Upgrading to paypal premium?

tiff

I've just started selling on Ebay and my buyer has paid by paypal. Unfortunately he has paid by credit card which means I have to upgrade to Paypal premium or refuse his payment and ask him to pay by other means presumably.

What does paypal premium involve and should I do it or not? I just intend to sell a few things now and then.

Thanks

soolin

tiff wrote:

I've just started selling on Ebay and my buyer has paid by paypal. Unfortunately he has paid by credit card which means I have to upgrade to Paypal premium or refuse his payment and ask him to pay by other means presumably.

What does paypal premium involve and should I do it or not? I just intend to sell a few things now and then.

Thanks

If you ticked the 'accept paypal' box when you listed your item then you have elected to receive paypal payments however they are funded. Assuming your auction stated that paypal payments were accepted you cannot now refuse this payment. You can however upgrade to accept this payment then immediately downgrade, but you can only do this once.

To accept balance transfers only (no credit or debit cards) you cannot state that you accept paypal. You can however put it in the body of your text that you will in certain circumstances accept payment strictly by balance transfer only, but that makes it a lot of hassle for you.

If you do opt for an upgraded account then you will be liable for fees on all payments received, however they are funded. These fees are outlined on the paypal site.

Soo

HairyHatMan

All it really means is that Paypal can charge you a little bit more for receiving money originating from a credit card. The exact charges will be fairly easy to find on Paypal. I remember it being a little bit daunting at first, but you just upgrade and forget about it. If you want to sell on ebay, it's pretty much a must I'm afraid.

soolin

HairyHatMan wrote:

All it really means is that Paypal can charge you a little bit more for receiving money originating from a credit card. The exact charges will be fairly easy to find on Paypal. I remember it being a little bit daunting at first, but you just upgrade and forget about it. If you want to sell on ebay, it's pretty much a must I'm afraid.

I was just coming back to revise my answer to say basically what HairyHatMan said ! :-) It is worth upgrading as overall the end prices are higher when you do accept paypal and I have found my fees are covered by that extra bidding. On the few occasions where I don't tick the paypal box I tend to get either no bids or just starting price ones.

Soo

tiff

Thanks, I find Ebay a nightmare to find the information I'm looking for and even then its not always straight forward. I thought paypal was for all kinds of payment and didnt realise a buyer couldnt pay by credit card. (unless you upgrade) Oh well, I did raise more on this auction than anyone else has lately as I offered free postage as well.

Thanks for your help.

Jonni2bad

HairyHatMan wrote:

All it really means is that Paypal can charge you a little bit more for receiving money originating from a credit card.

I don't think that's right

I upgraded my PayPal account, but soon found out that once you do, you are charged for EVERY payment received, not simply those funded by credit cards. If you happen to sell lower value items, this can have quite an impact on your bottom line. I'm not a big fan of PayPal - I think it's far too biased in favour of buyers and far too expensive for what it does.

Needless to say, I soon downgraded. I've found no problems at all in stipulating that I do NOT accept credit card payments through PayPal, even though I tick the PayPal box for payments accepted.

In order to make sure that I can continue to receive credit card payments, I signed up to Nochex, meaning I can legitimately surcharge this payment option only (at 2.8%) and still accept PayPal payments without further costs.

soolin

If you do not accept all paypal payments however funded you cannot tick the 'accept paypal' box. Otherwise your invoice will automatically default to paypal and willa ccept any funded payments.

If at that point you refuse a payment from a buyer you would be a non performing seller. Your own terms and conditions cannot over ride those of ebay.

You are right though that upgrading the account means you pay a surcharge on all paypal payments however funded, but I still think the increase in closing prices make up for that.

I have stopped pushing nochex as it is as expensive as paypal and you can't charge a premium for that. The no surcharge rule applies to all forms of payment on ebay not just paypal.

Soo

HairyHatMan

Jonni2bad wrote:

you are charged for EVERY payment received, not simply those funded by credit cards

Yes, you're right, I stand corrected. It's so long ago that I upgraded, I'd forgotten you can receive paypal balance payments and debit card payments for free with a non-premium account.

Jonni2bad

soolin wrote:

I have stopped pushing nochex as it is as expensive as paypal and you can't charge a premium for that. The no surcharge rule applies to all forms of payment on ebay not just paypal.

Soo

You can surcharge for Credit or Debit card payments, so long as the surcharge is no greater than the cost to you. In my case, splitting those payments to Nochex, I can surcharge at 2.8% - which is LESS than I would have to surcharge a buyer if I used PayPal.

Nochex is CHEAPER than PayPal, and it also offers greater protection for sellers, since the buyer cannot do a chargeback on you!

Taken from eBay's site today, re: Surcharging.........

"Exceptions to the Surcharge Policy

1. Credit and Debit Card Payments: Surcharging is permitted where sellers accept credit or debit cards as a means of payment for an item purchased on eBay.

These sellers may not pass on to the buyer a charge greater than the amount of the commission payable by the seller to the bank processing that credit or debit card payment. In other words, sellers may recoup the charges incurred as a direct consequence of accepting the credit or debit card, but no more.

Please note that under English law, sellers have a legal right to pass onto the buyer the charges incurred for a credit or debit card transaction. However, this right does not apply to electronic money services. Where a credit or debit card is used to purchase electronic money to fund a transaction made via an electronic money service such as the ones listed above, this is not a credit or debit card transaction, but an electronic money service transaction."

Don't mean to be picky or anything, but us sellers need to be aware of what we can do, as well as what we can't..!!

John

soolin

I agree if you are accepting debit or credit cards via a merchant account then a surcharge can be added. However nochex does not count, it is just a third party service like paypal and is therefore subject to the same terms and conditions.

However, you will probably get away with surcharges as ebay are not quick to pull auctions even when they do get reported.

Soo