Feeling a little like a Newbie again

[Childwize]

Hello all,

I'm jumping back into selling ponies again after a 3 year break and I am discovering how different Paypal and Ebay are. How do you calculate paypal fees? What is a fair amount to charge to cover these fees. I used to just charge exact shipping and most collectors would send a MO if it was a small amount of money. But now it seems everyone just uses Paypal regardless of the amount. I will me taking losses on my sales once Paypal charges me to death on a $3.00 transfer. LOL How do you suggest I cover these costs?

Thanks for the help,
Childwize

[BlushingBlue]

Paypal's growth in popularity is probably due to its convenience and ease of use, its buyer protection, and (believe it or not) its reasonable price for the aforementioned. Apparently people will put up with a surprising amount of whimsical tyranny if it means they don't have to go purchase a money order and hope it gets to an honest seller.

Paypal charges a $.30 transaction fee plus 2.9% of the amount sent. If you already know the amount you're charging, then it's easy to calculate how much the fee will be as well. (Or you can just go to a site like thefeecalculator.com if you are math-averse.) Per your example, Paypal would charge $.39 for a $3.00 payment, leaving you with $2.61 of actual money.

However, Paypal doesn't always charge you a fee for accepting payment. If your buyer pays from an existing fund like a Paypal balance, then there shouldn't be a fee. Or your buyer can pay with a credit card and choose the "gift" option and pay the fees themselves, but this isn't always a good idea since you obviously can't dispute a "gift" if something goes wrong.

These are just the basic permutations, but they'll probably cover about 80% of your trading in my experience. The fee schedule seems to get a little more arcane for payments of non-U.S. origin, and sometimes you'll find that something you thought wouldn't generate a fee does, and vice versa.

Some people think it's very bad form to ask the buyer to foot the bill for the fees (unless you're specifically offering something at cost/as a favor, e.g. Fair ponies, freebies) and some people think it's literally a small price to pay. If you insist on passing the Paypal buck to your customers, the best thing is to make sure you're either up front with your policy, or just bake it in as part of the pony's cost. Want $3 for that pony? Make it $3.50 and your potential fees would be covered, plus you don't risk insulting your buyer. Otherwise you just have to suck it up and consider it a cost of doing business conveniently.

[Tikibirds]

Ebay changed the rules so that the only acceptable method of payment IS paypal, which Ebay now owns. Also, sellers are no longer allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers on ebay.

ome people think it's very bad form to ask the buyer to foot the bill for the fees (unless you're specifically offering something at cost/as a favor, e.g. Fair ponies, freebies) and some people think it's literally a small price to pay. If you insist on passing the Paypal buck to your customers, the best thing is to make sure you're either up front with your policy, or just bake it in as part of the pony's cost.

I though it was against ebay rules to charge seller's fees?

Personally, I would try selling them on here or at the arena first and whatever dosen;t sell i would put up on ebay.

[BlushingBlue]

Originally Posted by Tikibirds

I though it was against ebay rules to charge seller's fees?

Personally, I would try selling them on here or at the arena first and whatever dosen;t sell i would put up on ebay.

Indeed it is. I'd assumed that Childwize's question was referring to selling to other members on the boards as opposed to eBay.

If you're selling on eBay, absolutely don't ever request buyers to pay your Paypal fees, just like you wouldn't ask them to pay your Final Value fees. The only options in that case are #2: build it into the initial price, or #3: suck it up and deal.

If you're selling on the boards, there's a bit more leeway since neither the Trading Post nor the Arena turn a profit from people using Paypal.

Hope I didn't confuse the issue further! orz

[MidnightChyld]

I'll admit another reason I backed out of buying Fizzy was because I did not want to go buy a money order, and since you said using pay pal would make the sale a loss for you I figured why waste both of our time? I would defiantly put the fee into the pony price like BlushingBlue said, that way you get your money but your not telling the person a bigger price later by saying they have to cover the fees. That's what my husband does with his ebay sales. I think he even found a paypal fee calculator online somewhere so he can see exactly what the fees will be.

[Childwize]

Thank you for the advise. I do not wish to upset anyone by charging more suddenly at the end. To be honest, I was a little surprised at buyers wanting to send a Paypal payment for $3.00 or so. Since this was not as common several years ago. Some of my buyers asked to cover the fees instead of getting a MO. Although, I did say I would, as you so eliquently put it, suck it up and they shouldn't worry about it. I saw it as a lesson learned for future sales.

Two generous persons on the boards did offer to cover the extra cost and one person just sent me a link to a Paypal fees calculator website which was immensely helpful to me. I think I will adjust the prices of my ponies to reflect the Paypal costs and just accept Paypal payments on my site, unless there is a special request, of course. That should make things fair and balance my budget better.

MidnightChyld, I would be happy to accept your Paypal payment if that is why you canceled. Please do not worry about paying any extra fees. As a seller, just starting out again, I expected to hit a few bumps and take some losses before I found the right groove again. I just want happy customers. Fizzy in in her mailer waiting for a good home, if you still want her.

Thanks again for all of your advise,
Childwize

[wererat]

i pretty much love paypal. i think the fees are worth the ease and my piece of mind. years ago i bought some dvds on ebay using paypal, they didn't play so i contacted the seller and after 2 weeks got the reply of 'what do you want?' when i said new dvds or my money back they didn't reply, so i put in a claim through paypal and got my money back.

the protection is worth it to me, and as others have said, it just means i bump up the price of the item a little more to cover the costs.

hope you're not put off by paypal too much and you learn to love it like i do!
wererat

[MustBeJewel]

Originally Posted by Childwize

Two generous persons on the boards did offer to cover the extra cost and one person just sent me a link to a Paypal fees calculator website which was immensely helpful to me. I think I will adjust the prices of my ponies to reflect the Paypal costs and just accept Paypal payments on my site, unless there is a special request, of course. That should make things fair and balance my budget better.

Hi Childwize!

Ebay and Paypal certainly haven't made things easy.. at least, not as easy as they used to be. The subject has been brought up before as to whether or not to charge Paypal fees to buyers, but it ends up going in circles a lot. I think (in my humble opinion) that it's just a personal preference, and that it also depends on the transaction, the cost, etc. I don't think I've seen a true consensus on it at all.

I think in the case where you just sold me G2 items that totaled $1, lol that my voluntarily paying the $0.50 Paypal fee really made it easier for both of us. You don't lose half your profit, and I don't have to drive to the PO, pay for a MO, stamp, and envelope, and send it through the mail. So as far as I can tell, that's a win-win


And for anyone who's interested, this is the calculator I've been using, and which I suggested:

PayPal Fee Calculator by Ryan Olbe