Clarification on Pay Pal

I have an opportunity to buy some geckos, and the customer does not take credit cards other than Pay Pal. He wants to charge me 3% as a transaction fee. What are the issues regarding this. I happen to have a terminal for credit cards and debit cards as well, but would not consider charging anyone anything other than the actual charge. Its against the charge card rules. Would this apply to PayPal as well ? JERRY TRESSER

PayPal does not allow it! In their terms it says they can't do that! I would point this out, if he still wants it tell him to get bent! Also, up top, do a search for PayPal as it's been talked about a few times.

Man, I've offered 10% off for PayPal payments

. . . by pretty reputable people. I never liked it much - but if i wanted the animal . . .

When i sell, I eat the 3% as a part of doing business.

Seems a little petty to me to charge that extra 3 . . . .

did not mention the 3% in their ad on Kingsnake, they do mention it in their payment section on their site. Their called KC REPTILE DIST. out of Kansas city.

Apparently they may be unfamiliar with the terms of PayPal, but before I said anything to them, I just wanted to be on a solid ground. Thanks GHOST. , JERRY TRESSER

i always have the option of prepaying it if it becomes necessary. But I will have to play this one by ear. Meanwhile they seem to be very slow in answering my inquiries. That in itself makes me a bit reluctant to peruse this. Thanks for your imput. JERRY TRESSER

Jerry,

AS you already know it is illegal to charge a surchase for accepting cards through regular terminals it is the same for Paypal. Not only does it violate their TOS it violates credit card laws. Depending on their state it can violate state laws as well. California is one of the most strict states on those types of things. Below is the actual wording from Paypal's TOS page.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...iving_payments

5. No Surcharges. Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website.

Has anyone ever heard of a company or person getting in trouble for this? Just curious as I see this on a lot of sites in this industry.

When I first started accepting Paypal, I tried charging the 3% to the customer that I have to pay to Paypal (seemed fair to me). Paypal soon emailed me and told me that it isn't allowed and I had to stop if I wanted to continue to accept payments through them. If anyone shows them the website that states a surcharge is required, Paypal will let them know that practice is not acceptable.

Kathy Love

Jerry

I am only a few hours from KC, and I have NEVER heard of that company. Do you have a name for an actual person rather then just a business. I can do a bit of checking for you if you are that interested in the animal.

As for pay pal. I wouldnt call it "pety" to charge the 3%, allthough I dont myself. I have paid other vendors this fee, and can very well understand there reasoning. A perfect example of why the 3% ISNT petty is as follows. I just sold a 20 lot of amarili to a guy in Germany. He got them from me at COST, due to the fact I was in desperate need of a large amount of money, and didnt want to sell my future breeders, so I did what I had to do. Then after we work the deal, he tells me he wants to pay with pay pal. Now that "pety" 3% of 3500 (again sold AT COST) was around 150$. Then since the guy is from Germany pay pal OFFERS NO PROTECTION ON THE DEAL.

The buyer in his defence did offer to pay the 3% fee, but I informed him that was against pay pals rules, and could even be illegal, and that I wouldnt need him to do that. I was happy to not sell my breeding stock, so didnt mind eating the 150 on an allready worthless deal. However if you accept pay pal all the time, and are running a competetive business (much like reptiles) 3% of your PROFIT is a big deal. Heck with as bad as shows are theese days, and as slow as sales can be at times, and with everyone and there cousin asking for animals at wholesale prices, 3% is not pety (but it still isnt right to charge it....lol)

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

One measure I took was to open a second paypal account. One which cannot accept credit cards and therefore does not have the 3% fee. Payments can only be accepted from an existing paypal balance or from a bank account.
For large purchases, I have the option of not accepting credit card payments, but still being able to accept paypal for those who only want to pay that way. I also have that option for any order in which someone may be paying out of a balance anyway, and it saves the 3% along the way.