Should buyers be expected to pay paypal fees?

[ClosetAvalanche]

This is just a general question to see what everyone's opinion is. I see all the time in sales posts, ect that payment must be sent as gift or extra money sent to cover fees. What does everyone think?

[Doedeardarling]

I think this has been discussed here before, with the result being that seller should pay their own fees and adjust the prices accordingly. Definitely don't send payment as a gift, you don't have any protection from paypal if something goes wrong.

[ponylady]

My personal feeling on Paypal fees is that it's the seller's responsibility & buyers should only be asked to send as a gift/cover fees if the seller is picking up an item at cost (in store, TaoBao order, ect.). There is also the fact that it is against Paypal's Terms of Service to ask a buyer to cover them.

Anyways with that being said, this is one of those topics that is so overly-debatable because it stems from literally dozens of viewpoints with lots of supporting arguments for every opinion.

Pop-girl posted this many moons ago concerning it here on the Arena.

Before the Arena moved to it's new home we had an official thread posted warning members against paying with the gift option.

This is just a friendly reminder that any time you pay a seller and select the "Send as Gift" option, you have just opted OUT of ANY Buyer Protection services that Paypal offers!

Send as Gift= you may not file a claim! Ever!

(not to mention it's rather dishonest and cheats Paypal of their cut- I know, they won't go bankrupt because they lost your $0.63 fee )

You *may* be able to get around this with your credit card fraud department, but I do not know if this has been tried yet, so I wouldn't count on it.

When selling between friends of course it's your prerogative, just remember that once you send it as a gift, it's gone for good.

It is inappropriate for sellers to require buyers to ignore Paypal's Terms & Conditions and send payments as "Gift"s! Don't put your buyers in that awkward position, they would be fully justified to refuse to complete the transaction. Sellers who are members at the Arena, who take payments as "gifts" and then have an issue with a sale here will be expected to work with the buyer exactly as they would if the buyer had Paypal's protection in place.

I know this has all been discussed here before, but it has always been amongst other issues. Seems like it's time this get adopted into the common trading etiquette since it looks like the change to Paypal is permanent.

I hope we'll never see a disappointed buyer here who has no recourse because they tried to be nice and save the seller a couple dollars in fees.

[Whippycorn]

I would never ask a buyer to do either of these. I don't even increase my prices to include the costs, as they are just part of selling online. A couple of times, buyers have sent me a little extra to cover my fees and I consider that a lovely kindness from them.

[LadyMoondancer]

On eBay sellers aren't allowed to specifically ask the buyer to pay the fees, but non-eBay sellers can.

I'm pretty ambivalent about whether sellers ask for it or not, as long as they are upfront and clear about it and don't try to "surprise" the buyer with the fees after the transaction is almost complete. 

If one seller sells a $3 item for $3.25 to cover the PayPal fees and another sells the item for $3 and asks me to pay $0.25 in PayPal fees, it makes no difference to me, the buyer.  It's $3.25 out of my pocket either way.

[Tap Dancer]

I think this has been discussed here before, with the result being that seller should pay their own fees and adjust the prices accordingly.

I agree with that.

[plushroo]

Here is the thread I started earlier this year on this subject if it helps:
http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,366296.0.html

[NovelNerd]

There isn't a need for a discussion really and like others said its been discussed a lot. It is against Paypals rules to ask buyers to pay fees. It is a sellers responsibility to pay the fees and just part of being able to use something like PP. why would anyone send a payment as a gift? You have no protection that way as a buyer.

[Skeen]

I won't buy from someone who would make me pay their fees.  I pay fees on my PP account, and you pay fees on yours.  I don't care if you've tacked on your fees to the cost of the thing you're selling because how would I ever know, but do not quote me a price and then say "oh and add $x.xx for fees," because I won't pay them after the fact.  The fees are the cost of the privilege of using PP. 

[Thunderwing]

A couple years ago, asking someone to add a dollar or two to cover paypal fees was normal practice here on the Arena. I was surprised to return after an absence to discover that it was suddenly taboo to do so. I think everyone handles this new 'rule' differently, I round up the shipping to cover fees/handling/insurance/etc. But I don't itemize it as 'add fifty cents for fees, fifty cents for handling, a dollar for insurance' etc.

[Ringlets]

This has been discussed lots of times but it doesn't hurt to have reminder threads with useful links in   No a buyer should not be paying fees, and the gift option is not safe unless you know a person is 100% trustworthy
. The only exception to a buyer paying the fees is if the seller isn't your seller - for example you ask a friend here to pick up an item for you that isn't available where you live. If you send them the exact amount that they paid for it then they will be losing money by paying fees. In that case since they did you a favour I think its appropriate to pay the fees as the person who did you the favour is not making money from you (ie : as a seller)   does that make sense?

[kitkatvintage]

I won't buy from someone who would make me pay their fees.  I pay fees on my PP account, and you pay fees on yours.

This! ^

I generally won't deal with sellers who ask me to pay the Paypal fees on top of their asking price.

[CupidStrikes]

No they shouldn't. The fees are for the seller so they should be paying them. Sellers should be adjusting their prices to avoid losing money, but it's just rude (and lazy) to go "your total is x, plus abc and z% for the paypal fees" (and yes I've been "surprised" with the fees more than once).

It's also worth noting that Paypal ARE cracking down on sellers that do this as it breaks their ToS. Recently, some people that host box splits and group orders had their Paypal accounts frozen because they had received a lot of gifted payments and they remained frozen until they could prove they were not selling the items. I believe I've also read that Paypal do impose a fine upon anyone they find forcing their buyers to pay their fees or send via a gift.

[Sweet_Stuff]

I would never ask a buyer to do either of these. I don't even increase my prices to include the costs, as they are just part of selling online. A couple of times, buyers have sent me a little extra to cover my fees and I consider that a lovely kindness from them.

Yes, and my experience..

[Rhubarbpie]

I had this issue when myself and the admin team on the FB group we run made a rule to stop asking buyers to pay paypal fees.  I believe it is against Paypals TOS to ask buyer to pay fees.

A number of members protested and flounced out of the group.  But I stick firmly to the fact that sellers should be responsible for their own fees. The only time I will pay as gifted is when buying from a trusted seller or as part of a trade/when someone is buying something on my behalf.