Question
OK, I follow the rules as much as I can, and I think I know most of them. The thing is, my son has decided to love teletubbies http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_frown.gif and most of the things I have found are in the U.K. but it seems most listings I find ask for 5% of the price (or some charge)if you use paypal. Do they have different rules on ebay UK? Or are they just getting away with it?
carried away with ebay
SYIand yahoo
Answer
UK users do have a different set of rules, or are exempt from some the rest of the world has. UK sellers can charge a surcharge but under certain conditions.
Here's the terms on PayPal's site<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Sellers residing in the United Kingdom and listing items for sale on a UK-based website may impose a surcharge, but only under the following conditions:
1. Both the buyer and seller reside in the United Kingdom;
2. The purchase price is paid in Pounds Sterling;
3. The surcharge imposed by the seller is no greater than is necessary to recover the receiving fees incurred by the seller;
4. The seller clearly indicates to the buyer prior to the buyer's submission of a bid or (in non-auction transactions) prior to completion of the purchase that a surcharge will be incurred and the amount of the surcharge.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Answer
I s'pose you can't see me stomping my feet and throwin a fit but that's not right! (and it's for all paypal, not just in the UK on most sellers, we're talking 95% at least I skip over every one that has it in their listings. I don't wanna netcop, but I'm finding it so often that I don't even want to search anymore!
carried away with ebay
SYIand yahoo
Answer
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>1. Both the buyer and seller reside in the United Kingdom;<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Oh great! They allow the surcharge on domestic items where the costs are not nearly as savage.....
A local friend who decided, since he does not sell much overseas, that PayPal was most suitable. He did a transaction to the Netherlands for $47.00 including shipping, and had $41.00 transferred into his bank account after payment was made through PayPal (The auction was in AU dollars, and the money transferred the day after payment). Needless to say that 5% would not have covered anything like the costs, but PayPal is savage on it's exchange rates. IF there is a legitimate need for a surcharge to cover costs, it would have to be on transactions that are international and result in particularly high costs of exchange.
A domestic transaction in the home currency has a fixed known cost. Any transaction that involves a currency change is totally at the whim of how much PayPal wishes to charge for foreign exchange transactions. PayPal still gets their cut with a surcharge, so why dissallow it where there is a more valid need?
Why have they chosen to allow British domestic transactions to have a surcharge, but not at least those that are in other currencies?
Kevin
Answer
Kevin_T: I would guess that there are different CC laws in the UK regarding 3rd party CC processing, which is what PP is. The seller is not the merchant of record: Paypal is. PP is a middleman (middle-person?) so the seller can charge the extra fees that is being charged to them by PP. Paypal does not call this fee a CC fee, they call it a service fee, which is exactly what it is. They provide a service to you by handling the CC payment from the buyer.
I still maintain that the same holds true of any country, including US.
I have a regular merchant account, and my agreement with VISA, MC, Discover, AmEx is that I cannot add the 2.8% rate they are charging me to the customer total. This is where my customer is using his CC in my business.
PP case is where the customer (winning buyer) is paying the merchant (Paypal). Then the money is in your PP account. You are not charging the customer (winning buyer) direct. You also do not have a written agreement with VISA, etc. that you will not charge them a surcharge. You have an agreement with PP.
I've read and re-read the PP agreement when I still used them, and the wording as written by their sleezball liars (whops, sorry, lawyers) indicated that you are not the merchant of record on the customer's statement, but you still cannot charge a surcharge.
My legal expert lawyer whom I showed PP's TOS said that the wording is such that a seller can charge an extra fee, because the text said:
"merchant may not charge an extra fee...". Well, the seller is not the merchant. Paypal is!
My lawyer said that legally they cannot tell you what to charge if the buyer uses PP, even though it may appear that you agreed to that in the TOS. He said the key word (again) is the phrase "merchant" in relation to the VISA card. Again, the seller is not the merchant, PP is.
Answer
Simple - don't use PayPal.
Answer
I honestly don't see what the problem is.
To me this way is more honest.
If you bid on an item in the US the seller has probably jacked up his shipping price to cover the paypal fees whether you choose to use this method or not.
I don't mind paying for a paypal payment as a buyer, as the savings are all on my end.
My ebay listings
Answer
I have found the addition of the Paypal service charge to be a fairly common U.K. practice, and just add it into my calculations when bidding.
Sort of like excessive shipping fees, just factor them in to the bid amount, and it all comes out the same.
Extra work, but there are things in the U.K. market I can not find in the U.S.
Larry