Changes with PayPal concerning how refunds are handled.
 

Just got a notice today of changes with PayPal, and the one that got my attention was this one:

Eh? Does that mean that when someone pays for a membership or sponsorship, and that was not what they intended, and when I refund their money, I have to take a hit on the PayPal fee?

Sorry, the brain feels sort of soggy today, and what they are saying just is not clear to me at the moment.

Well, that looks to be about the size of it. -> http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=685966

So effective that date, if I have to issue a refund via PayPal, and the error was not on my part, the PayPal fees I am charged will NOT be refunded.

Of course, if the error is my fault, I will have to eat the fees.

BTW, concerning this issue, just today I had someone ask me about refunding the amount they paid 6 months ago for a Contributor level membership when they upgraded to a Benefactor level. Ordinarily people will ask me about this prior to initiating the upgrade and I normally work with them to have them pay the difference. But in this case, heck, now with PayPal not refunding the fee I had to pay when the original transaction took place PLUS the fact that the refund request is taking place after the time period that PayPal used to offer a refund without penalty, really complicates things.

So in a nutshell, PLEASE ask first! I do appreciate the upgrades from people who found that they appreciated this site enough to want to upgrade, but things are complicated now if any sort of refund is wanted. Quite frankly, it's a headache that I would just as soon avoid if at all possible.

Let's see, prorating the cost of the Contributor level membership, then figuring out the percentage of the fee that PayPal is keeping, then since this will not actually be a legitimate refund according to PayPal's rules, but just an out and out payment, will PayPal deduct their fee from this "refund" being made to the purchaser? :nuts:

So help me out here, please. Don't abuse this 70 year old brain I am stuck with!

Perhaps the best thing would be for me to just state categorely that NO REFUNDS are offered unless I specifically made the mistake that caused the expenditure. After all, why should I pay for someone else's mistake? Not just in $$ but in time spent trying to clean up the mess.

Can you kind of wiggle the expiration date of the higher membership level further into the future as a means of letting the lower paid membership's value flow into the current situation without having to move money around?

Yeah, I can do that. With the prorated amount of the Contributor level membership with the before mentioned deductions considered, we would be talking about $10. That would be 10 percent of the value of the next level membership, so that would be a bit over a month in additional time. Not that I would want to make a habit doing that sort of thing, however. :o