There was a thread a while ago that commented on sellers advetising along the lines of, "please add 4% if paying by paypal". There were differing opinions on this subject and not all were favourable to sellers who practiced this.

My own opinion is that it is up to the seller & buyer to come to their own arrangements. Some sellers I have bought from have the added charge, some don't - it is not something I give too much thought to when buying as I know what price I am willing to pay; if the paypal charge takes it over then its a case of alternative payent.

Right, with that out of the way... HERE IS MY BEEF

'PAYPAL OK IF SENT AS A GIFT' This very often means "YOU PAY THE EXTRA CHARGES"

The practice of please add 4% if paying by paypal tended to start reducing drastically when the thread complaining about it took off

My beef is that the new phrase for the same meaning i.e. ok if sent as gift, looks very much to me that some sellers don't want to be seen as one of those that was complained about in the aforementioned thread. As I said previously, I didn't take too much notice of the add 4%, but the new way of phrasing does make me think it is a bit devious because it often really means.... THERE ARE HIDDEN CHARGES

Worth pointing out that it's not possible to send or receive 'gift' payments when registered in Germany. If this also applies to other countries, I don't know.

I only started recently to charge %4 fees for any payment below 20 quid as the majority of my sales are below that amount and I eventually lose lot of money (Paypal charges me more for any payment in GBP than in EUR!). But I don't see any point to charge extra for fees for anything over 20 odd quid. That's just greedy.

From what I understand as long as you have funds in your Pay Pal account when paying as a gift there is no charge, it's only if payment comes out of you linked bank account to Pay Pal, I could be wrong on this but have noticed there is no charge when funds are in Pay Pal account.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

From what I understand as long as you have funds in your Pay Pal account when paying as a gift there is no charge, it's only if payment comes out of you linked bank account to Pay Pal, I could be wrong on this but have noticed there is no charge when funds are in Pay Pal account.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

Donno about that but as a user registered in Germany whether u have some dough in you account or not, we don't have the gift option!

From what I understand as long as you have funds in your Pay Pal account when paying as a gift there is no charge, it's only if payment comes out of you linked bank account to Pay Pal, I could be wrong on this but have noticed there is no charge when funds are in Pay Pal account.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

I make you absolutely right about that, Mark - I've just tried to send someone some money as a gift, using my bank account. Wouldn't let me do it without a charge. In the past, on occasions when I've had PayPal funds and used them to send as a gift - no charge.

I make you absolutely right about that, Mark - I've just tried to send someone some money as a gift, using my bank account. Wouldn't let me do it without a charge. In the past, on occasions when I've had PayPal funds and used them to send as a gift - no charge.

.... which is why i used the word 'often' instead of 'always' in my original post

Bugger me I'm right for once lol if this is correct then all you have to do is make sure you have funds in Pay Pal account then no charges, everybody happy.

From Ireland I can send as a gift when I have funds in the account though it isnt free.There is a nominal charge usually seems to be around 30p which I have to pay

Phil

My understanding is that there are no charges when money is taken from your linked bank account (not your linked debit card) - except when a foreign exchange transaction is being made. Then there is something like a 1% charge. If you're the buyer it is your choice as to who swallows that charge - you or the seller.

Of course, there are other 'costs' involved courtesy of the lousy exchange rates given by Paypal.

My understanding is that there are no charges when money is taken from your linked bank account (not your linked debit card) - except when a foreign exchange transaction is being made. Then there is something like a 1% charge. If you're the buyer it is your choice as to who swallows that charge - you or the seller.

Of course, there are other 'costs' involved courtesy of the lousy exchange rates given by Paypal.

You're absolutely right. It's all explained on PayPal's homepage:

https://cms.paypal.com/se/cgi-bin/?&cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/UserAgreement_full&locale.x=en_US#8.%20Fees

If I'm buying and sellers states add 4% (or whatever) for paypal, I work it out. If I'm still happy with price I pay it, no problem. Some sellers state no extra for paypal, in which case I'll send as gift to avoid them losing out on charges. I might be paying a touch extra, but the amount I pay for a record it's usually only amounts to an extra £1 to £2 anyway. I can live with that. I honestly can't see a problem with this issue, same as sellers on ebay. If it's listed what the charges are to be then you have to take that into consideration, it's not rocket science is it?

Edited February 18, 201015 yr by Supercorsa

I send 'gift' all the time with no charges either way. My paypal a/c is linked directly to my bank a/c. There is a charge if you are linked via a debit/credit card. Steve

I send 'gift' all the time with no charges either way. My paypal a/c is linked directly to my bank a/c. Steve

So is mine, in fact it's the only method of payment I have on my account other than a long expired credit card.

Didn't seem to stop them trying to charge me this morning though...

One thing to be wary of though when sending as a gift, is that neither Buyer or Seller are covered by the Paypal Protection policies as by gifting money, it's deemed that nothing is being bought/sold.

I have always preferred the "add 4%" approach or even better, the "split 2% between buyer and seller. As it's the convenient method of payment for both.

Edited February 18, 201015 yr by Blunny