No paypal fees when sending money! With a catch, of course.

[mschmidt]

Looks like Paypal just changed how they handle non-ebay payments (eg. when someone uses the regular "Send Money"-link to send you cash, or you're paying an invoice that didn't come through to ebay), which means that it's now possible to send money fee-less to anyone no matter what their account type they have.

 

Previously - if the recipient of the money had a personal PP account, and the money was sent as an instant transfer (meaning the money came from either a paypal balance or a bank account tied to a paypal account), the recipient paid no fees on the transaction. It was a nice little loop-hole that I know several people here on the boards have used in the past (myself included).

 

That's not the case anymore, though.

 

Instead what you need to do is this:

 

a) When you're sending money through the "Send Money"-link, there are now two tabs on the actual Send Money page - one says "Purchase", one says "Personal". The "Purchase"-one is selected by default - BUT .... if you use that one, the recipient WILL pay fees on the transaction no matter what kind of account they have.

 

 

b) Instead select the "Personal"-tab and click the "Payment owed" radio button. Once you click continue, you'll get to the usual 2nd screen where you can type in a message for the recipient.

 

c) And, hey presto, no fees are paid on the transaction by either the sender or the recipient.

 

 

It wouldn't be Paypal if there weren't a couple of catches, though ...

 

Catch 1: As you can see from the screenshot, when you send money like this the sender's shipping address is not included - which means that you're not eligible for Paypal's (rather useless) Buyer Protection. So I'd suggest putting your shipping address as the message to the recipient.

 

Catch 2: You can only do "Personal" payments like this with money that's in your Paypal balance or the bank account that's tied to your Paypal account - NO credit cards.

[jordanscott]

Ahhhh

 

Good ole Paypal.

 

Taking a bad thing and making it worse.

[jools&jim]

 

I actually used a credit card via the "Personal" service last week, and it also went through with no fees...

[the blob]

thanks, my wife sends me money from her paypal account to my personal account when my stuff sells on her ebay account and she feels like letting me have some, it has been fee free, now she won't get skimmed by paypal

 

honestly, i'm surprised paypal doesn't take a cut of everything. basically, they're providing a free wire transfer service for cash right now.

[PrismaticSmoke]

I wouldnt call buyer protection useless I have used it 2 times when a seller never sent books and would not respond. I would not send money without buyer protection.

[mschmidt]

I wouldnt call buyer protection useless I have used it 2 times when a seller never sent books and would not respond. I would not send money without buyer protection.

 

It works fine on ebay - where Paypal guarantees that you get your money back, even if the seller doesn't have any money in their PP account.

 

For non-ebay transactions, it's - as can be seen in the latest CAP Freak spectacle where, even though I won the paypal dispute, PP simply said:

 

"We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds from the seller's account."

[towards2112]

I wouldnt call buyer protection useless I have used it 2 times when a seller never sent books and would not respond. I would not send money without buyer protection.

I concur, sort of like shipping a highdollar book without insurance/tracking/signature verification. Your hard earned reciepts may

make the trip back to the original owner, along with your previous property.

[silverweb]

Looks like Paypal just changed how they handle non-ebay payments (eg. when someone uses the regular "Send Money"-link to send you cash, or you're paying an invoice that didn't come through to ebay), which means that it's now possible to send money fee-less to anyone no matter what their account type they have.

 

Previously - if the recipient of the money had a personal PP account, and the money was sent as an instant transfer (meaning the money came from either a paypal balance or a bank account tied to a paypal account), the recipient paid no fees on the transaction. It was a nice little loop-hole that I know several people here on the boards have used in the past (myself included).

 

That's not the case anymore, though.

 

Instead what you need to do is this:

 

a) When you're sending money through the "Send Money"-link, there are now two tabs on the actual Send Money page - one says "Purchase", one says "Personal". The "Purchase"-one is selected by default - BUT .... if you use that one, the recipient WILL pay fees on the transaction no matter what kind of account they have.

 

 

b) Instead select the "Personal"-tab and click the "Payment owed" radio button. Once you click continue, you'll get to the usual 2nd screen where you can type in a message for the recipient.

 

c) And, hey presto, no fees are paid on the transaction by either the sender or the recipient.

 

 

It wouldn't be Paypal if there weren't a couple of catches, though ...

 

Catch 1: As you can see from the screenshot, when you send money like this the sender's shipping address is not included - which means that you're not eligible for Paypal's (rather useless) Buyer Protection. So I'd suggest putting your shipping address as the message to the recipient.

 

Catch 2: You can only do "Personal" payments like this with money that's in your Paypal balance or the bank account that's tied to your Paypal account - NO credit cards.

 

Thanks for the info. I just heard about Paypal's E-check. I thought E-check was the best way to go. (Someone is going to pay me that way soon) Could someone please explain the difference, pros and cons. Thanks

 

 

[Bomber-Bob]

Michael, thanks for the update. I guess I can get rid of my 2nd (personal) PP account. FYI, the personal account did not earn any interest on balances.

 

Regarding the E-check, I just received an E-check, it worked but

- It took 8 days to clear = the money is not in your account to spend for 8 days.

- They did charge a 5.00 fee. I don't know if the fee is standard or based on amount.

[thirdgreenham]

Good to know, thanks Michael! (thumbs u

 

Andy

[John A III]

Yep good to know. Might save a boardie some money on my last installment payment.

[DR.X]

I wouldnt call buyer protection useless I have used it 2 times when a seller never sent books and would not respond. I would not send money without buyer protection.

 

It works fine on ebay - where Paypal guarantees that you get your money back, even if the seller doesn't have any money in their PP account.

 

For non-ebay transactions, it's - as can be seen in the latest CAP Freak spectacle where, even though I won the paypal dispute, PP simply said:

 

"We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds from the seller's account."

 

This is interesting, whats the difference in E-Bay or non-E-Bay. Its still Paypal. No. Please explain. Thanks.

 

DRX

[silverweb]

Michael, thanks for the update. I guess I can get rid of my 2nd (personal) PP account. FYI, the personal account did not earn any interest on balances.

 

Regarding the E-check, I just received an E-check, it worked but

- It took 8 days to clear = the money is not in your account to spend for 8 days.

- They did charge a 5.00 fee. I don't know if the fee is standard or based on amount.

 

I gather the advantage of "Send Money - Personal" over E-check is the speed and no fees. Echeck costs $5.00 and takes much longer. However, E-check does have Paypal buyer protection if that offers any comfort or security. In my experience, Paypal protection has never been very good. I use my credit card with Paypal to get the best protection. I would conclude that Michael's Send Money - Personal is a wiser choice over E-check.

 

Other opinions?

[gaz973]

Many thanks on the Papal info in this thread. Very useful.

[mschmidt]

I wouldnt call buyer protection useless I have used it 2 times when a seller never sent books and would not respond. I would not send money without buyer protection.

 

It works fine on ebay - where Paypal guarantees that you get your money back, even if the seller doesn't have any money in their PP account.

 

For non-ebay transactions, it's - as can be seen in the latest CAP Freak spectacle where, even though I won the paypal dispute, PP simply said:

 

"We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds from the seller's account."

 

This is interesting, whats the difference in E-Bay or non-E-Bay. Its still Paypal. No. Please explain. Thanks.

 

DRX

 

It's all outlined in Paypal's buyer protection policy - in summary:

 

PayPal Buyer Protection (for eligible items purchased on eBay)

If you see the PayPal Buyer Protection message "Pay with PayPal and full purchase price is covered", and if PayPal finds in your favor on your Claim, PayPal will reimburse you for the full purchase price of the item and original shipping costs – with no cap on coverage.

 

PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy (for all other items purchased on or off eBay)

Even though you may escalate an Item Not Received Dispute to a Claim, you are not guaranteed recovery. If the Claim is decided in your favor, your recovery is limited to the amounts that PayPal can recover from the seller’s Account.

 

---

 

The difference is basically what I outline above - if an ebay item (with the buyer protection message in the listing) is paid for with paypal and the seller never ships it, Paypal guarantees you a full refund on both the item & the shipping cost. If PP can't recover those funds from the seller, they will reimburse you themselves.

 

If a non-ebay item is paid for with paypal, and the seller never ships it, Paypal will try to recover the funds from the seller - but they don't guarantee you'll get a refund. And if the seller doesn't have any funds in their PP account, you're mess out of luck.

[mschmidt]

Michael, thanks for the update. I guess I can get rid of my 2nd (personal) PP account. FYI, the personal account did not earn any interest on balances.

 

Regarding the E-check, I just received an E-check, it worked but

- It took 8 days to clear = the money is not in your account to spend for 8 days.

- They did charge a 5.00 fee. I don't know if the fee is standard or based on amount.

 

I gather the advantage of "Send Money - Personal" over E-check is the speed and no fees. Echeck costs $5.00 and takes much longer. However, E-check does have Paypal buyer protection if that offers any comfort or security. In my experience, Paypal protection has never been very good. I use my credit card with Paypal to get the best protection. I would conclude that Michael's Send Money - Personal is a wiser choice over E-check.

 

Other opinions?

 

One misconception here: if you click the "Purchase"-tab in the screenshot above and then choose "Goods" (instead of clicking "Personal" and choosing "Payment owed"), you will have the same Paypal buyer protection that an e-check offers. And you won't have to wait the 4-5 days that an e-check takes to clear.

 

But ... then the seller will pay PP fees on this transaction.

 

For me personally, it's pretty simple:

 

a) If I'm buying something here on the boards from someone I trust or have dealt with before, I will happily go the Personal/Payment owed route, so that the recipient doesn't have to pay any fees.

 

b) If I'm buying something on ebay or from a newbie, I'll do the Purchase/Goods route instead which gives me the (lackluster) Buyer Protection, but also means that the seller will get stuck with the Paypal fees.

[thehumantorch]

Thanks for this thread. It will save me $$ very soon.

[Rabidcamel]

Thanks for the info! It's very much appreciated. (thumbs u

[Jeffreykli]

Michael, thanks for the update. I guess I can get rid of my 2nd (personal) PP account. FYI, the personal account did not earn any interest on balances.

 

Regarding the E-check, I just received an E-check, it worked but

- It took 8 days to clear = the money is not in your account to spend for 8 days.

- They did charge a 5.00 fee. I don't know if the fee is standard or based on amount.

 

The paypal fees for an e-check is a maximum of $5. So, if it's for a high dollar purchase, e-checks are pretty good for the seller (as long as time isn't a big issue).

[NewWorldOrder]

All my purchases I use mt credit card as the payment.

 

If I have a balance in my PP account I just transfer all of it to my checking or savings account so I can use my CC 100%.

 

God how I want Pay Pal to have a competitor thats makes this garbage company go under.