For all Buyers asked to send their payment as a "gift" on PayPal

Right guys, I've seen too many people saying they are being scammed by sellers on PayPal after being asked to send the payment as a gift.....

here's what you should do instead

when PayPal asks you whether the payment is for goods/services or as a gift, click the gift field and the fee you have to pay will pop up in brackets usually

this is the fee the seller would have to pay if you clicked for goods/services

so.... note how much the fee was click back on goods/services and add the fee to your payment

this means if anything does go tits up you can get your money back and also keeps genuine sellers happy

:thumbs:

EDIT: As a lot of people are using the mobile version of PayPal now I thought I'd edit this as the above doesn't work when using the PayPal app, So here's your alternative solution

PayPal fee calculator :thumbs:

http://paypalfeecalculator.paymentprocessing.cc/

Great tip

To add to this if your selling something, make sure you don't screw up your seller protection for what it's worth, ALWAYS post items to the address in the paypal invoice using a trackable method.
If you send it to a different address or the item is collected and a claim is made, paypal will try and take the money off you regardless of what proof you have it was posted or collected.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mp...y-and-security

Or to be quite honest, a sellers fee should be absorbed by the SELLER, not the buyer... I usually try and split it between the 2 of us, which is the only fair way, but that can get confusing calculating that one to the correct penny...

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Originally Posted by J_Orr

Or to be quite honest, a sellers fee should be absorbed by the SELLER, not the buyer... I usually try and split it between the 2 of us, which is the only fair way, but that can get confusing calculating that one to the correct penny...

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Problem with absorbing it as the seller is that either you then end up getting less money for your items, or sometimes not selling at all if you include the fee first.
i.e. If I want £50 for something and then with paypal fee included and me still getting £50 I'd have to advertise it as £52. Whereas the person who hasn't included it and is going to ask you to send as a gift will say they want £50, so you go and buy from them because its cheaper than buying from me.

I always give people the option of paying me by bank transfer, paypal gift, or normal paypal and they add a bit to cover the fees.

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Originally Posted by J_Orr

Or to be quite honest, a sellers fee should be absorbed by the SELLER, not the buyer... I usually try and split it between the 2 of us, which is the only fair way, but that can get confusing calculating that one to the correct penny...

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I disagree, if thats the case send me a cheque or bank transfer.

I rely on my rep for people to pay as a gift, i will always ask them to, to save them money not me because otherwise its going on top.

I don't paint everyone with the same brush and when buying I do my own research but pay little regard to protection offered by Paypal.

MOST OF ALL, I HATE ANYONE GIVING PAYPAL MONEY FOR NOTHING.

IIRC paypal fee's are 4% for goods.

May have changed recently, but normally its a few quid extra...

When Sellers comunicate with buyers they should give them the option to pay the fees or not,
I often give people a choise if buying from me, if people say "pay as a gift please" it usually sends alarm bells ringing so I pay the fees unless I know them

Having been stung before by sending a payment as a gift for a boost controller which was then "lost in the post" I'd never do it again. To be fair, what's an extra couple of quid here or there for PayPal fees to have some element of protection? I'd rather just add it on top and be protected.

iTrader should help in this matter a bit as you can see feedback of the people you deal with - it was I who suggested iTrader to SXOC by the way and they have implemented it quite promptly :D

perhaps in the feedback comments it is worth mentioning that transaction was made on paypal as a gift just to let others know.


view profile > feedback score tab > view or submit iTrader scores

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Originally Posted by Madda

I disagree, if thats the case send me a cheque or bank transfer.

I rely on my rep for people to pay as a gift, i will always ask them to, to save them money not me because otherwise its going on top.

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Me too. I get quite offended when people take the fees option with me on here or DW too :D

Paypal fees are 3.4% + 20p, and have been for as long as I can remember.

Not exactly much for most things. Yes I grobble paying them too, but the amount of times I have bought something, thought to myself yeah this guy looks reasonable, and then got done over twice now. So I am never going to take the risk again unless I'm positive.

I personally think Paypal should have the option to split the fees. It goes both ways, when you are buying something you want the seller to absorb them, and when you're selling you want the buyer to... At the end of the day, it's not like you are paying eBay scale fees as well!

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Originally Posted by J_Orr

Paypal fees are 3.4% + 20p, and have been for as long as I can remember.

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Unfortunately they aren't that straightforward either, it varies between 0% and 4% depending on who your paying (i.e. full paypal verified account, merchant account, basic account) and how your paying (i.e. paypal balance, instant bank transfer, credit card, debit card).
Hence why people generally just stick to saying 4%

I've sold a few things via the forum now and no one has used the trader feedback.

I just say gift or add the fee when selling

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Originally Posted by -ghost-

I've sold a few things via the forum now and no one has used the trader feedback.

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Its a bit like ebay, sometimes you gotta nudge people to use it.
Admittedly I don't always remember until nudged :) But yeah have traded with a fair few people who haven't left any feedback for me.

edit:
Just had a look, on here I've left 23 feedbacks and received 11 :wack:
And it appears I've spent too much of my life/money on ebay as on there I'm now bang on 700 :eek: (806 received, 896 left for others. 0 neutral or negative in last 12 months wooohoo)

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Originally Posted by Ghazoobe

Unfortunately they aren't that straightforward either, it varies between 0% and 4% depending on who your paying (i.e. full paypal verified account, merchant account, basic account) and how your paying (i.e. paypal balance, instant bank transfer, credit card, debit card).
Hence why people generally just stick to saying 4%

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Never seen 4% for any type of payment. And I have done them all. The fee structure is here: https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/we...=_display-fees . I think the only reson 4% is used is because when you just add 3.4% ontop of a payment, this does not cover the fees, because the fee is calculated on the actual payment sent. So 4% covers this discrepancy.

Anyway, I have given my 2p here. It is up to yourselves to cover yourselves incase of the dodgers out there on forums, one way or another.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by J_Orr

Never seen 4% for any type of payment. And I have done them all. The fee structure is here: https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/we...=_display-fees . I think the only reson 4% is used is because when you just add 3.4% ontop of a payment, this does not cover the fees, because the fee is calculated on the actual payment sent. So 4% covers this discrepancy.

Anyway, I have given my 2p here. It is up to yourselves to cover yourselves incase of the dodgers out there on forums, one way or another.

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Ah looks like either I was wrong or they changed it :)

Aye what you said is good advice :thumbs:

oooooooooo I'm sticky now :wack:

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Originally Posted by maff_1991

oooooooooo I'm sticky now :wack:

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Yeah daz jizzed all over you and you got stuck here....

:wack:

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Originally Posted by TheBigShow

Yeah daz jizzed all over you and you got stuck here....

:wack:

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