A word of caution

I have been down both roads with and without the use of "Gift" as an option of payment. No matter what if you pay through paypal for any transaction off EBAY you have no protection if you use anything other than a CC. If someone here on the board is a trusted member who cares if they are asking to save 3% on their end. If you pay through anything other than your paypal balance they also charge fees for the gifting. So transfer the money into there first and then pay. I do believe this same issue has been discussed many times before.

[JP]

Originally Posted by Pup6913

If you pay through anything other than your paypal balance they also charge fees for the gifting.

This is just not true...I paypal gifted $200 to Chicago206 yesterday for his Cycle 460 without incurring any fees. And my Paypal balance I keep at ZERO as often as I can. Then when I went to gift a much larger amount today from my CC they tried to charge $194 in fees. So there must be some rules in place that determine whether or not you pay a fee, and how much.

EDIT: I think that maybe Instant Transfers from a bank account are the free Paypal gifts, and once it is too high of a dollar amount, it kicks over to a credit card and charges a fee. Paypal's site is so vague about the specifics....probably to discourage fee-less end arounds. I only Paypal gift to those who I have done multiple deals with. Chicago206 bought from me several times on BST and eBay without issue, so I was not at all worried about gifting to him.

[BlueDevil89]

Has anyone receiving gifts had the money in their PayPal account frozen for six months? A Seller that I was dealing with started requesting gifts and had this happen to him. He could issue refunds, but could not withdrawl the cash. Then he created another separate PayPal account and tried to get the Buyers to accept a refund from the frozen account and pay him through the new account.

I avoid the gift option in all business transactions. I personally believe that if you are using a service, then you should pay the stated fees. If I wanted to avoid the fees, I'd simply stop using the PayPal option.

[JP]

Christopher, wow, what a horror story! But one part of it I don't get...how could somebody have more than one Paypal account? I had to verify my address that's on my credit report, my SSN, and my bank account....it seems like it'd be impossible to get more than one account since the information would be the same.

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by JP

...how could somebody have more than one Paypal account?

I have two. My original used for all my transactions and then a second I set up when my mother passed away to sell some things that would allow my sisters access to the account.

Both accounts are in my name.

[kcohen]

The fact of the matter is that if you are buying a card or anything else, you are paying for something and not sending a gift. To do so to avoid the paypal fee is in my view fraudulent. You may not like paypal but if you use it, you should adhere to the fee structure.

[JP]

Wow, Tim. I've used paypal since their inception and never knew this. Now I can keep my two hobbies, baseball cards and money laundering, completely separate!

I had my account frozen recently when I had 200 eBay auctions al ending on the same day, but they lifted the restriction pretty quickly...six months wouldve been unbearable.

[JP]

Jim VB,

If your post above was directed towards me, you can send me a PM. As I've told you before, I cannot see the content of your posts. Whatever it was, I bet it wasn't flattery.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by kcohen

The fact of the matter is that if you are buying a card or anything else, you are paying for something and not sending a gift. To do so to avoid the paypal fee is in my view fraudulent. You may not like paypal but if you use it, you should adhere to the fee structure.

This is exactly how I see it. To request to be paid by the "gift" option to avail yourself of paypal's services for free is not right IMO.

[bigtrain]

Using "gifting" to avoid Paypal fees is fraud. It is, in fact, "theft of services", potentially a felony depending on the size of the fee avoided. We can always justify our actions by telling ourselves that their fees are exorbitant or that they are a big corporation and won't miss the fee or that everyone else does it. That may well be true but it is no justification for dishonesty. They say that everyone cheats a little on their taxes. It is still illegal and I would never do such a thing (Are you listening IRS? Never, ever, ever. Really.) Ultimately, you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. I've had clients who could put a bullet in the back of your head and not lose a minute of sleep, but I think most of the folks here are basically honest people who know the difference between right and wrong. Morally, is scamming Paypal any different from scamming a fellow collector?

[JP]

If I stopped using Paypal, I'd also have to stop using eBay. I'm willing to circumvent a hole in their system to my advantage, and they in turn make plenty of money off of me. The alternative is that they make nothing at all... No guilt for me, as it appears is also the case with the large majority here, as almost every purchase I've made on BST has had the seller requesting the gift option. If it is the word "gift" that bothers you, you can also choose "payment owed" under the personal tab and do the same fee-less transaction. Buying and selling baseball cards is not a business for me at all...all ends up in cards, never cash.

Why is it that many people here feel they can throw stones? No one here has lied on an application, cheated on their taxes, stolen cable, downloaded movies or music, broken the speed limit, drank underage, or blown up a busfull of nuns? We're all human. We all have the right to draw whatever lines we are comfortable with. I have NEVER in my life been dishonest in any way, shape or form when dealing with an individual entity. To me that is far worse than taken advantage of a system a business has put in place...To each their own!

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by JP

This is just not true...I paypal gifted $200 to Chicago206 yesterday for his Cycle 460 without incurring any fees. And my Paypal balance I keep at ZERO as often as I can. Then when I went to gift a much larger amount today from my CC they tried to charge $194 in fees. So there must be some rules in place that determine whether or not you pay a fee, and how much.

EDIT: I think that maybe Instant Transfers from a bank account are the free Paypal gifts, and once it is too high of a dollar amount, it kicks over to a credit card and charges a fee. Paypal's site is so vague about the specifics....probably to discourage fee-less end arounds. I only Paypal gift to those who I have done multiple deals with. Chicago206 bought from me several times on BST and eBay without issue, so I was not at all worried about gifting to him.

JP,

Just curious, but do you try to come up with a scheme for everything you do in life?

I just ask because if you're trying to beat Paypal out of their standard fee, and that fee happens to come to $194, then you must have been moving roughly $6500. In the old days (pre-electronic banking) moving that amount of money took time, over a week in some cases, depending upon geography, and proximity to Federal Reserve Banks. Time, being equal to money, made that transfer expensive, in economic terms. Opportunity Costs were expensive. Then came credit cards and the purchase was quicker, but the merchant paid the credit card company a fee. Then comes Paypal. The transfer is instant. The merchant has his money in minutes. You, theoretically, get you item shipped faster. But again there is a fee that someone is supposed to pay. Sellers like to think that's a fee that buyers should pay. Buyers think it's a cost of doing business.

You have gone to great lengths to try to convince the board you're an honest, straight shooting, guy. Now you have several posts that suggest you'll make a strong effort to defraud a service company that provides a valuable service to you. Is there a conflict there?