In many states, the law does not regulate it. In some states, they do.
http://www.gofso.com/Premium/LE/06_le_ic/fg/fg-merchants.html#MORE:B
So, technically in these states, I think the
police can cite them and cause the merchant to have to appear in court. In other states, it's a contractual breach between VISA/MC/PayPal and the merchant.
The store/merchant has a legal right to establish a fee in the unregulated states, but they're under contractual agreements with VISA/MC, so doing so will breach them.
Consumers have the right to complain to VISA/MC/PayPal as they're given the power to use their card without a minimum purchase or surcharge anywhere and everywhere their logos are displayed.
Now, let's talk about PayPal. You're absolutely right.
It is a breach of PayPal terms of service to surcharge customer. If the seller bills you the surcharge, you can refuse to pay it. If he won't cooperate and you can afford to lose it, pay it and dispute it with PayPal.
It is a breach of PayPal terms of service to use multiple accounts for the purpose of circumventing fees. The clear case of this is when the same transaction is offered with two different PayPal addresses and the users are directed to pay to an address based on the payment method.
FOB Shipping is technically a valid contract, but when purchase is made with a credit card or PayPal, it would _always_ default to FOB Destination, Freight Prepaid and Added. If you're purchasing from a for-profit dealer, this is what you stick with. Insurance is not for protecting the buyer. It's for protecting the SELLER. "not responsible" won't waive them from the obligation to deliver the merchandise in the conditions described so you can consider as the title of the item belonging to the merchant, until the item is delivered in the conditions described.
Good habit: ALWAYS charge a purhase to credit card whenever possible.
Dealer sells something, describes "not responsible for damage in freight". If it gets damaged or lost
1. Contact seller, demand replacement refund or otherwise try to negotiate something you can accept.
2. Failing that do not let the merchant throw you around, escalate to PayPal
3. If paid directly with CC without PayPal or PayPal rules in the favor of them, even though you feel you weren't at fault, you start a process for chargeback.
4. There's a clause about "merchandise to be delivered in described conditions" that merchant agreed upon in merchant agreements. If they throw you their store policy, you call the card company and open a chargeback case. You let the merchant dispute the chargeback claim and let the CC company decide who's in the right in accordance with the contract.
On personal peer to peer trade, this is something to be handled on a mutual agreement on good conscious.
