Paypal Surcharges

Good morning Squeaky!...Well, I don't and won't. I suppose you do pay at any rate, but I figure all costs into my beginning price and go from there. You are not allowed to ask a buyer to pay for the credit card transaction. It is against paypal policy and is unlawful in most states.

Gosh! If it's against eBay rules how do so many sellers get away with it?

I would say the majority of auctions in the electronics area state a surcharge, and I've noticed some books and things have it too.

I would have expected eBay to try to police things a little more. I realise that they have vast numbers of auctions, but if I've noticed with my very few purchases, then surely they can search the body of auctions for people who charge extra for Paypal?

I certainly won't charge extra when I start to try and sell a few things soon. I'm glad I asked the question!

SS

Payment Surcharges

Notice Date: March 25, 2001
Effective Date: March 31, 2001
Under Visa and MasterCard regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). In order to comply with these laws and regulations, PayPal has amended its User Agreement so that, effective March 31, customers may not charge a fee for accepting PayPal. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods).

We need an icon for an evil grin...

I could make myself soooo unpopular by forwarding that to piles of people requesting surcharges...!

SS

quote:

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Originally posted by SuperSqueaky:
We need an icon for an evil grin

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quote:

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Originally posted by Bartelby:
Bugger I cant find a *looking suspicious* smiley

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Here are some more..

1) It is against eBay policy. Refer to:
eBay Policies
search for "surcharge".

2) File a complaint with eBay:
File a complaint with eBay

If the seller does not respond to a valid complaint, eBay will kill their auction.

I've found a number of sellers just aren't aware that passing on a surcharge for paying by Paypal is wrong. Every time I hear from a seller trying get me pay a surcharge for paying thru Paypal, I simply submit my payment without the surcharge and include the same policy rsmiller40 posted above in the comments section with my payment. I explain that I will not be paying the surcharge since it's illegal and against the user agreement they have with Paypal.

I have actually had a few sellers thank me for pointing this out to them. Most of the time I don't hear anything about it. And I have never gotten any negative response from handling it this way.

Topics > eBay Policies > Rules for Sellers > Listing Policies for Sellers > Payment Surcharges Help Topics

Payment: Surcharges Sellers may not charge eBay buyers an additional fee for their use of ordinary forms of payment, including acceptance of checks, money orders, electronic transfers or credit cards. Such costs should be built into the price of the item-this policy reduces the potential for confusion among bidders about the true cost of an item. Further, some forms of payment surcharges, such as credit card surcharges, are forbidden under the laws of many states, including California.Can a seller add a surcharge to the final price of an eBay item? Yes, in three instances:· Sellers may charge a reasonable shipping and handling fee to the final price of their item, providing that this fee is disclosed in the listing. A shipping and handling fee can cover the seller's reasonable costs for mailing, packaging and handling the item. Shipping and handling fees cannot be listed as a percentage of the final sale price. · Sellers may pass along the costs associated with using a third party escrow service, if the buyer chooses to use an escrow service. · Sellers may choose to accept payment in a different currency than the currency listed on eBay. If the buyer chooses to take advantage of this optional payment method, the seller may pass along to the buyer any costs associated with the currency exchange, provided that the costs are disclosed and agreed to in advance by the buyer. Note: Some types of payment surcharges are permitted on some of eBay's international sites.



Address of this page: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html