A quick paypal fee question - resolved now thanks all.

[tulagirl]

Yes it is complicated but the issue isn't with ebay its with paypal.  In order to sell on ebay you have to have paypal.  So, you are kind of stuck.  If you are feeling that it wasn't quite right that you had to pay this fee then the only way to get out of this fee is to not offer paypal to your customers.  That will mean you can't sell on ebay.  Its like you said, you can't force a buyer to pay that fee.  The thing is this stuff changes a lot also.  The way paypal worked say 15 years ago vs now is very very different.  When you only sell once in a while, you can experience new issues you never had before because of changes made you were not aware of.

[Stormness_1]

Well as a credit card user until lately (paypal couldn't verify my acount for some reason), I've found that on ebay, I get absolutely no choice when I pay, no option anywhere to pay a seller's paypal fees. Only when I transfer funds do I get that option, like I do here for sales with an email address, and only when I send as a gift. So yes I get a choice, but only when I transfer funds and choose to void my buyer protection. So I don't usually pay seller's fees unless it's within the community and I trust the seller.

[Enolaalone]

PitterPatter - I know what you mean about shops in the UK asking you to cover debit/credit card charges. Lots of corner shops do that here if you pay for something that's less than £5. Also, the same thing happens when you book train tickets or plane tickets online - credit cards nearly always incur a charge for the buyer. Which seems to be the opposite of PayPal.

Slightly OT but I do see how it's confusing as in other circumstances it's up to the buyer to cover card fees.

[PitterPatter]

PitterPatter - I know what you mean about shops in the UK asking you to cover debit/credit card charges. Lots of corner shops do that here if you pay for something that's less than £5. Also, the same thing happens when you book train tickets or plane tickets online - credit cards nearly always incur a charge for the buyer. Which seems to be the opposite of PayPal.

Slightly OT but I do see how it's confusing as in other circumstances it's up to the buyer to cover card fees.

Yeah, it just threw me off really as I'd worked out the ebay fees side of things and what-not but then that hit and as you say it's quite opposite from things you'd see on the high street.

But like I said, it's done now, and I've had several more transactions via ebay selling and nothing else unexpected has cropped up so I must now finally see all the fees lurking everywhere