OT; PayPal fees

[QSIMDO]

I sold one of my motorcycles to a gentleman who used PayPal for the transaction.
He told me PP charged him nearly $200 to do so.
First I ever heard of anything like that but wondering if so, isn't there a way around that?

[Ed ke6bnl]

The cost of each payment received through PayPal is 2.9% plus US$0.30 for sales within the US. If working with an international client, you will pay a PayPal fee of 4.4% plus a fixed fee based on the country

THESE COST ARE USUALLY FOR THE SELLER IS HOW IT HAS GONE FOR ME

How Freelancers Can Decrease PayPal Fees (or Avoid Them)

1. Opt to Be Paid Less Often. ...
2. Change How You Withdraw Your Money From PayPal. ...
3. Ask to Be Paid as a Friend or Family. ...
4. Use FreshBooks Classic to Lower Your PayPal Fees. ...
5. Factor PayPal Fees into Your Payment Equation. ...
6. Include PayPal Fees as an Expense on Your Tax Return.

[Bob La Londe]

I never heard of a buyer paying fees. Just the seller. If you send somebody money as a "gift" then the person sending money pays the fees.

[Mcgyver]

way around it? don't use paypal? You can go friends and family but I believe they can then ask for the money back and you're stuck...the commercial rate does provide some mediation in the event of a dispute - money goes into escrow and they look at evidence from both sides. For buying sight unseen from an individual at a distance, there is value in that.

I recieve a thing from paypal yesterday saying they're changing their rules and now a buyer can return an item at the sellers cost if its substantially different than advertised? Wow, at least the buyer having to pay for the return it created a bit of financial friction discouraging buyers from being idiots. I'd never use if there was an alternative - cash or e-transfer, buy you have little choice internationally and with ebay

[lakeside53]

Ebay is not tied to PP. You can choose several payment methods. There are few sellers that have their accounts set from long ago to require a linked PP account, but those are dwindling.

[polaraligned]

I have used Paypal thousands of times over the years and never experienced a fee as a purchaser. Maybe it has to do with how he is putting his funds into Paypal? My purchases are either taken from my checking account or my Paypal balance from sales.

[CCWKen]

It may have been for sales tax. Some states have gotten pretty strict about collections.

[cijuanni]

I sold one of my motorcycles to a gentleman who used PayPal for the transaction.
He told me PP charged him nearly $200 to do so.
First I ever heard of anything like that but wondering if so, isn't there a way around that?

Well if the agreed price was X, he had to pay X plus the fees so you would net X.

Otherwise you would have been short the nearly $200 in the agreed price.

The way around it?
USPO Money orders, can verify at any post office if the MO is legit and IF they have the cash on hand will cash it right there.
But I am guessing you MC sold for about $6500 so you would need 7 MOs, because of the $1000 limit.
But would have cost only about $13 instead of $200.

[754]

If you pay friends and family, and you make a mistake in the email address and it goes to someone else you are SOL.. they may be talked into giving it back, but 2 of 3 did not for me.. and PayPal won't help.
so if its over 40 bux I usually offer to pay part of the fees or all. If I use Money orders, International , they likely cost more, take longer.. lose a money order in mail, they wait 90 days I'd so to 're issue. . Again SOL a few months..

[PStechPaul]

I sold some old germanium transistors to a guy in Canada who fixes antique car radios. I found out that it would cost $12.25 to ship them cheapest way via USPS. He offered $15, which I accepted, but Paypal charged a $0.96 fee (6.4%), so I got only $14.04 and enough "profit" to buy a small coffee at McDonalds.

So I had the funds in my PayPal account, and I bought some fluorescent tubes on eBay for about $11. I checked my account and found that it had been debited a monthly recurring $4 from New York Times (which I thought was just a one-time thing). But the payment for the lamps came from my bank account. I opted out of the recurring payment and contacted both eBay and PayPal about why it was not paid from my balance, but I got the runaround and no explanation or resolution. I was later able to make a political donation from the balance.

[elf]

way around it? don't use paypal? You can go friends and family but I believe they can then ask for the money back and you're stuck...the commercial rate does provide some mediation in the event of a dispute - money goes into escrow and they look at evidence from both sides. For buying sight unseen from an individual at a distance, there is value in that.

I recieve a thing from paypal yesterday saying they're changing their rules and now a buyer can return an item at the sellers cost if its substantially different than advertised? Wow, at least the buyer having to pay for the return it created a bit of financial friction discouraging buyers from being idiots. I'd never use if there was an alternative - cash or e-transfer, buy you have little choice internationally and with ebay

I'd say the seller should pay all costs if the item isn't as advertised.

[QSIMDO]

Amazing what you can find; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-WgaLZpp6E

I took care of the gentleman anyway, even if he was just looking for a discount.
I made a decent profit a la Mike Brewer.

[Mcgyver]

I'd say the seller should pay all costs if the item isn't as advertised.

According to who? That's the whole point, when there is a little bit of pain for each side it stops the worst of the abuse

[Paul Alciatore]

It sounds to me like that $200 was a state sales tax that was collected as part of the sale. Friday I had a sale of a book I have on E-Bay for $0.99. E-Bay shows the "details" of the sale as:

$0.99 Book
$4.25 Shipping
$0.07 Tax
__________
$5.31 Total

I use PayPal to collect the funds from my sales. PayPal shows:

$4.75 Payment Received
-$3.33 E-Bay Shipping
__________
$1.42 My Profit (Yes, I know that's pitiful.)

With a little math I figured that E-Bay and PayPal combined must have charged me $0.49. That came out of the $5.31 total. E-Bay provided a break over the USPS advertised rates. I figure that helps cover the packaging costs.

[Noitoen]

I have a campervan for sale on a regular sales website and last week I received an off from someone from an eastern country to buy it. He didn't even discuss the price and asked for my bank account number so that he could transfer the funds. I smelled a rat and decided to play along and send him all the information he asked except for the address. A few hours later I received an email from him stating that he had transferred the amount I asked plus an extra 1100€ that was the transport fees to his home. Soon after, I received an email from "PayPal" stating that a transfer to my account was 99% completed and all I had to do was to transfer the 1100€ to the transport company and show the proof and the money would enter my account. All the necessary account information was supplied so that I could send my money first.

Reading a little about this online it seems that this type of scam is quite common.