Can anyone tell me if there are rules regarding sellers charging you extra to cover their Paypal fees? I thought that this was against Ebay policy, but am not sure if it is explicitely forbidden by selling rules. Anybody know this?

I had someone add on a fee for paying by paypal or credit card, that wasn't added if you paid by money order or check.

Yes, it is condemned by Paypal

Yes, he is a douche for doing that

Tell ebay.

That's what I thought. It seems she thinks she can get around this by calling it a "handling fee," but when she states specifically it only applies to electronic payments, it's pretty transparent. If you're gonna put your auction up at $.01 and no reserve, you better be ready for it to possibly go for $.01.

Thanks for your reply. Now I'm off to do battle with a guy who wants $40 for parcel post shipping for 3 LOTR figs. Douche.

Its not only condemned, its illegal. Charging for that fee on those types of payments only constitutes fraud. It is against the Paypal TOS and the TOS for accepting Mastercard/Visa. Sellers are also not allowed to enforce a minimum purchase price for use of those services either.

This happened to me a few years back. I went into a battle with a seller and we both ended up getting banned somehow.

Wow, you were banned too? Lame. I guess it's like the old saying that no good deed goes unpunished.

And now for a rant. Today I got a G1 MISB Ramjet in the mail along with an Encore Ratchet. Both were completely f'd compared to how they were presented on Ebay. Ramjet has numerous creases, along with two (what look to be) razor slices along the bottom, which were not visible in the pics, and the seller gave no description of the piece other than "in pretty good shape." Ratchet, meanwhile, arrived with a huge dent and crease in the back for being shipped to tight, has a tear along the box art, and wear and discoloration along the flap and front bottom. It's pathetic. Both sellers have no refund policies, of course. I understand the risk inherent in buying off of Ebay, and allow some leeway for a 20 year old toy like Ramjet, but there's no reason a brandnew piece like Ratchet should be all f'd. I don't even want to look at it.

When I started collecting off of Ebay back in '01, it was a lot better. There were more established TF dealers, who knew what they were selling, but most important, provided detailed descriptions and several pictures of the pieces from several angles to give you a good idea of exactly you were bidding on. It's not like that anymore. The vast majority of sellers put up one pic, and if you want to see anymore, you have contact them and hope they write back. I began to notice this last summer. It's just stupid. It won't kill anyone to include 3-4 sentences of description or to spend an extra $.45 to post a couple more pics. Where have you gone anthonychris14, maximal78, jandjexpress, alexc75, thundercrackerx1, youfinallyfoundonehere, metacentric? sighhhhhh....................

I think I may be done with this whole collecting thing. I'm just sick of spending my money in good faith and receiving bullshot in return. Well, except for Metroplex in Sept. I really want that one. Maybe I'll just buy everything from Toynk from now on. More expensive, but they haven't disappointed me yet. Although, it's probably just a matter of time.

Rant over.

I went rounds with eBay about their policy on that. IMO I think it's fair game to charge the paypal fee to the buyer for the convenience of using their credit card. Why should I suffer? eBay felt differently and cancelled several auctions I had going at the time. What I don't get are 2 things. 1) You can't charge the PayPal transaction fee, but it's perfectly OK to offer a DISCOUNT if they pay other than electronically... I mean... WTF? 2) It's perfectly OK for eBay to charge YOU an collection fee, yet you can't pass a fee on?

Call me wrong all you want, but it's partially why I have slowed my support for eBay considerably. I've said this before too, but the only way eBay is going to get back under control is a forced sell off of PayPal due to CONFLICT OF INTEREST!

I agree about the Ebay fee thing. I mean, Ebay charges you a fee and THEN they charge you a fee for accepting Paypal. It seems like a double tax.

But you gotta read your agreement for Paypal. Its in there. If you don't like it, don't accept it. Or do what most people do, charge an extra dollar on shipping for ALL payment types. I mean its called Shipping and "Handling" for a reason right? Are they going to contest you on the handling part? No! If they do, just tell them it covers the cost of you buying a box, even if you are just getting the USPS flat rate boxes. They won't go out of their way to make you verify that so in that case you are safe. Or do what you SHOULD be doing. Keep track of your Ebay transactions and do one of the following:

1. Write off your loss if you have one (like me)
2. Write off your expenses like gross cost vs net gain.

Actually, it's not illegal for him to charge it *if* he tells you beforehand.

When you have a business or premier account with PayPal, you're charged a processing fee to receive and while you can pay for it out of your own pocket (and a lot of sellers don't, hence the exaggerated prices you see online) why should you? You're providing a service for another person and you should be compensated for it.

Technically, it could be covered under the "handling" part of the deal.

You might not agree with it, you might not like it, but he hasn't done you wrong, really.

There are even business, good ol' brick and mortar places that will charge you more for using a credit card because they incur fees for processing your payment.

If one business can do it, why can't another?

Sorry, I happen to agree with the seller, though it would've been more honest of him to say so right up front, or charge a little extra for the item (like 99.99% of eBay sellers and online store businesses do) and just keep everyone happy.

From Ebay Help pages (just found it)

Or hey, you could not be a pussy and take a hit on the extra DOLLAR.