Q: Adding 4% for Paypal?

More and more I notice Stamp sellers in other places other than the
U.S on eBay passing on Paypal charges to the buyer. I even saw a
"Power Seller" doing this. My auctions were ended and I was soundly scolded when I tried this*. Is it because in the U.S. it is against the law and not in other countries? Has eBay changed it's policy? I just want to know as this really chaps my backside if I have to bend to the rules and others get to bend them. Harrumph.

*For various reasons I've had numerous auctions ended by the voiceless powers at eBay, once for spewing vulgarisms at them. Hell, we all have our bad days. About the time I said all sorts of bad things about
Paypal's ethics in this forum, I was approached by a person wanting to buy items outside of eBay that I had up for auction on eBay. It was a golden opportunity to have some fun with Paypal's/eBay's ethics police, if that's who it was. Judging by their carefully worded email it smelled of legalese avoiding an entrapment charge.

Having never sold anything on Ebay so I can't verify what the rules are but my own PERSONAL rule is, if they do not accept a money order then I refuse to bid on their auction, no exceptions. I've only missed 2 auctions in the past but oh well! IMO Penpal and its ilk are a ripoff to the consumers, be they buyers or sellers, just like Coinstar is when you deposit your coins and it costs you 9% of your total for them to count and sort and dispense a ticket you take to a cashier. If cash, a money order or stamps are not good enough then.............

That discount for cash and prohibition on adding fees applies only to credit card merchant agreement contracts - not paypal. Paypal is a third party processor which is unusual in itself, but it can't very well try to enforce a prohibition on it's customers that applies only if it itself were to add charges to money it collected for sales it made. It has a price for it's service, and if you pay the price with a credit card, it can't add a surcharge if it's merchant agreement contract prohibits it if you use a credit card.

Haven't read many 'real' auction terms lately then either?

There are a number of firms (and individuals) who add a 'surcharge' or 'processing fee' for using s credit card.

Try complaining to your CC issuer ... "What do you want us to do about it?" ..."You can shop elsewhere!" ... "That's between you and the merchant."

DC) found these unused words floating about:

The problem is that sometimes charges are deducted by Paypal, and sometimes not.

If the payment to Paypal by the buyer is made using a debit card or an outstanding Paypal balance, there is no charge.

If the payment is made using a credit card, Paypal charge quite a high percentage.

The first time this happened to me was quite late on, so as a seller I suddenly found my 'take' reduced. I would have put up a higher starting bid if I had realised. I therefore sympathise with vendors who wish to charge extra for a credit card payment - it costs them money. After all, it is not uncommon to see extra charges by vendors made for foreign personal cheques.

Hey All, What was told to me by eBay is that a reasonable shipping/handling charge is all we sellers have that we can add (other than tax). By charging slightly more than the cost of mailing on all sales one could spread out the cost of eBay/Paypal.
Gas stations legally give a few cents off per gallon for cash payments.
I've often considered giving special treatment to anyone who mails their payment so as to get more covers from around the world but I haven't figured that one out.
One of the last things I sold, a beautiful set of Russian Levant stamps, went off to a fortunate buyer for $85 less than what I paid for it. I just couldn't find the receipt until after it was gone. So much for my business sense.

tony12/3/2003 1:12
I *love* PayPal! It seems to be the only useful way to send cash to some countries without the recipient incurring huge service charges, and it's just so darned convenient and fast! No envelopes to prepare, no letters to write, no cheques to write, no records to keep, no postage to pay.

A word of warning: I have been getting bogus e-mails from "PayPal," telling me that my account will be closed if I don't immediately confirm my credit card information. It's all a load of horse manure, of course....

I have never had a problem with people having options on the way to pay;
that lets them find the one(s) that make the most sense for them. I'm old fashioned enough that a personal check is my preferred payment method, and only in the most dire of circumstances (something I can't live without!)
will I resort to money order. I have been very fortunate that some sellers who don't list personal check as a payment option have nicely consented to it after I have written to ask and suggested they check my feedback. And of course, I *always* do this checking before bidding. I may need to wait a little longer for the item to arrive if I am the winning bidder (so the seller can wait for the check to clear), but for me it's worth it.

Again, to each his own, but I absolutely refuse to engage in electronic transfer of funds, whether incoming or outgoing, when it comes to my money.

If the 'surcharge' wasn't in the terms, then they'd have a darn hard time collecting it from me!

If they pushed, yeah, I'd be first in line to report. If you're not listing honestly, then I'll do my best to get it corrected - even to the point of getting listings cancelled!

Equally I am very reluctant to bid UNLESS I can pay by Paypal (or use a cheque if a UK vendor).

May be 'prohibited', but you 'agree' to the sellers 'terms' when you bid. If disclosed on the listing, that's the way it goes - eBay, PPunk or whatever.

I just don't bid on any seller's PPunk auction unless they also accept
US$ check, USPS MO or direct credit card.

But a Money Order costs YOU, the buyer, extra, not the vendor. He/she gets their full money.