Paypal 'gift'?

senileturtle

I'm buying something from someone outside of ebay and they asked me to send as a 'gift' via paypal, however I can't find that option at all.

The only options that come up for me are:

I'm sending money to family and friends.
I'm paying for goods and services.

Neither have sub-options so I'm a bit lost. Internet search results do not yield anything that is of use.

Also when I click 'I'm sending money for family and friends' - it says I can be charged 51p for not having the full funds in the account.

spacey2012

What are you buying from who ?
This rings the SCAM bell.

Rotor

You should click the "paying for goods or services" if thats what you're doing otherwise you lose paypals buyer protection.

It can be a scam where the seller says send as gift then never sends anything and paypal won't help you because you sent it as a gift ( ie the friends/family option )

StuC75

sending as gift kind of loses any protection for you in pursuing when the item is not received.

If you are happy to lose the money then continue with this method..

senileturtle

spacey2012 wrote: »

What are you buying from who ?
This rings the SCAM bell.

It's not a scam. I've bought off him in the past and he has superb feedback from others I know, as well as superb feedback from myself. Just the 'gift' option seems to not be available.

So the 'friends/family option' is just what used to be 'gift option'? I'm sure I've been able to use 'gift' in the past.

Lifeforms

Yes basically, sending via friends and family is the "gift" way. If it's for services you shouldn't use this method. Just because he's been fine before, doesn't mean the future bodes the same. Also why should you pay the fees for paying him for it.

Chyna-s

I'm very nervous for you OP - this screams scam.

gwenm

the paypal send as a gift means you pay the paypal charges incured and not the seller, i understand you have brought from them before but i think its unfair for you to have to pay more for something which is what the seller wants you to do. also if the goods does not arrive you will lose your money as paypal wont refund payments sent to family or friends

polskiegowLondynie

Its ' family and friends' to send as a gift I think, but as said if you are buying something then you are giving away any protection if you pay in this way. Its just a way the seller can receive all of the money you send instead of losing some to PayPal.

As said unless you completely trust the recipient then paying this way is a gamble.

Recently I was involved in a charity project where people were paying for items via paypal, in order to maximise the money the charity received it was asked that people pay via gift, some did, some didn't.

Ultimately its whatever you are comftable with.

senileturtle

Well it seems I'm only incurring a charge because I don't have the full amount in paypal. I'm about a £1 short. So the rest is coming from the debit/credit card - hence the charge. Apparently if you do a bank transfer no charge is incurred either so I'm trying to finish the bank setup but it's taking a while for my bank account to update details of the 0.01 transfer paypal did ¬_¬

Does anyone know if I add extra funds from my debit card to paypal before I send the payment if I'll be charged in doing so?

Bollotom

You sure you're doing it for someone or is it really you asking for the gift payment? If you can't see this is a possible scam then you really are naive. Sorry to be blunt but when you posted first you didn't mention you were a previous buyer from the other party, but chose to ignore subsequent advice. If this guy has such good feedback, why should he try to crook the system Ebay and Pay Pal have in place. Do it the proper way and keep your protection in place. :cool: