paypal fees?

BadLiver · #1 01-28-2015, 10:54 AM

I agreed with a chap to purchase a guitar for $625 shipped. He sounds like he is a very frequent buyer and seller of guitars, and indeed only bought the guitar in question a few months ago.

Anyhow, I sent him a paypal for $625. A few hours later, he refunded it, saying "I only received $606." I mean don't they charge a fee and isn't it imposed on the buyer?

Am I too quick to take offense that something seems a little skeevy here? That someone would break a deal over $19?

RP · #2 01-28-2015, 10:58 AM

He probably expected you to send the money as a gift which would mean that you, the buyer, pay the fees and also would have no protection under Paypal....

dorable · #3 01-28-2015, 11:13 AM

Yes there is a fee, and yes it is taken from what you sent to the seller. And yeah, it's a bit odd that he would just refund your money (did you get a full $625 back or just the $606?).

People really should just pay attention to the fine print and factor in that 3% fee as a side-effect of being sure that all parties have a sense of security if something goes wrong.

#4 01-28-2015, 11:14 AM

According to the current PayPal agreement, fees are deducted from the purchase price. So, the seller is paying the fee, not the buyer. If you want the seller to net a certain amount, you have to increase the payment to accommodate that. It used to give you the option to choose whether you (buyer) paid the fee or you could leave that to seller. Now it is automatically deducted from the purchase price.

cooper59 · #5 01-28-2015, 11:50 AM

yes there is a fee and the seller pays it. sounds like he wanted the gift option. there are no fees but it isn't for purchases[or not suppose to be] run away. if you use gift option you have 0 protection from paypal. I wouldn't touch any deal with gift option with a ten foot pole

GrandpaDave · #6 01-28-2015, 11:54 AM

You should have discussed ahead of time who would pay the fee. Since that wasn't done, and you each assumed the other would take care of the fee, the deal is off.

Either discuss and sort it out, or don't.

As other posters have said, don't use the gift option if it isn't someone you trust.

guitarlifestyle · #7 01-28-2015, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandpaDave

You should have discussed ahead of time who would pay the fee. Since that wasn't done, and you each assumed the other would take care of the fee, the deal is off.

Either discuss and sort it out, or don't.

As other posters have said, don't use the gift option if it isn't someone you trust.

I wouldn't think this is something that would need to be discussed unless the ad clearly stated that the gift option should be used (and I agree to run away from that when buying from someone you don't know). If the ad doesn't say either way, I would assume that the buyer pays the fees as a cost of doing business.

It's also a little strange that the guy is willing to lose the deal over a relatively small amount of money. You might be better off walking away from this one.

RRuskin · #8 01-28-2015, 12:24 PM

PayPal fees are a "cost of doing business." If the seller wanted the full $625.00, he should have done the math and raised his selling price accordingly. It's not that difficult to figure out.

Pixguit · #9 01-28-2015, 12:33 PM

I've seen many ads that give the price and say + Paypal fees, if he didn't specifically state that, and you want the guitar, talk to him & offer to split them or something. Seems strange that he does this all the time and didn't incorporate that in the price, but if you want the guitar, I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

fishstick_kitty · #10 01-28-2015, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RP

He probably expected you to send the money as a gift which would mean that you, the buyer, pay the fees and also would have no protection under Paypal....

Actually if you send money through paypal gift (friends and family) then neither party pays any fees.

For what it's worth, I always say "if you want to use paypal then please either use friends and family or send me an extra n dollars to help cover the fees"

Fire&Rain · #11 01-28-2015, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RRuskin

PayPal fees are a "cost of doing business." If the seller wanted the full $625.00, he should have done the math and raised his selling price accordingly. It's not that difficult to figure out.

^^^^ This. As others have said, the "gift" option with PayPal incurs no fees and offers no buyer protection for a deal gone bad. Hope you can work things out with the seller. Lesson learned...

BadLiver · #12 01-28-2015, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitarlifestyle

I wouldn't think this is something that would need to be discussed unless the ad clearly stated that the gift option should be used (and I agree to run away from that when buying from someone you don't know). If the ad doesn't say either way, I would assume that the buyer pays the fees as a cost of doing business.

It's also a little strange that the guy is willing to lose the deal over a relatively small amount of money. You might be better off walking away from this one.

Agreed, that's exactly it. I could care less about the $19; I just find it really bizarre that someone would break a deal over it.

Tony Burns · #13 01-28-2015, 01:35 PM

Couldnt you just pay him the 625 via paypal ( which will give you certain paypal rights ) and then either gift him the 19 dollars via paypal or send him a bank check -id explain it to him you sent the agreed amount but fees were taken out you were not aware of . why loose a guitar over 19 bucks !

stephenT · #14 01-28-2015, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishstick_kitty

Actually if you send money through paypal gift (friends and family) then neither party pays any fees.

For what it's worth, I always say "if you want to use paypal then please either use friends and family or send me an extra n dollars to help cover the fees"

The Gift option is not for buying goods. It's designed to gift money to,.. family and friends.

I never finish reading an ad that requires PP Gift. Once I see that, I'm outa there. It's not honest, it's against the PP terms of use and no one is covered under PP's buyer protection. There is value to their 3%.

guitom · #15 01-28-2015, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by talkgtr

The Gift option is not for buying goods. It's designed to gift money to,.. family and friends.

I never finish reading an ad that requires PP Gift. Once I see that, I'm outa there. It's not honest, it's against the PP terms of use and no one is covered under PP's buyer protection. There is value to their 3%.

Same here on all counts. And as a buyer it wouldn't occur to me to discuss this with the seller. If they take paypal they take paypal. To the OP, yes your seller is skeevy.