Confused about paypal

[Shainie]

I've been using paypal for quite a while, and have a personal account.

A couple things have confused me lately.

I noticed lots of sellers saying "no credit cards". I thought the reason was because of the fee.

So in 2 auctions I accepted paypal, but no credit cards. I saw there was still a fee taken out.

Is there always a fee, no matter what?

Also I saw Paypal Ryan mention in another thread that personal accounts don't accept credit based payments, but I have a personal account and I'm almost positive people have payed me using credit cards, because other than those 2 auctions, I never said no credit cards.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Rae Ann

[Jennifer M.]

Personal accounts are for individual use only and may not receive credit card payments. Personal accounts include all of our Core Features.

Premier accounts are for members who will have a high transaction volume, need to accept credit card payments, or would like access to our special features. Premier accounts include all of our Core Features, as well as our Premium Features.

Business accounts are for business use only. Business accounts include all of our Core Features, as well as our Premium Features.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]

[Shainie]

Okay, that makes sense. I'm Premier. I just thought there was personal or business.

Thanks Jennifer - who would have known READING the site would help. hehe

[Brendabutt]

Shainie--also, as I posted in another thread--if you have your account set up to accept cc payments, you will also be charged a fee when you accept anykind of payment(for instance they just send you cash). That's the reason I changed back to a personal account and don't accept cc. Too many fees involved if your doing ebay. I had a lady send me like 50 cents(or some small amount like that) and they took like 30 cents of it for fees. That's when I figured out I wouldn't accept cc payments. It gets really crazy sometimes because people fail to see that I don't accept cc.

[ShainaT]

Interesting.

I use PayPal too. I sold something for a dollar awhile ago and definitely LOST money. Between eBay's listing fee, final sales fee and PayPal fee I just shouldn't have bothered at all. Oh well. At least I got a good feedback out of it! From now on though I'm not going to bother with small items like that though.

[Jennifer M.]

That's why on my listings I always state it as "shipping & handling" There are many things I have sold and charged shipping @ $2.00 or more and it might have only cost me 60 cents to mail, but after I take into consideration the bubble mailer, the 30 cents to list, the paypal fees and my gas to the PO I don't think $2.00 is too much to ask. My S&H fees are always listed so they know what they are getting into when they bid. I also combine shipping so that probably helps my selling as well.

[Brendabutt]

Jennifer--I agree with you. I always state what shipping will be--then they can decide if they want to pay that. I recently bought a piece of clothing for my grandson. She said shipping would be determinded at the end of the auction. Well,it cost me $5.00 for shipping(only paid 80 cents for the item). So I will never bid on anything again unless I know what shipping is. And like you, I think the gas to mail it, time involved, ect. is worth a little something.

[AtlantaGAL]

See, because of the fact Paypal will charge fees on all transactions once you upgrade from a personal account is the main reason I refuse to upgrade. I'm one of those sellers that overstates "no credit card/debit card payments will be accepted." And it's mainly because of all the little $1-$3 selling I do on the boards. If I had to pay fees on all those little transactions, I would totally lose money.

Paypal's structure isn't cost effective for me. I took a survey for them several months ago and suggested a "personal plus" type account where credit card payments would be charged the normal fee, but bank payments/paypal balance payments would remain fee free. <insert sarcasm> Sure glad to see they paid attention to those survey results *rolls eyes*

[Brendabutt]

Atlantagal--does stating in your auction always work for you? I still can't believe the people that will try to pay with a cc when I list all over my auctions, plus the email I send at the end, that I don't. I have just started on all my auctions at the very beginning putting----------PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO NOT AND CAN NOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARD FUNDED PAYPAL--------Then I will also mention it at the bottom of my auction and still I have people send payments like that. Then you have to deny the payment, explain to the person why you denied the payment, then wait on them to decide how to send(Ughhhhhhhh), gets frustrating sometimes.

[AtlantaGAL]

Yes, I still get CC payments all the time. It happens when people try to use that instant pay feature because CC is the default or that PayPal treats debit cards as CCs. I'd say half can resend properly after I decline and the other half end up sending money orders.

The problem is PEOPLE CANNOT READ or DO NOT READ. The way I see it, it isn't my problem, it's theirs. And at least with it stated in all my listings, they can't cry foul in the end.

I do agree it's a complete PITA, but I don't know what else I can do on my end. I really wish PayPal would seriously evaluate their account structure to accomidate the occaisional CC payment.

[Pipanella]

I agree with you, Mare. I have a premier account, and I do like Jennifer does. I just add a little to the shipping to make up for the PayPal fee. It's not hurt my selling, as far as I can tell.

[PayPal_RyanK]

Shanie,

It looks like Jennifer helped you sort everything out. Just to confirm. If someone has a Personal account they will not be able to accept anything funded by a card. Anyone who suspects that they have received card payments without being prompted to upgrade is mistaken.

Regards,
RyanK
PayPal Consumer Relations

[sinned96]

Yea just add to the shipping. If you use ebays new shipping calculator it allows you to add you handling charge to the shipping cost and the buyer never sees it. It also makes it easy to let the buyer figure out the shipping charges before they bid.

[t_kuczy]

I agree, I just build in some extra to my shipping and handling to cover Paypal fees and such. I always state the total amount for shipping in my auction so people know up front what the charge is going to be. I used to just add the cost of the fees to people's totals if they wanted to pay via Paypal until I found out that that is illegal. I was told on one of the eBay boards that adding it to your handling charges is a way to circumvent this.

[sinned96]

I also have a paypal debit card which pays you back 1.5% when you use it for online purchases That helps you recover some of the paypal fees back also.
Hmm I got an idea I wonder if I could pay my ebay fees with it?