PayPal Fees - How to avoid them.

[Mart61]

Hi Guys

I've seen numerous listings of late in the For Sale forum that say things such as:

"£xx plus Paypal fees" or
"£xx including paypal fees"

Having bought one or two things from this forum, if the buyer sends the money and uses the "gift" option, there is no charge for either the sender or the receiver of the funds.



Just thought I'd point it out.

Cheers

[Farmer Giles]

The only problem with the 'gift' option is that if something goes wrong then you have no recourse through PAYPAL as offically you did not buy anything, you just gave someone some cash..

Not suggesting anyone on here would rip anyone off, just be aware that's all.

cheers

[cupracing]

I would never transfer money using gift unless I knew the person

[Mart61]

Fair comments guys. Do you know where in the terms and conditions it states that at all?

Having perused the PayPal terms and conditions, I can only see that such protection is offered when buying from eBay.

[Mark_T]

Need to be careful regarding the source of the funds to keep it free :

1. PayPal will not charge a recipient (regardless of their account type) of a PayPal payment if that payment was funded by the sender's bank account or PayPal balance and it is designated a Personal Payment
2. PayPal will apply a fee for payments received for Personal Payments or Commercial Payments if such a payment is funded by a credit or debit card, however for Personal Payments funded by a card, the sender will have the option of paying the fees for that payment

[Mart61]

I just found this on the What Consumer web site here:

"Paypal Buyer Complaint Policy Limitations

The Buyer Complaint Policy which provides protection for transactions outside ebay also has two significant limitations:

1. Paypal will not make a decision on whether an item is “not as described”. For example, if you buy a new CD and it turns out to be used or is damaged, you can use the process to make a dispute, but you are on your own. Paypal will not get involved and won’t make a decision either way.
2. For items that are not delivered, Paypal will only refund your money if they can recover this from the seller."

The Which website say the following here:

"PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy

This scheme applies to items purchased using PayPal but that don’t qualify for the Buyer Protection scheme, whether it’s on or off eBay. It offers less cover than Buyer Protection.

Buyers must submit their complaint through the PayPal Resolution Centrewithin 45 days of the date they sent the payment. Any refund is limited to the amount that PayPal can recover from the seller’s account, even if it finds in the consumer’s favour. So if the seller empties their own PayPal account regularly, you may struggle to get your money back.

The scheme also only applies to items that are not received. It doesn’t pay out for items that do arrive but that are not as described in the advert."

As such it could well be that paying the fees to PayPal for purchases made on the forum is simply lining the coffers of PayPal?

[Farmer Giles]

looks that way doesn't it, only purchases on Ebay will be covered.

I had the mis-fortune to fall foul of this when I bought some bits for my car through another forum much the same as this one. The seller seemed OK and had been a member longer than me, bought and sold a few bits so on the surface seemed to be legit.

Long story short was the 'as new' bits I bought were nothing like as new and I tried to raise a disput through paypal and I could not even do it as there was no option to raise a dispute when you've gifted the money. Contacted paypal directly and they basically said tough sh!t..

[Steve]

Easiest way to avoid PayPal fees is not to use PayPal.

If you do online internet banking then ask for the seller's name, bank account number and sort code number and simply transfer the money from your account to their account. Zero fees. Don't worry about giving someone else your bank account number and sort code as they can't withdraw any money without any one of a number of security devices such as a bank card - clearly the seller doesn't have your bank card, cheque book, PIN number, mother's maiden name etc etc.

[Kwickkwack]

True, But you are back to no protection again

[chemicalbro]

apparently if you buy on here you don't have protection anyway
so i recon the managers suggestion is the best bet.

[Guest]

I have wondered, what happens if you do a bank transfer and get the account number wrong? Say for instance you send £5K for a car to someone else. Can you get it back? Bank transfers are pretty instant these days with most sort codes signed up to the fast transfer setup...

[Steve]

I have wondered, what happens if you do a bank transfer and get the account number wrong? Say for instance you send £5K for a car to someone else. Can you get it back? Bank transfers are pretty instant these days with most sort codes signed up to the fast transfer setup...

It's a valid question, but if you're buying something off someone on the forum and doing it all by PM as is usually the case then make the effort to call the person on the phone and get them to recite and re-recite the number and sort code until you are happy to press the 'pay' button.

I think there is a good level of trust and honesty within the site users, and that had a bearing on how you might decide to pay someone for goods.

Would I pay someone £5k for a car using online banking? Not if I couldn't afford to loose the money on the off-chance that they were dodgy.

It's a personal judgement call. Use it wisely.

[Guest]

It's a valid question, but if you're buying something off someone on the forum and doing it all by PM as is usually the case then make the effort to call the person on the phone and get them to recite and re-recite the number and sort code until you are happy to press the 'pay' button.

I think there is a good level of trust and honesty within the site users, and that had a bearing on how you might decide to pay someone for goods.

Would I pay someone £5k for a car using online banking? Not if I couldn't afford to loose the money on the off-chance that they were dodgy.

It's a personal judgement call. Use it wisely.

I understand it from the point of view of trust. I was mainly thinking of the numbers entered on the webpage, what IF I got them wrong by making a stupid mistake...is the money recoverable?

[Kwickkwack]

Dont forget you have a sort code as well, unlikely that you would get a valid number and sort code for another account by typing in incorrect numbers (so I believe)