PayPal "gift" payments are prohibited

[KW6T]

I just recently shelled out about 80 dollars for an item on Ebay and got stiffed. The seller kept feeding me BS on shipping dates and provided a fake tracking number. I finally came to the conclusion he was a scammer and opened a dispute with PayPal. When opening the dispute, I had a question and actually called PayPal on the landline. The agent reviewed the complaint and email string. I was shocked when my $80.00 was restored to my account within 10 minutes. They have my vote!!

[N4JHR]

Gentlemen, As a financial analysis and auditor for over 40 years, I have found that if a financial institution allows funds to flow, then they have a solid method of making money off of your transaction. I know that they are making money when you transfer moneys from one account to another.... you just don't see it in your "fees".
The owners of PayPal (Ebay) will not be happy that you have made this decision, of that I am certain.
When you make a transfer, Money is drawn from an account of yours...... into PayPal... Next, the funds are "held" for "use" or transfer to another party. The money stays in the "PayPal" system for a period of time until it is "used".... But, remember, when it is "used" by the other party, it is still "held" withing the PayPal/Ebay system for up to 30 days!!

Now, the last I check a statement regarding the "float" amount, it was over 16 BILLION dollars. PayPal has an entire division of funds managers whose sole job is to use your money to make money.... last I observed from a company report, the average was 17%, not counting the portion of this "pot of your gold" that is leveraged daily, on the international currency exchange market!

Oh, my. No, if everyone thought like you gentlemen, half the financial institutions of the world would be bankrupt!!

Truly, with a temporary decision such as this, you are hurting BOTH QRZ members, AND PayPal.

Just think about it for a few moments.....

Your welcome,

John Rauch, N4JHR
Retired CEO of a national Healthcare System
MBA/MHCA Geo. Washington University

[W8WAW]

They charge now no matter how you send the money...moot point.

[KT1F]

Oh, my. No, if everyone thought like you gentlemen, half the financial institutions of the world would be bankrupt!!

Truly, with a temporary decision such as this, you are hurting BOTH QRZ members, AND PayPal.

You're completely missing the point. I don't think QRZ.com have this rule because they're concerned about PayPal's well being. It's because it blatantly violates PayPal's user agreement. What you say about PayPal still making money from the free personal payments may be true but that's irrelevant to anyone except PayPal.

PayPal's user agreements clearly prohibit the use of "personal payments" for non-personal transactions. It's their decision to have that rule. If you use their services you should agree to their rules. Take it or leave it.

Are you saying that it's wrong for QRZ.com to require its users to abide by the user agreements of another service?

Just think about it for a few moments.....

Well... think about what you're saying with a somewhat arrogant tone. I think you're effectively saying "Because I know about these things, I've determined that you make enough money from personal payments. That entitles me to ignore your user agreement".

It's not for you to make that decision.

If what W8WAW says is true then I guess it's a moot point now but I don't see any changes on their site about that.

[KD8RCZ]

So many opinions.

If there is an option on the paypal website that allows payment by way of gift, then that is what I am using. If paypal thought it was unethical, then the tab would not be there.

I'm using gift as long as the tab exists.

[KT1F]

If there is an option on the paypal website that allows payment by way of gift, then that is what I am using. If paypal thought it was unethical, then the tab would not be there.

I think that's terrible logic.

It basically comes down to whether you value honesty or if you're comfortable being dishonest.

A company says:
If you're engaged in activity type 1, use method A which costs something.
If you're engaged in activity type 2, use method B which is free.

By selecting A or B you're promising us that you're telling the truth about your activity.

It's twisted logic at best to interpret that to mean "if you really didn't want me to use B all the time then you wouldn't give me that choice". Life is full of choices where you can "get away" with something. That doesn't make it right.

Of course it's a business decision by PayPal whether or not they offer the free service. I'm guessing that its a balancing act for them. As others have pointed out, the free service still earns them some profit through use of the money for a while and they also get the intangible benefit of getting more people "through the door" so to speak. They're probably always evaluating whether they'd make more or less if they stopped it.

If they do stop the free service, it won't be because they suddenly decide it's unethical to abuse it. It was always unethical. It will be stopped if or when they decide too many dishonest people are abusing it and it's no longer worthwhile for them. That will be a classic case where those who were using it honestly for free personal payments will then miss out because too many people were abusing it.

I have no particular loyalty towards PayPal and I'm not coming from a goody-good position of never doing anything wrong. This is not exactly crime of the century but it's still a matter of trying to be honest to others like I'd expect them to be to me. I think if you can't agree to use the service honestly then don't use it at all.