i rarely sell coins on ebay...when i do...why do i need pay pal?

mozeppa

if i accept pay pal .......does pay pal get a cut from me?

do i need a pay pal account to accept buyers with pay pal?

CarlWohlforth

I accept PayPal because some people won't bid on auctions where people don't accept it. It allows bidders to pay with their credit card and I don't process credit cards myself.

PayPal does make things go faster. They do charge about %3 and you do need an account to accept payment that way.

291fifth

Many bidders won't bid if you don't take PayPal. Approx. 90 percent of my buyers now use PayPal.

fc

but not just a regular account. you have to upgrade to a
"business" account. once you do that, you get hit for a %
every transaction, CC or not.

so that bothers a lot of people.

Barry

It's a cost of doing business to get more bidders and hopefully higher bids which will offset the additional fees. I still don't believe many dealers' complaints about they can't afford it with their small markups. I've followed enough coins going from auction to inventory to know it's BS.

TwoSides2aCoin

I only use it because it is a convenience for me as a buyer and for me as a seller. It is kind of like jumping in the car to go shopping for groceries or riding your bike. I love choices

Of interest to those who keep money in a savings account.... Pay Pal's money market fund pays you currently 4.53% on your money.

Okay, so that isn't a lot, but it does pay to save, even if it's just a little off each item you sell.

and yes there are fees associated with it's use... Not too bad, but it does slice into profit.

FatMan

In the past 6 months I consigned 289 coins to be sold on eBay. Out of those 261 were paid with PayPal. This is nothing but raw data. You can all come to your own conclusions.

SamByrd

if you offer paypal most often you will get more bids simple fact, I rarely bid unless the seller accepts paypal.

JapanJohn

I have a paypal account and accept it on the rare occasion when I auction something on eBay. I have known at least 3 people who have had their paypal accounts "suspended" thereby locking up the money in their account. One guy I know had quite a bit of money in his account and he never did get it back.

Paypal isn't the local FDIC insured bank. If money hits my account I get it out of there quick. In fact there are some pretty horrific anti paypal web sites out there. Even going on the assumption that some of it is hyped it's still scary. I knew one guy who had a ton of money in his paypal account, and a paypal credit card and probably had paypal underwear on. I showed him the web sites and he quietly retreated towards a bank.

As far as convienience goes, you just can't beat it. I pay with Paypal most places and most sellers love it. Immediate gratification. I'll say it again. Paypal isn't your FDIC insured bank.

John

BAJJERFAN

<< <i>I'll say it again. Paypal isn't your FDIC insured bank >>



That doesn't automatically qualify them to screw you then.

Coindexter

If I'm buying from somebody for the first time there's no way I'd use anything but paypal. It's really the safest way to buy things on ebay. I'm a small time seller, I have about 200 transactions over the last few years as a seller, and I still manage to turn a profit with paypal. Most items I sell come in at $10 or less, so the fees are usually pocket change to me.

Russellhome

It is important to realize that for small transactions, the Paypal rate is higher. Here are some numbers

Payment
Amount - Fee - Percent charged

6.50 ---- .49 ---- 7.5%
7.00 ---- .50 ---- 7.1%
12.75 ---- .67 ---- 5.3%
20.50 ---- .89 ---- 5.3%
36.00 ---- 1.34 ---- 3.7%
70.00 ---- 2.33 ---- 3.3%
195.00 ---- 5.95 ---- 3.1%

I have not had any lately, but it seems to me like transactions under $5 cost nearly 10% in fees. So - if you sell a lot of low cost items, the fee can be much more than pocket change. It does not approach 3% until the transaction amount reaches $200 or above. And the worse part is, that you get charged the fee whether the customer pays with an e-check, paypal cash balance, or a credit card. The fee rate for non CC payments is highway robbery, if you ask me.

Also - I've had buyers get 3 or more low cost items and pay for them all individually via Paypal (even though I ask them NOT to do that in my payment instructions). Paying for small items individually nearly doubled my fees because everything was charged at the higher rate. On a couple of occations, I've refunded the individual payments and sent a new total invoice. It is a pain, but paypal gets enough of my money.

Coindexter

Let me go on record as saying that I'm by no means defending paypal, just that I happen to find it to be very convenient. With regards to fees, $.50 and like amounts are to me exactly what I called them - pocket change.

Please note that I am an admittedly low volume seller. If I was moving hundreds of items a month and paying pocket change for every payment I imagine my appraisal of the situation would change quickly.

KoinDawg

You don't need a BUSINESS paypal account to accept credit cards. You just need a PREMIER PayPal account which means you have a verified bank account linked to your paypal account and a backup source such as your own credit card.