, and do not pass that along to the customer. It is a cost of doing business.
Most sellers (at least those with real world retail experience) factor this fee as part of their cost of doing business, just like insertion fees, fvf, isp, supplies.
I am more than happy to pay the small fees for the speed of remittance, and the fact that most Paypal/Billpoint customers usually pay me before I have a chance to send the eoa notice. This saves me a lot of emailing back and forth, and "time is money".
I am grateful that we ebay sellers do have an advantage over regular retailers. We do not have to calculate, collect and remit sales taxes other than for our own state.
posted on June 2, 2002 08:29:47 AM
"All retail and mail order businesses pay a fee to process credit card payments, and do not pass that along to the customer. It is a cost of doing business."
I assume you asked to see their accounting records and they showed you. I don't know how you would know this otherwise. Retail and mail order businesses normally include this in the price of their goods. They may raise their prices to cover this overhead. It's not something a consumer would be able to determine if they are paying it or not. The downfall, is this forces cash customers to pay a share for the credit card users. Obviously the credit card customers, as selfish as they tend to be are filled with joy with this setup.
It is the cash customers who should be revolting if sellers aren't tacking on surcharges for credit cards. If that happened, this foolish law
would be quickly abolished.
posted on June 2, 2002 10:41:15 AM
Yes, discounts for cash are just fine, and are allowed. I have no problem with that since it is not against any terms of service. It is the extra fee tacked on, usually without notice in the auction, that really bugs me. My guess is that most people quietly just pay.
