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PayPal Surcharge

I have noticed alot of people add a (3% or so) PayPal fee to their items and I wonder if everyone is aware, that is against the user agreement. It seems that PayPal looks at sellers as "merchants". This is cut from the Paypal website:

-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). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website.
dill
thedautch
329 posts
 
Cadmaniac: Why is it illegal if it is simply against PayPal's rules? PayPal's rules are not exactly the U.S. Code when it comes to settled law. Besides, I still maintain that such a "law" would unenforceable and moot, since the seller would just decide to factor the value of PayPal into the cost of their items, if necessary.
pmkalby
130 posts
 
MEZMO: What law is this you say it is against to charge 3%-- would you cite a reference of some sort so we can go look at it, please? I've never heard of such a thing and I'm pretty curious about it now. Is it part of the federal code dealing with banking or ???

CADMANIAC: I'm having a hard time hearing you, since you are way up there on that high horse. Paypal said in the beginning, when I originally agreed to their TOS, that they'd never charge a fee, because they made their money on interest on your funds while they held them preparing for transfers. Any of you other 'goners remember the explanation they had up on their site about how Paypal would work and not cost us $$? They lied, then they changed the rules, and the bottom line is, if a deal does or does not include the 3%, that's the business of exactly 2 people, the buyer and the seller, your self-righteous platitudes notwithstanding. If there is some obscure law about a surcharge being illegal, I'd love to see it for the curiousity value, but they can just try to get me.
lafish
151 posts
 
frankly

I tend not to user paypal to settle transaction. The company simply charge too much on seller. I post and item, even have 3% funding added from buyer, I still have to lose another 3% from exchange rate difference.

Its end up to prepare 6% if getting money from paypal for my selling items. whats the point?

Escrow acts much better on this, though it takes longer time to have money received.
mephisto
15 posts
 
I've done a lot of trading here on AudiogoN, either as a buyer or as a seller. Regarding Paypal as a method of payment, I'd like to stress to all those who think that the seller should eat this charge that it is much more advantageous if you're a buyer than if you're a seller. As a seller, you still have to wait 4-6 business days before you get the money into your bank account. That is about the same time a MO takes to make it to me. So as a seller being paid via Paypal I have to ship the items but still have to wait about a week before I have access to the funds. But as a buyer, it considerably speeds up the transaction. Moreover, as someone already said, it avoids the buyer the trouble of getting a MO (which is not free) and having to mail it (not free either). I don't mind paying the 3% fee when I'm buying stuff and decides to use Paypal for payment.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
To repeat..All credit card transactions have a fee, usually around +/-3%. The store pays it (deducted from proceeds). Has nothing to do with Paypal. If you accept credit card payments, you are no different than a store.

If you were to try to set up your own credit card account directly with VISA and Mastercard, the fixed cost alone would be a lot more than just paying PayPal.

PayPal has created a way for all of us to get the benefits of credit cards on very small transactions, with no up front costs. What is the problem here?
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