Don't suppose anyone wants a minibus?

"...but if you pay by paypal I will require an extra 3% to offset Paypal fees. This does NOT apply to the deposit - that can be paid by paypal and I'll pick up the fees. And don't tell me that Paypal don't charge, oh yes they do if you have a merchant account, as I do."

Naughty, a surcharge for the use of PayPal etc is not allowed under eBay rules.

"Sellers may not charge eBay buyers an additional fee for their use of ordinary forms of payment, including acceptance of cheques, money orders, electronic transfers or credit cards, except as described below. Such costs should be built into the price of the item."

Full text:

On or around Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:03:40 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

well, since eBay own Paypal (IIRC) they can stop bloody charging me then. I have to pay 3.4% on every penny I receive. How can I build that into the price of an auction, other than to charge *everyone* 3.4% extra?

I'm not charging them UNLESS they use Paypal, though... They're welcome to use cheques, cash, money orders, direct EFT to my account and suchlike...

but I'll have a look, I had an idea that this might be the case, but if so it's a con - eBay are effectively blagging extra fees from us...

On or around Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:03:40 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

OK, I've modified it.

and I've written to eBay (who now own Paypal) and complained. I've also found that I can't, once having listed it, remove the "pay by paypal" option from the listing, buggrem.

On personal auctions I add a little bit onto postage to cover some of the cost, on my business auctions I offer a 3% discount to people paying by cash/cheque!

I've tried Nochex and Pppay, but no-one ever pays using them so I gave up.

In any event I find that I get higher final prices if I allow people to pay using Paypal so IMHO it is worth £3.40/£100 as I usually get that back in higher value bids - tho when you work out your Paypal charges over the year for your accounts it gets a bit scary! - not to mention my annual eBay bill!! In the grand scheme of things tho, it is a very cheap way to retail items.

I do sympathise on a vehicle tho. If I sell a car I always put that I won't accept Paypal as a general rule, but might consider it if I come to some arrangement with the buyer. Not strictly breaking eBay rules, but allows the buyer to use PP if they are prepared to pay the charges!

Matt

P.S. Shame it is a minibus variety otherwise I'd be bidding!

ok - but in the UK we are allowed to charge customers for the bank charges these days - so I thought.

Would that mean that ebay/paypal/skype are being a trifle heavy-handed?

Read the help file link. It appears that is so for credit/debit card transactions but not for electronic money transfers. A CC/DC funded Paypal (or similar) transaction is apparently a electronic money transfer.

Not that it will make any difference. eBay is about making money for eBay and sod everyone else.

As Mr Maddock says it is still a cheap way of accepting "credit/debit card" payments and for most things you can build the fees into the postage costs. I've also offered other means of electronic payment, nochex, fastpay (RIP) and BACS and likewise no one has ever used them. It's always cheque, cash in the post or PayPal.

As a buyer I like PayPal, is quick and well integrated to eBay. As a seller I loath it...

Odd - my bank charges a small fortune for electronic funds transfer,

Where there's money, there's a sleazebag lining his pockets.

Wonder if that's ever been tested.

We need to be clear about who is charging who here. There is nothing to stop a "money moving agency" charging for the transaction. What is stopped, apparently, is the seller passing charges for electronic money transfers, *as a surcharge*, onto the buyer.

A seller can pass on, as a surcharge, the fees that they incur if they accept a CC/DC transation directly but only up to the amount they have been charged by the bank.

Do you feel rich? Do you want take on eBays lawyers?

AITI, Isn't a minibus commercial? so attracts VAT?

Depends if the seller is VAT registered or not.

Matt

On or around Fri, 30 Jun 2006 10:14:01 GMT, "GbH" enlightened us thusly:

you could always black the windows out... actually, you'll get a van a lot cheaper than a bus - the presence of all the seats and belts is what makes buses worth money.

I'm not registered, so effectively, the final price includes VAT.

I'll relisting it with no paypal (see other post) and will make some oblique statement such as you say to get around the rules. Bet the b***ards pull it again, mind.

On or around Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:39:35 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

and I wasted my time modifying the listing, an' all, cos bloody eBay pulled it anyway. I've sent 'em a rude email expressing my feelings about this. Sionce it alreasdy had bids, I wasn't able to alter the original description nor to alter the payment options.

yeah, I use it for just that reason, but the percentage fee on a transaction the size I envisage this motor could be in 3 figures, so sod 'em.

If they put about 0.2% on every single paypal transaction it'd be a trivial sum and would be much fairer, and I bet overall they'd make more. As it is, us businesses are funding a free ride for everyone else.

On or around Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:33:17 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

yeah, which is a neat way of getting round it. We are allowed (and in ebay) to charge extra for CC payments, but only if you have a CC merchant account.

they (dubiously, IMHO) class paypal among ordinary means of payment.

On or around Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:05:34 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

yeah, and I was only asking for 3% whereas I have to pay 3.4%... and it's a royal con by eBay, who own Paypal. Just another way of swelling ebay's coffers...

nor me neither - it needs the americans to get together a class action, I reckon.

Agreed, especially as Paypal do CC charge backs. Now if they didn't I wouldn't mind the fee so much as sort of "insurance".

It's not just business it's anyone who wants to accept CC/DC payments. I'm a private seller, flogging off the household dross. It if I want people to be able to buy my dross by CC/DC, and most people do, I have to upgrade to a "Premier Account". I then get stung by the incoming fees. The real pisser is the fact that *all* incoming transactions attract a fee, even those funded by a PayPal balance, thus Paypal haven't had to pay a CC company fee for that money.

and especially as those charge-backs often seem to be based on nothing more than "the buyer asked us to"...

Wouldn't sell anything substantial via Paypal. Missus has had a couple of charge-backs for "goods not delivered", despite them being shipped and without any form of investigation by paypal. Maybe lost in the post, or maybe the buyer just fancied a freebie...

Yes - they snuck that one in the back door - they didn't used to charge if it was from a Paypal account, even if you had a Premier a/c, but somewhere along the line they started doing so - what a scam! It's not like they aren't making enough money already is it?!

Matt