Is it against eBay/PayPal TOS for an eBay seller to ask buyer to pay PayPal fee? - Page 2

Not only is it against EBAY TOS, requesting additional fees specifically for paypal payment is against the paypal user agreement, and can be grounds for suspension of a paypal account. (See section 5 under receiving payment)

My question is, we're talking about ebay, but why are sellers allowed to ask for paypal fees here on head-fi? The same rules apply, be it ebay, person to person sales, or forums. I mean, I personally have no problems helping with or paying for fees voluntarily, I've done it many times in the past - but if you are going to allow for third party money handling, be it paypal or any other service, it seems you should be willing to account for your costs in your own asking price. That's why the fee is on the seller side to begin with - you are providing a convenience through a third party service to the buyer, so you are expected to pay a small fee.

On top of it all, I just find it kind of silly, and sometimes rude, when sellers are quibbling over 3% fees while bartering over hundreds to thousands of dollars in what, frankly (despite spending much time selling/buying this stuff myself ) are often luxury items with self-assigned after market value.

In the end it's not a big deal, but I know I have chosen one seller over another simply because they lacked this sort of paypal "surcharge", but helped with the fees anyway. Honestly I'm not sure many people are even aware this term exists. I didn't for some time, though I've never had a pro account that charged the fees myself.

Trying to be as non-descript as possible, I recently had a quote for an item from a very well respected head-fi MOT and they asked for an extra *% if I'm paying by paypal. It works out to between $5 and $10.

I was not worried, I just take it into account as part of the decision making process, but reading this, it seems they should not be asking for this extra amount. They may take CC, I don't know and as I said it doesn't bother me.

I'm sure they aren't the only one and it's probably common practice, they probably don't even know it's not allowed. But, what should I do, if anything? Should I say something to them?

Steve.

This is from the Paypal User Agreement, linked above:

Credit card companies have similar rules with their vendors about not charging a premium to cover their fees when people pay by credit card. I've dealt with a couple of brick and mortar computer stores that somehow get around this by stating their quoted prices include a 3% discount for cash and that the discount is lost if paying by credit card. I don't know if the credit card companies really accept this sneaky tactic, or if they simply don't know about it.

It's not really in anyone's interest to enforce that particular rule, so it isn't. They have to have it, so they can say they're looking out for the consumer, but at the end of the day, they just want their fees.

I rally think the seller should factor in any fees and include it in the price, I've always found the charging extra of paypal fees here on head-fi to be a little distateful myself. Suck it up, and take the charge yourself if your selling, it's worth it for the convenience, isn't it?. Just my opinion of course. I think also people could get umm confused.. I don't own a credit card, I use a debit card linked to paypal, and i've been asked to pay the fees.. umm no.

I wouldn't be afraid to at least just mention it, politely of course, and in terms of their own benefit - it's in their interest to be aware of the policy because someone could file a complaint with paypal. I have yet to deal with a seller, particularly MOT, that isn't willing to discuss things reasonably on head-fi.

As the paypal policy itself points out, it's actually law in some places. I wouldn't expect a shady policy like that to hold up in court, but who knows. Personally I wouldn't choose to deal with a company that is actively trying to dodge a law or rule protecting the customer, and publishing prices which aren't their "true" prices. Especially in electronics, where most everything is payed for by CC anyway, and the price should account for that. Even the small places generally seem too, so it's not like it should make their price uncompetitive.

If by they, you mean paypal, they actually just don't want people to use something else over them because they "cost extra" (which isn't really true, any method costs something in time or money, which is why people choose paypal even if the fee is there).

I wouldn't mind paying that extra for the convenience of Paypal, especially when I factor that into the overall cost of the item anyway (just like you would other shipping, handling, etc charges). On E-Bay you have a lot of this practice anyway with people having low item prices and huge shipping/handling to get around all sorts of fees.

This sort of practice happens all the time in the world - it's like when you buy a home and you negotiate with the seller to pay all closing costs, or you "over pay" the price on the home, then get a kick back of cash in your pocket from the financing for any move-in expenses.

Like people say, I think this is to deter people from not using PayPal due to extra fees, but usually those fees such a small percentage in the overall amount that I never think twice.

I just bought a set of headphones from some one on head-fi, and they wanted extra $$ if I was paying through PayPal. I had zero issue with that and gave him an extra $10 just to make sure and cover any fees and his time for dealing through PayPal. It was worth it to me because I needed to use a Visa Gift Card to buy the item, and PayPal was the only way for me to use it (couldn't send a money order, for example). Plus, I was getting a like-new item for about 2/3rds the cost of the street price anyway, so I was still getting a great deal even with the extra $10.

So in the end for me it is what is the overall cost of what I'm buying and is it reasonable. If it still is, then I have no problem playing these money games.

Going back to ebay and additional costs, does anyone know if it's permitted to ask buyers to pay VAT (tax) on top of the list price? I've come across a couple of ebay shops that do this, and thought that it seems a little underhand.