Using Paypal Invoices

[smtjoy]

Hi all,

I just wanted to bring up PayPal and using their invoices. I started to a few months ago because of some issues I had and wanted to let everyone know what they are, how to use them, and why.

I started using them because of an incident where I was purchasing a card from a BST and the seller wanted it to be paid by PayPal gift. I somehow entered the wrong email and the money went to someone else I had done business with before. The way PayPal gift works is there are no fees but you don’t have any recourse once the money is sent, it voids all PayPal buyer protections and beyond that only the person receiving the money can cancel it and PayPal can do nothing to help you if anything happens. It took a few phone calls to get to the bottom of it and I was finally able to convince them to cancel the transaction to get my money back, what a pain. I also had a friend with an incident where the buyer made a typo on giving them their email address and the money got sent to someone randomly and they were never able to recover it as they never got any reply from that email account the money was sent to, ouch.

During all this I decided to call PayPal and find out what all I could do to help protect myself from this happening again. They recommended that I use a PayPal invoice anytime I sell something so I have proof of the transaction and it also gives the buyer the option to pay however they want and they know I will receive the money. They can still pay with fees and get buyer protection but can choose gift option also. From a sellers stand point it gives me a record of the sale and also lets me print postage labels to the buyer to make it easy to ship them their card out to a confirmed address.

I have been very happy using them and just wanted to let the board know what I had found out.

[camlov2]

I would think an invoice for the gift option would be a red flag to paypal that you are breaking the rules.

I don't normally write out an invoice when I receive a "gift".

[smtjoy]

I hear what you are saying but anyone on here using the gift choice when "buying" a card is breaking the PayPal TOS. By issuing an invoice you the seller leave how it is paid up to the buyer.

Also know if you have money in your paypal account there are no fees when using it so no reason to use the gift option at all.

[Wymers Auction]

It has been awhile since I checked, but invoices were a rather expensive subscription service. I really do not need paypal for all of my credit card services.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Wymers Auction

It has been awhile since I checked, but invoices were a rather expensive subscription service. I really do not need paypal for all of my credit card services.

Not sure about before, but it's free to use paypal invoices. I use them all of the time.

[D. Bergin]

I've been sending Paypal invoices for awhile. It's pretty handy for non-Ebay stuff.

[Wymers Auction]

Thanks Gary I will look into that. I checked and I stand corrected on that. Thanks for the help.