Quick paypal question

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Posted By: leon

If I list some cards on ebay am I allowed to say that I will split paypal fees with the buyer? Is it against ebay/paypal rules to say that?....I don't mind taking paypal on smaller value items but the larger value ones get to be a little expensive....thanks in advance....

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Posted By: Bill

Leon,
A few years back when I was selling much more on ebay, if you put in your listing anything in relation to a buyer paying any kind of fees due to Paypal, an auction could get shut down. I saw it happen to a few people, yet others nothing happened so I don't know if there is a rhyme or reason to the madness. Again, this was a few years ago.

Change your socks, drink water, and drive on.

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Posted By: Bobby Binder

Leon,

You can not say you will split the fee...what you can do is say you will take only an E-check which is done through paypal and it is only $5.00 makes it nice for big ticket items. I think that is what Charlie does with manontherock so contact him for specifics.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

I am not 100% certain but I don't think you can add a fee to a winning auction, you can only give a cash discount. It's like a credit card purchase-you can't add on to the purchase price in most if not all states but you can discount for cash if you advertise it.

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Posted By: leon

I guess we have to weigh the difference of the fees vs who might not bid if I don't take paypal. On a $2,000 item I will pay about $70 in fees to take paypal...though the paypal e-check sounds cool, somehow I think it could confuse people...I think I have seen some talk about only taking paypal E-checks and then sellers getting paid with regular paypal...and it becomes a refund blah blah blah issue....I guess I am still undecided right now....I have bigger issues but was curious about this.

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Posted By: Jeff D.

Just to restate, ebay does not allow asking buyers for any portion of PayPal fees.

"Not permitted:

* Charging an extra fee to use a credit card instead of a check.
* Charging an extra fee to use PayPal."

You can read this on the page regarding payment surcharges:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html>


But to further clarify something mentioned earlier, you CAN NOT require an eCheck only PayPal payment in your listing. If you accept PayPal, you must accept ALL FORMS of payment PayPal allows, including credit card payments.

"PayPal Payments Policy

Sellers who offer PayPal as a payment option in their eBay listings (either via logos or through text in the item description) must accept card funded payments...

Sellers may not communicate to buyers that they only accept account balance or bank account funded payments, or will not accept card funded payments."


This policy can be read here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/paypal-payments.html>

Although you can actually request that a buyer NOT pay with an eCheck. Go figure.

Hope that helps some.

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Posted By: leon

I was being too lazy to go find the rules myself...I will just take it or not.....best regards

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Posted By: barrysloate

Between paypal and ebay I figure you lose about 5%, but auction houses take more (myself included). You have to spend a little money if you want to reach that large an audience. That's the way I look at it.

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Posted By: Jim Dale

I realize everyone wants to save a good dollar, and I don't sell very much on ebay at all but I do buy there a lot. As a buyer if a seller does not take paypal I can assure you my bid reflects the trouble I'm going to go through (write a check \ get a money order) and have little protection. As a buyer I want all of the available options open to me.

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Posted By: Bob

The best deal going remains the BST thread where you can sell cards and not pay a buyer's fee, a consignment fee, a final value fee, a listing fee, etc.
Best deal around...

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Posted By: barrysloate

BST saves a few dollars but you generally get market price. On ebay you pay a fee but every so often you experience the joys of the double snipe- and it will pay for all your fees and then some.

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Posted By: leon

So here's a last question to belabor the point. If I sell a $2000 card (Have no idea if anything I list will go that high but this is only a question)....will the paypal fees of $80'ish be offset by the final price being that much, or more higher? Do folks spending 2k on a card not bid, or bid less, if the seller doesn't take paypal? Personally, I like to pay with paypal but it has never made me bid lower...but that's just me and I could be in the minority...thanks for all responses....sort of an intersting subject.....best regards

edited spelling

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Posted By: Jim Dale

On a card in the $2k range of which I have only enjoyed twice I would not be worried about having to pay by check or money order - obviously I'd be more concerned about the persons feed back and reputation before sending that kind of money or I'd use an escrow service (did that once too).

When I buy a card for 50 bucks or less then I want to use paypal; if I can't use paypal I'm probably going to cast a "steal it" bid and pay only if the price is so low its worth the inconvenience.

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Posted By: Brian H (misunderestimated)

I think it can definitely affect bidders especially bidders who don't know the seller. I know that I am often less likely to bid as high (or sometimes at all) when Paypal is NOT an option if I don't know the seller (regardless of feedback).
Paypal is actually a much bigger factor for me with big ticket items (I would class this at $500 and up for me). As the seller it may also provide some solace to you if the winner is an unknown quantity -- you don't need to worry about the chekc clearing etc. if they pay with Paypal.

That said if the winner pays with paypal (for a big $$) item make sure you get some sort of delivery confirmation & insurance because paypal places the burden on you to prove it was shipped etc. if the buyer later claims not to have received it.

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Posted By: Andrew

Ebay sellers can't charge a fee, but can they offer a discount, e.g., 2% if you pay by check/MO? So on a $1000 item, your net (not including Ebay and shipping fees) is $970.70 if buyer uses Paypal (based on tier 1), $980 if they pay via check/MO.

"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: Rob Dewolf

There have been a few times -- almost always on an item that I'd bid $50 or less and one that I figure I'll come across again -- in which the seller will accept only a money order, and that caused me not to bid at all. But as far as bidding lower because the seller doesn't accept PayPal, I figured if I'm in for $300, then I'm in for $500 or $600, if that's what I'm willing to spend to get the item.

I think Barry hit upon a key point: As a seller on eBay, you won't have to sell too many items before you experience one or two sales in a fairly short amount of time in which the selling price is much more than you would have asked (such as on the B/S/T board). Those types of sales more than make up for the selling fees you pay on the items that sell for pretty much what you'd expect.

And not to minimize the positive aspects of the B/S/T board, but the size of the audience that it reaches is minuscule compared with that of eBay. While it's true that eBay has many faults, the vastness of the audience it reaches is amazing when one considers how cheap it is to auction an item.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I've sold many high ticket items over 5K on ebay up to 25K, and nearly all of them were paid for using paypal. I think you lose some bidders when you don't accept, and just understand it's the cost of doing business. Every medium costs some money except BST; but on BST you run the risk of underselling your item. How many times have people listed something there and it is sold 3 minutes later. Translation: they left money on the table. Put the same item on ebay and you might get 20-30% more, and the fees would become irrelevant.

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Posted By: Bruce MacPherson

I tend to agree that you have to offer paypal to maximize your profits. Another option is to offer free insured shipping to the winner if the item is paid for via check/M.O. Most people would be happy to save $20 on shipping. When I have sold cards on ebay to "known" collectors, several have graciously offered to pay by check to reduce my fees. I then ship for free. Everybody wins, right?