Word of Caution - Paypal Fees

[kk0a]

A word of caution fellow hams, a buddy of mine just got his paypal account suspended. It is AGAINST Paypal policy to ask for the fees they charge you as a seller. I would suggest just adding to the price of the item or just suck it up like most of us do for the ease of the transaction or you could lose your account like my buddy did.

73, Ken
KE7N

[n2nh]

Quote[/b] (ke7n @ Oct. 13 2005,15:47)]A word of caution fellow hams, a buddy of mine just got his paypal account suspended. It is AGAINST Paypal policy to ask for the fees they charge you as a seller. I would suggest just adding to the price of the item or just suck it up like most of us do for the ease of the transaction or you could lose your account like my buddy did.

73, Ken
KE7N
Papal fees? Does the Pope of QRZ know about these?

Just add it into the shipping & handling like everyone else does. I never sold anything there, but the S&H is a killer on most of those deals. Some sellers don't want to tell you how much S&H is until the deal is done (then they stick you with it).

[KD6NIG]

I know that I used to remember people on Ebay specifying that, and it suddenly stopped. I guess we know why now.

I just thought the fees were part of using it, and never gave it a second thought, to be honest. I could see why people would want full funding, but I would think it would be easier to just raise your price a few bucks.... but who knows.

[k4kro]

Why is it that everyone seems to think that PayPal and E-bay don't deserve to be paid for their services? While I agree that these fees may be a bit outrageous, they don't try to hide them. I have stopped selling on Ebay because the fees for selling, PayPal and shipping take too big of a bite out of the proceeds. I still buy some items from Ebay occasionally but good deals are getting hard to find. I am surprised at how much I buy from Sears.com and Geeks.com lately. Sears.com has a lot of free shipping offers that make it cheaper than driving to the mall these days. I don't know if they have a site in your area but try looking at Postaroo.com for free classified adds.


I have no financial interest in these companies. They are just suggestions. Do your own research.

[kw7dsp]

Ken,

Let me get this straight. PayPal was upset because he asked the Buyer for an additional amount of money to cover what PayPal charged?

P.S. How you and Sallie and The QRM doing? E-Mail Me.

[AG3Y]

Paypal and EBay both take a portion of the transaction for their administration fees, but what the heck, #checking accounts are far from free, and the use of ATMs ( that one REALLY gets me ! ) are NOT, either!

You can either charge an arm and a leg for S&H , which is not going to make you a very popular EBay seller, set the opening bid a bit higher, and hope that someone will still buy the item at that elevated price, or sell low and take your lumps.

Most EBayers realize that there are fees involved and still are happy to work with the system. #If you want things real cheap, comb the yard sales in your community. #Perhaps in a year or so, you MIGHT find what you are looking for!

Come to think of it, with the price of gasolene, yard sales are hardly what I would consider to be cheap, any more, either!

73, Jim

[K8EEI]

If you open a business account on Paypal they charge you 2.9% , but you can accept major credit cards .

They give you a Mastercard debit card and if you use it , you get around 2.9 % cash back .

That's why I use it for the convenience and I like it . http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

See signature below http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

[KD6NIG]

Like I said, I've never even thought about the fee. I agreed to it when I signed up. But, like I said before, I seem to recall people on Ebay wanting you to pay the additional so they got whatever the amount was.

I even recall some of them having calculators for that purpose.

But, I would think that if you REALLY needed the full $100 from a product, then you just sell it for $105, instead of demanding the cost of the fee precisely.

I don't know, I guess I was just never offended at getting $19 and change from a $20 transaction. I knew they took part of it and I never worried about it. Perhaps its the gas prices nowadays that make people want to collect that extra 3.9%?

[KA8NCR]

I can't electronically transfer more than $3,000 a month now because of the fight on terrorism, but PayPal and Ebay remain the best way to launder money.

How? Buy gift cards on Ebay.

Hello, FBI?

[WS2L]

I never asked for the fee on anything I sold in the past, I never knew they had a policy against it to be honest. Depending on how much I was expecting to get for the item I usually added a few extra bucks on to shipping if it was a high priced item or just took the lumps on the cheap stuff. Even though I never asked for it thanks for the info, always good to know.

[w3sy]

I have a name for the "fees" tacked on by eBay sellers:

<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>BULLSHIPPING</span>

[KA8NCR]

You're right, far too many people use shipping fees as a profit margin. I never, ever buy from sellers that have a flat fee for shipping. Worse for the guys that charge $20, plus a box fee, plus a handling fee, all to be disclosed later.

[KD6NIG]

Well, there are some that make it kinda obvious-Selling something for 99 cents and $30 s/h......

Usually when I have sold, I calculate via USPS, then add a buck for my box and my tape, which I think is reasonable. #But I haven't sold on there in a few months now, and haven't really looked on there much either.

I think, all told, I have a total of 26 transactions on there. I don't have any desire to be a 'power seller' or buyer for that matter-Enron bought and sold power, look where it got them!

[AG3Y]

Quote[/b] (KD6NIG @ Oct. 14 2005,11:06)]Like I said, I've never even thought about the fee. #I agreed to it when I signed up. #But, like I said before, I seem to recall people on Ebay wanting you to pay the additional so they got whatever the amount was.

I even recall some of them having calculators for that purpose.

But, I would think that if you REALLY needed the full $100 from a product, then you just sell it for $105, instead of demanding the cost of the fee precisely.

I don't know, I guess I was just never offended at getting $19 and change from a $20 transaction. #I knew they took part of it and I never worried about it. #Perhaps its the gas prices nowadays that make people want to collect that extra 3.9%?
Those of you who are advocating &quot;just sell it for $5.00 more&quot; are either forgetting, or are not aware that the buyer establishes the price for the item. #If the opening bid is set too high, the item will simply remain unsold.

Sure, there are those that sell the dollar item plus &quot;30 dollars for shipping and handling&quot;, but they quickly run up a fat &quot;negative feedback&quot; total, and are very quickly shunned by the rest of the EBay fraternity. #No one is going to deal for long with someone who has a big &quot;negative feedback&quot; score !

Hidden S&amp;H costs are also quickly frowned upon, and the seller who follows that practice will not last long or be very successful on EBay !

73, Jim #( just check my feedback record ! ) #AG3Y

[KD6NIG]

I think they are a bit more successful than you think-or you wouldn't see so many of them. But thats another topic entirely on the gullibility of some people.

I think Ebay could solve, or at least limit, the 'excessive shipping' problem if they really tried. Perhaps require the package weight to be entered pre auction (course you could overweigh still, but if you're buying a book and the claimed weight is 20 pounds, you would probably notice). I've always thought too that the listed price on the auction should INCLUDE the shipping price specified, or list a 'total price' right below the current bid amount in nice bold lettering. Yes, I know, people are supposed to read the entire thing because its a 'binding contract' but anything helps.

There also seems to be this fear among people about getting negative feedback because someone stiffed you, but if you negative them they could negative you. I've always thought that the shipper should be required to leave feedback on your end of the bargain right after you completed it (ie, you met the contract) with perhaps the ability to later modify it (say if payment was stopped, etc). I have had a few shippers threaten me with neg because they wanted to add fees not listed, and my reply to them was to go for it, and I reported them. Funny, no negative feedback, but people seem to have a fear of it. I also think feedback would work better if you had a 200 character limit, and if negative, 400 characters so you can CLEARLY explain the reasoning. I don't like this 80 character stuff that doesn't allow you to really see what happened.

Heck, I'd pay 4.9 percent to paypal if they did that http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[K8TEK]

Quote[/b] (KD6NIG @ Oct. 14 2005,12:11)]Well, there are some that make it kinda obvious-Selling something for 99 cents and $30 s/h......
Well, that is against eBay policy as well... If you report it, the auction will get pulled...

Reason being, eBay takes their fee from the sale price. They do not touch the shipping and handling fees.

[AK7V]

I always eat the fees and usually a big chunk of shipping when I sell. I advertise a flat shipping and handling rate that's always a few bucks lower than what I end up spending - and I always throw in insurance and delivery confirmation. Guess I'm not so good at the price estimation. But I don't mind - I sell things because they're of no use to me, not because I'm trying to make a certain profit. I'm just glad to be getting some money.

I won't bid from someone who doesn't disclose S&amp;H fees. I don't want a wildcard charge above my bid.

When I bid, I do it in such a way that I know exactly the maximum I could end up spending. I don't care what proportion goes to shipping, handling, fees, the item itself, etc.

[kl7aj]

Papal fees? Even if you're a Protestant? What's this world coming to? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[KC9ECI]

Quote[/b] (ka8ncr @ Oct. 14 2005,11:04)]You're right, far too many people use shipping fees as a profit margin. #I never, ever buy from sellers that have a flat fee for shipping. #Worse for the guys that charge $20, plus a box fee, plus a handling fee, all to be disclosed later.
Gosh, I thought I was being pretty fair selling an Icom W2A, wall wart, speaker mic, 2 batteries, and a few other odds and ends and setting a flat rate of $10 shipping/handling to anywhere in the US. #I also started the bidding off at $1 with no reserve.

[KD7WHQ]

And then there was the one I got the laugh of the year (to date) from.

Start bid of $2, 6 hours left, no bids, and $175 shipping.

I called the librarian over to share in the joke, as I was at the library at the time, and he and I get along well.

This was an under 1# item, by the way.

I ALWAYS charge actual shipping. If it requires more than a priority mail box, I put it up front, and state that the shipping will be dependant on zip code.

If emailed, I check it out, and pad it the $4 in fees UPS will charge, plus the box cost, and that's the number.

FedEx I don't have to pad anything but the box cost, as the fees are upfront (now why is that?).

Everything except Priority goes out under accounts. Makes it easy.

I've NEVER stiffed anyone on shipping, nor ever will.

Can't say I haven't had the same in return, but that's the game.

As to PayPal, stick to a personal account.

FAR less hassle..

[KC9ECI]

Quote[/b] (KD7WHQ @ Oct. 15 2005,23:00)]As to PayPal, stick to a personal account.

FAR less hassle..
If you're selling, you can only take in so much via Paypal before they make you upgrade to a business account.

[W2ILP]

For maximum security I have no PayPal account, nor do I ever intend to get one. I get mail threatening to cancel my account but never answer it because I never had any PayPal account.

w2ilp (Ignoring Lamented PayPal)

[K8ERV]

I use paypal alot, and have never been charged a fee.

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

[K9STH]

Tom:

If you are buying and paying by PayPal you do not get charged anything. It is those who are selling and who collect funds from PayPal that are charged.

Glen, K9STH

[kf6rdn]

My ex is my paypal.

When I pay her, she is my pal.