I hope this can prove useful to the community, and I'm sure I can't be the only one that didn't know this, but...

For some reason I didn't realize this until recently, but a Paypal personal account is free. I opened one up to collect dues for my group and the money I've received is the money that's in the account...no 3% fee.

Upon further investigation, I learned that only paypal premium and business accounts charge 3%, the personal account is free. The only drawback I could find was that people can't pay you with a credit card if you have personal account...they have to have paypal.

For those people that sell things on the classifieds, if you already have a paypal account that charges the fee, then why not open a personal account and link it to a different bank account (like your savings account) and stop charging 3%? It takes minutes to open a Paypal account.

For basically all money I receive via PayPal, they take 2.9% plus $ .30. That's why I ask for 3% additional. Taking credit cards is also supremely easy for people on both sides of the transaction and offers an additional layer of protection for the buyer. Personal accounts can receive funds via credit cards, too, but the fees are higher than for e-checks, Instant Transfers, etc., higher than credit card fees for Premier/Business accounts, and are limited to 5 every 12 months.

I have no desire to open multiple PayPal accounts, using multiple email addresses and unique financial info. :) See this from their info page:

Quote:

PayPal allows members to have one Personal account and one Premier or Business account. However, each PayPal account must contain unique email addresses and financial information.

To open another account, I'd have to link it to my Savings account. I'd then have to transfer funds from the PayPal personal account to my savings account (wait a few days), then into my checking account (another business day or two). I also happen to like the benefits of the premier account.

As long as people are okay paying the fee, and as long as the seller is up-front, I don't see a problem with charging the fee.

You should say "PayPal can be free," not "PayPal is free." That's an oversimplification and generalization. If you want the services that go along with the premier account, get the premier account. If people are willing to add 3% for the convenience and protection PayPal offers and to get an item they want, then 3% is fair.

I haven't had anyone complain about the fees and everything I've listed for sale here and elsewhere with that fee has sold.

Regarding the Marketplace here, it's very simple. If people aren't comfortable with the terms of a sale, they should not participate in it.

Chad,

I'm just offering a viable alternative, not complaning about current practices.

To transfer money from your paypal premier account to your personal account takes 3-4 days also, so transfering money from the free paypal account to your savings account wouldn't take any longer. Once that happens, for most banks with good online banking, transfering money between accounts is instant.

If the only reason to charge 20 - 50 dollars or more is to avoid having to do an instant online transfer from savings to checking, then people should have a right to know that.

It doesn't hurt anyone to have 2 paypal accounts. If your bank is slow to transfer money between accounts, that's a different story and this wouldn't work for you.

I'm not calling anyone out...I've charged 3% on paypal sales myself...I just didn't know I had a choice. From on, I will no longer charge 3% for someone who wants to use paypal unless that person is paying with a credit card. I don't think that would be right, given the alternative.

You are correct, however, I should have named the thread "Paypal CAN be free".

I suppose I've never sold anything for a price where the 3% markup equated to $20-50. :) Usually it's a handful of dollars at most and people don't seem to have an issue with it.

Just about anything you buy, from any store is already marked up 2-3% to take into account the fee credit card companies charge the store processing the transaction ( a percentage of the transaction price). Paypal really just allowed the everyman to process money like a store running credit cards and charges the same rate per transaction to do it.