PayPal Gift?

[Frogskins]

You can send them a payment under the "goods" tab. No invoice needed. If they want 3% then you will need to add that to the total. As I have stated before, I never charge an extra 3% for fees, not worth the hassle in my opinion. But that's just me.

Yes you are protected if you click the tab about paying for goods and services. Just add the fee on top if the seller requests that and you are safe. Quite simple. If things go sour it takes about 2 weeks to get your money back some times longer.

Thank you both for taking the time to explain - very much appreciated ...

 

[Batwolf]

PayPal locked my account for 30 days at one point because I was doing too many "gift" transactions. I now only do 3%.

 

[atrain]

So if you dont send it as a gift they charge 3%? What does that do exactlly, does it insure your transaction? Im a noob at this.

 

[Ecko]

So if you dont send it as a gift they charge 3%? What does that do exactlly, does it insure your transaction? Im a noob at this.

Payments sent as gift are exactly that. A gift, not a payment. Paypal most likely will not insure your transaction through the gift option because they feel you are just handing out money. Save your self the trouble and pay the extra to have security.

 

[Sanford]

So if you dont send it as a gift they charge 3%? What does that do exactlly, does it insure your transaction? Im a noob at this.

The fees are PayPal fees to do transactions. From what I gather you don't have to pay them when sending as a gift but when you submit it as a purchase the seller is hit with fees for processing. I guess its like interact fees. So if you add the 4% you (the buyer) are covering the fees for the seller. Purchases done on PayPal are covered whereas gifts are not.

 

[GRFMotorsports]

The fees (3%) are what Paypal charges for their service. When you purchase an item through Paypal that fee helps them administer their guarantee among other things like make payroll for their employees. The recipient always covers the fees. Western Union on the other hand charges the sender the fee for the service. Its the price of doing business.

 

[Ross]

I never use the Gift/Personal option to pay someone and I won't do business with those who insist on it. As a buyer, using the Gift/Personal tab gives you zero recourse should the deal go south. By sending money as a gift, you are literally saying to the seller, "hey, here's some money, I don't expect anything back from you". Not only will Paypal NOT intervene should the seller not send the item you purchased, you would have trouble convincing law enforcement in the seller's city (if you decided to go that far) that they should do anything when you willingly and knowingly sent money as a "gift". Even if all this is not a concern, as someone mentioned above, your PP account will be flagged if you send or receive a suspicious number of gift payments.

I got the requesting of gift payments banned on my home forum, a couple of other forums that I visit regularly have also followed suit. Why do I care? Number one, because it is easy to cheat someone using the Gift/Personal option as previously discussed. Number 2, because I like having that option and I don't want Paypal to take it away because of abuse. For instance, when a group of my coworkers go out after work, I can pick up the tab and have everyone pay me back later via Paypal without anyone getting stuck with a fee. Also, I sometimes sell for a couple of friends on Ebay, I can send them their money without them getting hit with the fee twice.

Getting a bit more philosophical, what is the issue with the fee anyway? Not only is it the cost of doing business, but who determines that the item you are selling is worth exactly $125.00 (or whatever figure you are trying to hit) anyway? Maybe it's worth $123.00 or $126.49. There isn't an exact set amount for anything we buy or sell on the 'net, so what difference does a couple of bucks either way make? If I have something to sell that I think is worth $150, I may say $160 shipped an Paypal'ed, just to make things easier. Will I get exactly $150 after fees and shipping? Maybe, around there. It doesn't matter to me since the $150 figure is just in my head, it's not set in stone anywhere.

Also, the fee is not 4% or even 3%; for US and Canadian transactions it's 2.9% + 0.30. Because of that $0.30 tacked on, if you just add 3%, you will always be short (as the recipient) for transactions less than $300 (when $0.30 equals the tenth of a percent between 2.9% and 3%). To calculate it correctly you have to bust out some high school algebra and work backwards to get your exact number which is going to be silly since it will likely be some odd number.

Sorry if I ruffled any feathers, this Gift/Personal thing really bugs me. Also, I'm an old timer at a couple of knife-related forums so I'm used to speaking my mind, I'm not sure anymore if I'm going overboard as I haven't been the new guy for quite some time.

 

[GRFMotorsports]

Well said and explained Ross.... exactly what I was getting at on a couple points. You took the time to explain it out further.