does paypal gift give you buyer protection?

[ttocs]

I head on another forum that if you send the money as a gift as every one seems to ask so that you pay fees, that if things go wrong that you are not protected by paypal at all?

Personally I think it is a little tacky of sellers to ask the buyer to pay fees, so I never have. Personally I think it is part of the cost of doing biz online. Any store that you use your credit card at they get charged a small percent, but they do not tack it on your bill most of the time. The only place I could think of was a crappy gas station back in phoenix, that nobody used because of this.

There is another option but I am not even sure if that helps. I go into the personal section and then mark it as a payment owed and put down a descriptoin of the item in the notes, as well as my address. Anyone else considered that this could be a problem?

[joerg]

That´s true! There is no buyer protection when u send payment as a gift. That´s why u should only do it if u trust the person a hundred percent!

[ttocs]

I am curious how everyone feels about asking the buyer to pay? Some do, some don't but just wondered what the majority was really.

[fuzzysnuggleduck]

If it's a friend, I don't ask them to pay. If it's just some random dude, I roll the paypal fees into my asking price before agreeing on the cost.

[Thumper88]

I roll the paypal fees into my asking price before agreeing on the cost.

same here...no need to say "Plus paypal fees"...that's just deters people IMO. I have sent paypal as a gift to some people I've never purchased from before, but only because it was a low amount of dollars and they had lots of good feedback.

[Jacampb2]

I'm with you on this Scott. It annoys me to no end when you go through and work out a whole deal for xxx amount of amount of money, and then said seller is such a cheap piece of shit that they want PP gift to get $3 more, if the $3 is that important, raise your price. I am not going to do something shady with my accounts that have been open and in business use for almost 10 years because some seller is petty and greedy. I normally explain this if someone asks for payment as a gift, and then offer to include the extra to cover the fees.

I have had numerous people on this board simply include a bit extra for me for paypal fees when I sell the bc remotes and stuff. That is fine, but I never ask for it, and frankly, it is just a cost of doing business.

For the people that think it is okay to circumvent things, why do you think fees continue to increase? That is right, it's so the people that don't cheat the company can pay their bills. Think about it, paypal is providing a service to you, and believe it or not, it cost's money to provide the service. They are not a charity, so why should you expect their service for free.

If you think paypal is so bad, then open up a merchant account so you can accept major credit cards. A lot of times there is a monthly terminal fee, as well as 3-5% surcharge on all transactions, and as a seller you are pretty well screwed a lot of the times, if the CC wants their money back for whatever (fraud, buyer's remorse, card holder complaint), then they pretty much can just take it, and there is little or no arbitration. Admittedly, paypal's dispute system has it's share of problems, and you may or may not still get screwed, but at least there is the possibility that they will hear your side.

Anyhow, if you don't like the cost of the service, then it is simple, find a free service, or quit shopping online. Don't make your greed a burden on the people that do follow the rules.

/rant

Can you tell you touched a nerve Scott? Lol, I'm glad it came up though. Maybe people will think twice before bustin' out the gift requests...

Later,
Jason

[ttocs]

looks like we are in the minority though.

[Jacampb2]

Lol, I just read elsewhere that PP is now charging fees for "gift" too, I didn't realize they had already caught on... The last time I got asked to do this, it was still fee free. From what I read, it is a "reduced rate" for gift fees, but it is there. Frankly, I am glad they did it, it is better than penalizing the people who weren't circumventing the system. And really, how many people actually have a reason to "gift" cash? Really?

I can not think of one time in the last 20 years that I have had need to actually send money to someone else that was not for a purchase.

Later,
Jason

[ttocs]

paying with a gift just means that the buyer pays the fees.

[Jacampb2]

Not in the beginning. Initially there was no fee for it as long as you used paypal balance, or bank transfer (no credit card transactions). This is going back a couple of years though-- believe it or not, the first time I heard about the PP gift thing was on here...

Later,
Jason

[gridracer]

Most of the time I have taken care of the fees when I sell something a few times I have asked for fees if I sold something cheaper than I usually would,1 thing I always ask though is for the payment to include the buyers shipping address so I can print the shipping label from paypal, as I get a discount on shipping which I pass on to the buyer.

[ttocs]

agreed there have been times where people have given me thier best-brother-in-law price and then I feel silly having them pay, but otherwise....

[Stryker]

You are not covered when sent as a gift.
Asking for PP fee's is very tacky, add it in to the final selling price,
it is just the cost of doing business....
nothing is free .