PayPal Goods & Services Fees

zackary71

Hope someone can help - I'm exploring G&S as an alternative to eBay, but am finding the Fee system is as clear as mud. Some people say the Buyer pays, others say the Seller pays. Then further confusion if the Seller sends payment request vs the Buyer sending payment their end. 

So if say I factor in/absorb fees and wish to receive 10.00 less fees, so £9.41 net UK to UK, do I send payment request for 10.00 ? And similarly in same scenario, does the Buyer send 10.00 ? Or is it another amount ?
Appreciate any help, as it's battering my head in !!

Spoonie_Turtle

It's been a little while since I've used it for private sales but unless it's changed in the last couple of years you request or send the total amount, PayPal take their fee, then the seller gets what's left. 
(Like eBay used to be before they changed how the fees are shown for private sellers.)

soolin

zackary71 said:

Hope someone can help - I'm exploring G&S as an alternative to eBay, but am finding the Fee system is as clear as mud. Some people say the Buyer pays, others say the Seller pays. Then further confusion if the Seller sends payment request vs the Buyer sending payment their end. 

So if say I factor in/absorb fees and wish to receive 10.00 less fees, so £9.41 net UK to UK, do I send payment request for 10.00 ? And similarly in same scenario, does the Buyer send 10.00 ? Or is it another amount ?
Appreciate any help, as it's battering my head in !!

You mention using G&S as an alternative to ebay, but that is of course just a payment system, so where you are planning to sell makes a difference to the advice. A lot of private sites I list on for example have a strong rule that buyers can't be asked to pay an additional charge for paypal, so I have to take the hit on costs myself. 

Even on places like facebook marketplace Most buyers won't appreciate being asked for an additional paypal fee - so if you want £10 for your item then you'd need to advertise it for sale at a little higher- for low cost items there is such a thing as a micro account which charges slightly less.  However, that does make it unwieldy. It's probably best to list at a round amount, and just accept you take the hit on the fees.  

You can add tracking details to the paypal payment after you have bought the postage label - regardless of where you buy it, and for private sales I do still do that just as a way of keeping track of them if I happen to sell a number of things.

The way I do it, although sales on marketplace and private sites have decreased sharply this last year, is that I either ask buyer for their paypal ID and send an invoice for the price that we've agreed. Or I send them my paypal ID and a reminder of the total.

Out of interest, where are you looking to sell? 

zackary71

Many thanks soolin. The selling is via specialist Facebook Groups,  many of whom prefer G&S. I don't mind too much as I absorb/take the hit on eBay price,so if I sold at a round 10.00 on ebay including BPF, it would work out a little cheaper taking the same on PayPal.