Pay Pal's onto me!

[LiteFM]

Just got a weird email from Pay Pal saying that they're aware of me accepting too many payments as gift from many transactions with you great people. My account is now in danger of being suspended. Just a PSA... they're watching. Have a great week.
-John

[Chousen One]

hey john

yeah, they are watching... one thing I've started to do is use the "personal payment owed" option instead, which is entirely true, vs. the "gift" option. Haven't gotten any weird emails about that yet...

Hope it turns out alright, paypal can be a bitch when you're on the wrong end of their scrutiny...

Cheers,
Chris

[oliver1850]

I use the payment owed option when paying, but have never specified it to anyone paying me. As far as I know, the recipient is not informed how he was payed, but perhaps I'm missing something. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me for them to have issues with the recipient, when he doesn't control the payment option.

PayPal makes money either way. Money in personal accounts is surely drawing interest for PayPal.

[Chousen One]

They're surely making money either way, but I'd imagine they're just looking to glean that extra %age off the top when they see gifts constantly going to and from a certain account.

I got a message from them once asking me to confirm that a $600 "gift" was indeed a "gift," and that's when I started to use "personal payment owed" instead. Nothing to mention since then

[markie]

I thought those emails were phishing spam.

Do not open them and definitely do not follow any link within them that requires you to put in your paypal email address or password....

If you have already change your password ASAP. Oh and choose something difficult to guess. "password" does not cut it.

[RacerJRP]

I guess I have been slacking leately, I have not recieved any emails. No doubt they make money on everything we do no matter what option we click.

[JeffS]

If you have a problem following their TOS, find another service? That includes both fee avoidance and asking buyers to pay the fee.

I had a recent buyer send me a payment as a gift. I wasn't happy about it, but what's done was done.

[AngryScientist]

I guess I have been slacking leately, I have not recieved any emails. No doubt they make money on everything we do no matter what option we click.


and they should IMO. paypal provides a valuable, relatively secure service. they are a business like any other, and they provide a service, of course they want to make a profit, why else would they provide the service?

i have had many transactions through paypal and am happy to see them get their small profit for providing a relatively safe, secure, fast and convenient way for us non-business folks to make monetary transactions.

[rice rocket]

I don't think they really have any idea if your payments are actually personal or not, they're just guessing. There is no way they can prove or disprove (unless you're stupid and including addresses in the comments section).

It's just scare tactics to reduce lost revenue (which is reasonable IMHO).

[djg21]

and they should IMO. paypal provides a valuable, relatively secure service. they are a business like any other, and they provide a service, of course they want to make a profit, why else would they provide the service?

i have had many transactions through paypal and am happy to see them get their small profit for providing a relatively safe, secure, fast and convenient way for us non-business folks to make monetary transactions.

I agree with you. I just don't get the logic that it's OK to screw companies like Paypal, Performance Bicycles, etc. just because they are large, faceless companies. It's ironic that in some of these cases, the same folks so willing to screw those companies are the first to complain about transactions on the classified forum and threaten to "out" forumites who they percieve to be "dishonest"-- in some cases, over relatively paltry amounts and insignificant disputes.

Let me put it this way, if Paypal loses profits through the misuse of "gifts" and "debts-owed," it will raise its fees across the board to make up the difference and we all end up paying more to use the service. It's not much different than Walmart raising prices to account for losses due to shoplifiting.

[Charles M]

:beer:

[weiwentg]

I agree with you. I just don't get the logic that it's OK to screw companies like Paypal, Performance Bicycles, etc. just because they are large, faceless companies. It's ironic that in some of these cases, the same folks so willing to screw those companies are the first to complain about transactions on the classified forum and threaten to "out" forumites who they percieve to be "dishonest"-- in some cases, over relatively paltry amounts and insignificant disputes.

Let me put it this way, if Paypal loses profits through the misuse of "gifts" and "debts-owed," it will raise its fees across the board to make up the difference and we all end up paying more to use the service. It's not much different than Walmart raising prices to account for losses due to shoplifiting.

disagree with the last bit. shoplifting is a clear misdemeanor. aggressive use of the 'gifts' or 'debts owed' options may be a contractual violation, but it wouldn't go beyond that (and I haven't read the paypal user agreement, so it could well be within the letter of the agreement).

[AngryScientist]

disagree with the last bit. shoplifting is a clear misdemeanor. aggressive use of the 'gifts' or 'debts owed' options may be a contractual violation, but it wouldn't go beyond that (and I haven't read the paypal user agreement, so it could well be within the letter of the agreement).


fraud is a pretty clear misdemeanor too. make no mistake, if you pay someone as a "gift" and you are actually making a transaction for goods - that's fraud.

[djg21]

disagree with the last bit. shoplifting is a clear misdemeanor. aggressive use of the 'gifts' or 'debts owed' options may be a contractual violation, but it wouldn't go beyond that (and I haven't read the paypal user agreement, so it could well be within the letter of the agreement).

In my state, theft of services constitutes a larceny. Perhaps Petit Larceny, by larceny no less.

[buldogge]

These threads pop up every few weeks...

...but...Isn't using the 'personal/payment owed' tab exactly what we should be using for transactions on this board (for example)? I am sending (or receiving) a payment to an individual, and not a business, for an amount that I owe them...no???

-Mark in St. Louis

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Exactly my thinking. I predict that paypal has a team of lawyers (OK, maybe one lawyer and a team of paralegals) figuring out a term that can't be misconstrued like that.These threads pop up every few weeks...

...but...Isn't using the 'personal/payment owed' tab exactly what we should be using for transactions on this board (for example)? I am sending (or receiving) a payment to an individual, and not a business, for an amount that I owe them...no???

-Mark in St. Louis

[LiteFM]

I'd like to be clear and say that my original post wasn't a complaint about the service Pay Pal provides. I'm just making it public that I received a warning. I'm simply saying that I've been fortunate enough to have had some great transactions on this forum by accepting and sending payments as gift but will no longer continue do so. Standard payments from here on out! Enjoy the rest of your week.
-John

[troymac]

Use Dwolla they have a 25 cent fee. They are growing each day. I found out about their service from a fellow member. Here is a link to their fee structure
http://help.dwolla.com/customer/portal/articles/86684-dwolla-fees