your opinion on online stores with extra charges for using paypal

[recycling goddess]

i'm curious how you all feel about this. if you are placing an order with an online company and using payapal. do you think it's fair for the company to charge you the extra fees that paypal charges them to use their service?

as far as i'm concerned... if someone wants to offer their customers the option of using a credit card or paypal then it's up to them to cover those costs... not charge the customer extra.

another way to look at this... you go to a restaurant and when you go to pay they add an extra $5 to your bill cause you are using a credit card...

just seems wrong to me. their sales increase because of ease of purchasing... but they don't want to pay for the increase-causing-product... instead they want to extra bill. hrrmmpphhhh

how do you all feel about it?

[Adam_Wysocki]

I have a couple of thoughts ...

1. It's very "low class" ... I mean come on, if you're in business, try and be professional.

2. It's a violation of PayPals terms of service and can get the users account suspended.

3. It's illegal to do in several states inside the US.

I'm not a fan of the practice.

-adam

[recycling goddess]

i'm in the process of placing an order for approx $800 with an online company and they want an additional 2.9% plus the 55 cents paypal charges them to withdrawal the money from their paypal account.

this is really ticking me off big time... i'm seriously thinking of not placing the order.

but i checked and paypal discourages the use of surcharges but doesn't 'disallow' it.

[srozell]

So don't buy from them, but send them an email to let them know why.

[recycling goddess]

i've already emailed them letting them know that the reason we were going to use paypal is so everyone who's going in on the order can pay up when they pick up their 'portion' of the order. we all live hours away from each other, so paying up front is difficult and i can't afford to pay the entire bill ahead of time myself... so using paypal/credit card... i can collect the money, pay the card and VOILA! it's a done deal.

so i'll see what the company says regarding my email to them.

[Adam_Wysocki]

but i checked and paypal discourages the use of surcharges but doesn't 'disallow' it.

This is from PayPals user agreement ....


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).


-adam

[Krynos]

With paypals shady practices of witholding funds and taking direct from "customers" bank accounts (when they have access) I won't use their service unless I absolutely have to. They have some terrible business practices.

The only time I use paypal is for hard to pay for ebay items, when there really isn't another option, even then paypal only has the details of a very secure credit card, so they have no access to any of my fund that I cannot easily recover with a quick phonecall Once you give them access to a bank account recovery is a long drawn out process.

Do a google search for paypal problems, or paypal horror stories.

However if a company wants to charge extra to allow you to use paypal I don't see an issue with that, paypals fees are much higher than the norm set by Visa and Mastercard, they even manage to charge more than Amex to the vendor in fees.

If credit cards arn't your thing then a bank linked visa or mastercard debit card is a much better approach than paypal.

[Adam_Wysocki]

However if a company wants to charge extra to allow you to use paypal I don't see an issue with that, paypals fees are much higher than the norm set by Visa and Mastercard, they even manage to charge more than Amex to the vendor in fees.

Would you really want to do business with a company that so freely and openly violates the terms of service of one of their vendors? If they feel comfortable enough to totally disregard the binding contract that they entered by becoming a PayPal user via PayPals user agreement, can you really trust that they will honor any agreements that they have entered in with their customers (warranty, sales agreement, etc)? I think that in business there is a lot to be said for "character", and what's to be said about the "character" of an individual or organization that willingly signs up for a services, uses that service to make money, and then thumbs their nose at the rules of that service?

No one is forcing anyone to use PayPal ... if you don't like the fees, don't use the service. To me, charging a surcharge ion PayPal is no different than walking into a convenience store and stealing a pack of gum because you feel that the asking price is too high.

-adam

[ssscales]

It's crazy when some sellers ask you to add that 3% for paypal charges! I would never buy from someone that asks me to add on 3% if using Paypal. If you as a seller offer PayPal as an option to your customers, you should include that 3% in the cost of doing business. When I see ads that state "add 3% for PayPal" I move on!

I feel the same with these added box charges, just include the cost of packaging in the total cost of the item for sale!

I for one hate seeing $5000 for a snake and please add a $5.00 box charge + an extra $2.00 per added Heat Pack + $2.50 packaging fee + $40.00 S&H + add 3% if using PayPal! As a buyer I'd rather see…$560.00 Shipped! Or $525.00 + S&H!

It's like buying something at the store for $20.00 and they tell you it's $20.00 plus a 2% for paying with a credit card + gas prices went up so add another $0.05 + the stock boy got a raise the other day so add another $0.05 + 6% Taxes!!

[ddbjdealer]

It is illegal in most states to charge such a surcharge, and not to mention it violates the TOS from Paypal.

If these people get reported for charging extra for using paypal, their paypal account and all the monies in it will get siezed for a great deal of time.

No one really seems to care about these consequences though, as they just keep opening up new paypal accounts and doing it all over agian.