Should I Bite the PayPal Bullet?

[Corran]

Sure, I'd love a free service too. I'd also love a free million dollars. As you mention, it's a convenient service and one should not expect services free. With that in mind, roughly 3% is about the same (if not less) than standard CC processing fees. And if one is confident in the buyer/seller, sending as a "friend" is free.

At art festivals I've had numerous buyers, hip to this fee, send a PayPal payment as a "friend" and mention to me it was to help cut down on fees for me. Of course for buying/selling gear to strangers the fee is the cost of the PayPal "protection." With that in mind, and the buyer being the one protected the most, perhaps there is room for discussion on to whom the fee is applied. Any additional fees on the buyer though makes the sale harder, generally. Anyone selling items generally takes the fees/postage/whatever in mind when pricing, whether or not the buyer paying the fee is explicitly stated.

[HMG]

The domestic (US) fees aren't bad, except for very small transactions. The international transaction fees were significant though. As I recall, you paid the normal fee, plus a cross-border fee, and then paid currency conversion at a somewhat non-advantageous rate. Now, you pay a higher transaction fee plus the currency conversion fee.

I remember a few transactions where the international transaction added an additional 5% in fees to a $100-300 sale. Might be better now.

[aaronnate]

a paypal fee is no different than a credit card fee. Every time you run a card as a credit card the vendor is charged a fee. If you are given the option of credit or debit, the venor is not charged a fee in most cases, if you choose debit. Everytime you select credit there is a fee. This is how these companies make their money from their service. There are two ways to handle it: add that fee to the final price or eat it. Honestly 2.9 is cheap.

If you don't ever want to pay a fee, you only accept cash or check.

[Luis-F-S]

95% of my business pays with Paypal. I couldn’t get along without it.

[neil poulsen]

I resisted PayPal at first.

But now that it's part of my process, I would resist not using it. At only about 2.5% of the transaction, it makes money transfer a lot easier. For international sales, it handles currency exchange. It also has it's own buyer protection plan.

Not bad, considering the cost.

[BrianShaw]

I resisted PayPal at first.

But now that it's part of my process, I would resist not using it. At only about 2.5% of the transaction, it makes money transfer a lot easier. For international sales, it handles currency exchange. It also has it's own buyer protection plan.

Not bad, considering the cost.

Ditto

[tonyowen]

2.9% is high?? Oh, plus 30 cents flat per transaction.

In the UK the Paypal fees are 3.4% + £0.20 [3.4% + $0.26].
Whereas the eBay fee is 10% of selling cost plus postage
Although Paypal and eBay are distinct companies, they operate as though linked.
So, in the UK, we are faced with both charges.

I've had problems with PayPal when I've guessed a postage cost to somewhere in Europe and promised the buyer that I would return the difference if the actual postage was less than I had guessed. Paypal initially objected to reducing their charge to me because the total selling plus postage was less than that originally agreed to when the sale was finalized - in the end I got a refund on the Paypal charge.

eBay is in my experience a better company to deal with when in comes to dispute between buyer and seller.

As a seller my default are no-returns and I get proof of [Royal Mail] postage - that is trackable on the majority of my sales. Or I used a courier service with proof of delivery and a signature.

However, in the end everything merely reflects ones own historical experience, and could change after a bad event.

regards
Tony

[Jac@stafford.net]

So what is an alternative to Paypal?

[Fred L]

With the auction site, there are really no other options afaik. When buying here, I have no problem using PP, and it helps if the seller is a member of long standing, and hopefully a forum contributor. If buying or selling in Canada, I prefer using Interac email bank transfers. Again, this usually applies to people I know and trust.

[BradS]

It feels like a lot of money - especially on big ticket items - but the service they provide is definitely worth it. I've been using PayPal to buy and sell on line for over 20 years...and will continue.