Not a cheap thrill

wmpwi

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
348
Location
Western Michigan
This new flashlight fixation of mine has over heated my PayPal account. I'm down for a Groovy, marked for a Gatling Light, and just ordered a entry level Raw. It's a good thing I work for a living.

BTW - I've been getting the hard sell on verifying my PP account which means they want to tap my checking account rather than my credit card. If and when that happens, is that when they start charging me per transaction and if so how much?
 

UncleFester

Flashaholic*,
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
1,271
Location
Desert Hlls,AZ
wmpwi
I got the hard sell on that too. There is a 2K$ permanent spending limit on a Cred Card funded account. There's no way to reset it either. Once you reach 2K, it's done. I am reluctant to give PayPal or a potential seller (or anyone else for that matter) a direct hose into my bank account.
What they don't make really clear is that you can set up a PayPal Buyer Credit account with them. It can be used to fund transactions on your existing account and there is no limit. You have to fish around on their website to find it.
Just thought you might want to know.
 

Trashman

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 15, 2005
Messages
3,544
Location
Covina, California
Buyers don't get charged for any transactions. I think they want the checking account because the credit card companies can always do a charge back, and then they lose. The checking account is supposed to be the same as cash. You'll notice a lot of sellers ask for an addition 3 or 4 percent if you're paying by credit card, which leads one to believe sellers are charged for cash (checking account) transactions, although, that's somewhat unimagineable.
 

James S

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
5,078
Location
on an island surrounded by reality
I opened a separate free checking account to link my paypal account to. I know that millions of people do it without any trouble (yet /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) but like you i dont trust to the system.

If you specifically ask the bank to not link the account to your other accounts, then it's isolated as far as money is concerned. They can't get to your regular day to day checking or savings from there. If you don't be specific, the norm now seems to be to link your accounts, so if you overdraw your checking they will draw from savings to cover it. I definitely don't want that for the paypal linked account. I can manually transfer money between the accounts, but it won't happen automatically which is what I was worried about.

I think that with the free checking at my bank I did have to pay for a box of checks, but since I'm never going to use them it was a one time expense.
 

flashlite

Enlightened
Joined
May 10, 2004
Messages
386
Location
PA
I use a debit card, so I'm essentially already verified unbeknownst to Paypal.....I guess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 

wmpwi

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
348
Location
Western Michigan
This is all very valuable info and thanks. There's enough PayPal business going on here that this could almost be a sticky thread.
 

Grox

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 31, 2005
Messages
1,214
Location
Melbourne, Australia
[ QUOTE ]
UncleFester said:

There is a 2K$ permanent spending limit on a Cred Card funded account. There's no way to reset it either. Once you reach 2K, it's done.

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh oh. Australian PayPal don't let you link an account to your paypal account. All you can do is link a credit card to your account. Does this mean that my paypal account will be useless once I spend 2k? And I'm getting close...
 

goldenlight

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 10, 2005
Messages
464
Location
Right here....
I have a Paypal account linked to a checking account (which I keep very little money in, just in case) and even if someone else sends me money from a non CC Paypal account, I get charged the 2.9% + $0.35. (or whatever the exact amount is.

Paypal is pure and simply making huge amounts of money, especially since it was bought out by eBay.

I can't put money in a bank account, or a CD for a whole YEAR, and earn 2.9%; but the greedy bast*rds at Paypal gouge that in the blink of an eye.

But, what are the alternatives? Not much, unfortunately. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 

James S

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Messages
5,078
Location
on an island surrounded by reality
yea, but if you had a merchant account and took CC's yourself they would charge that much or more percentage wise. If you can get your per-charge amount of money up or your overall sales above a certain point then they lower it, but it can be as much as 5% for little folks i think. Or at least it used to be 10 years ago when I last looked into this stuff. Maybe it's gone down, but really 2.9% isn't totally outrageous for taking a credit card after the credit card company has taken their cut. and they don't charge it against money that is non-CC. They may be difficult to reach, and they certainly are making a fortune, but it's not as bad as it feels like.
 

Silviron

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 24, 2001
Messages
2,477
Location
New Mexico, USA
Depends on how much volume you do.... If for instance, you do a minimum of $10,000 per month of sales every month, then what the credit card companies charge you in percentage and service fees, it is a MUCH better deal than PayPal.

But for small time sellers, PayPal is defionitely a good deal.
 

bjn70

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 25, 2004
Messages
1,097
Location
DFW, TX
My PP account is linked to a checking account. The recipients of my payments seem to be charged 4%. I have only been charged for payments that I receive.
 
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