Asking for the 3% PayPal fee

Square et al are convenience services aimed at the occasional processor - their fees are therefore abysmally high. It typcally is still cheaper over the setup cost of a hardline equipment if you only process a few cards a year though.

We are at 1.2% per transaction, and this is basically what most business are at, some are even lower depending on their volume and location.

Originally Posted by chrisga

Square et al are convenience services aimed at the occasional processor - their fees are therefore abysmally high. It typcally is still cheaper over the setup cost of a hardline equipment if you only process a few cards a year though.

We are at 1.2% per transaction, and this is basically what most business are at, some are even lower depending on their volume and location.

While thhat is true if you process high quantities of CCs it also comes with a monthly fee & a contract based on your volume of sales. In my experience, if your sales don't reach your monthly minimum ... ie $5000, then you are generally charged another fee for failing to meet that requirement. So while you get a better rate, there are fees associated with it.

Originally Posted by mxracer4life

To me, it is aggravating when someone either has the 3% requirement posted with the add OR if they tell you up front before even agreeing on a price. But I do understand the sellers point as well. You have the cost of the snake, which goes into the buyers pocket, but the shipping and pay pal expense does not. If you have a $650 snake plus $50 in shipping, then $19.50 in pay pal fees and then consider how many times a seller/buyer gets into negotiations, it can come out to much less. For instance,you find a snake that is listed at, lets say $350 plus shipping. Seller gives you a quote on shipping for $65 to your zip code, so your looking at $415. How many times have you do you think somebody will say, how about $400 shipped? I see it all the time. So there is $15 lost, then $12 for pay pal and the seller ends up with $323. It's not a big deal to everyone, but to some people that adds up. If you are selling a litter of 12 babies at this $350 price to help compensate for all of you costs through the year, that's $276 you could potentially loose in sales. I am just trying to see it from both ends here. I personally, have at times asked for the 3%, but a lot of it depends on if there were any negotiations, or if its a return customer. I don't sell a whole lot, in fact, haven't in quite some time, but it is something I at times will consider asking for.

I know this is an old thread but I recently found someone charging this fee in their ad on a local classified site.

I sent them a simple heads up about paypal's TOS in case they never read it.


I quoted the above post because I fully understand that in that hypothetical situation the buyer made $3876 instead of $4000. I see the side of the coin that you've shown and I understand it. I don't agree with it because for the simple care and feeding of 12 babies, and 2 adults, that seems like a really good pay day. I'm sure the cost of them would be less than a thousand for the year. Pretty sweet set up.