Just a note from an 'International' PayPal user, I don't have a problem paying the surcharge as it's usually cheaper that the price of getting and mailing a US $ Money Order and sending it off. Not to mention that the speed of international mail is often not that great so adding an extra week to the transaction is often unappealing.
Not being able to PayPal someone with a credit card can problematic if I don't have a balance in my PayPal account, as for some reason as a Canadian I can't transfer funds into my account from a bank account (at least I couldn't last time I tried). So that can deter me from bidding on an item if there are PayPal conditions I don't like of if I can't use PayPal. It's just too easy and quick, hence the attraction.
PayPal is an expense, usually the seller's, as is listing on eBay an expense. I appreciate that everyone is trying to maximize return and minimize expenses (both sellers and buyers), and to me the PayPal fees and eBay fees are not wholly unreasonable. What does really irk me is paying $10 in 'shipping' on a $7 item and then having it show up with $2.50 postage on the box. :-P
My $0.02 CDN
David Bilenkey Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
> -----Original Message-----
> From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org
> [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org]On Behalf Of J.Dunn
> Sent: November 29, 2003 6:07 PM
> To: Classic Rendezvous
> Subject: Re: [CR]Ebay Paypal and Surcharges - the offical Paypal
> policies
> OTOH, I have found that one of the main attractions of Paypal is
> that buyers
> *can* use their credit cards, and I think that specifying bank accounts or
> Paypal balances, only, results in lost bids.
>
> I have tried, with relative success, informing bidders that Paypal is
> accepted *only* if they contact me before bidding. I then inform
> them that
> credit card Paypal is OK, but only if they are willing to pay the
> 3% charges
> (normally they agree to this). This way it cuts ebay out of the loop and,
> if it looks like it will cost me a sale, I can negotiate to allow the
> payment or split the fee, or whatever. If you downgrade from a premium
> account, there is no option to take credit card payments, so this route
> doesn't work. Having two accounts, one premium and one personal
> sounds like
> a good solution. For some reason, I had in the back of my mind that one
> couldn't have two separate accounts.
>
> John in Boise