PayPal fees

[Bach5G]

A minor situation arose that got resolved easily and quickly but it left me with the following question:

If the parties come to an agreement on the price of an item and agree on payment by PayPal but there is no mention of who will be responsible for PayPal fees and there is no mention of friends/family, goods/services etc, who is responsible for the PayPal fees?

[Doug Elliott]

As a seller I have to consider any PayPal or credit card fees as a cost of doing business, so I pay them unless the buyer does it by Friends and Family.

[SwissTbone]

If no mention is made, I think the seller takes the fees.

[brassmedic]

I agree with Doug. The seller is assessed the fees, so the seller should pay them. Cost of doing business.

[Kingfan]

Yes, seller pays the fees unless it is negotiated differently up front. If Friends and Family is used, the protections provided by PayPal to buyers and sellers on internet sales are gone.

[Gary]

I always specify in the advertisement for sale who pays. Very clear, right from the get-go.

[Bach5G]

I always specify in the advertisement for sale who pays. Very clear, right from the get-go.

Of course but in this situation that wasn’t the case.

Generally, I would agree with the position that, unless stated otherwise, PayPal fees are the responsibility of the seller, as he can stipulate from the outset what his asking price includes and excludes.

[BGuttman]

By default PayPal charges its fees to the seller. If you want the buyer to cover the fees you need to add them to the purchase price.

[Bach5G]

I’ll say that when I see a seller stating the buyer is responsible for what I consider the seller’s PP fees, my initial reaction is to move on, not interested.

[bbocaner]

It violates PayPal's user agreement to ask a buyer to pay extra for using paypal.

Receiving personal payments
If you use your PayPal account to receive payments for the sale of goods or services or accept donations, you must:

Pay any applicable fees for receiving the funds.
Not ask your buyer to send you money using the “send money to a friend or family member.” If you do so, PayPal may remove your PayPal account’s ability to accept payments from friends or family members.

No surcharges
You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method.

I still see people doing it all the time, though. I would suggest that if you really wanted to do that you could be a little bit slicker about it and just raise your sale price by that amount.

[sacfxdx]

I consider using PayPal as a convenience (for me) so I do not mind paying the fees. It's nice to see that the consensus is that it's the sellers responsibility. I can understand that. probably good to sort that out in advance if you do not want to pay the fees.

Just my thoughts.

[Gary]

I find specificity can save some grief and hard feelings. I've had buyers/sellers who are incredibly naïve or just plain (sorry) stupid.

[Bach5G]

For me, the difference is usually not worth worrying about. If it’s something I want, an extra 3% is not a deal breaker.