Wmcmanus Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 This was news to me. Why not to accept "gifts" on paypal when selling items on paypal - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio Note that all it took to have the transaction flagged was the inclusion of an address in the comments section. I'm not surprised that they're cracking down on this, given that they don't collect fees on gifts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 PayPal is horrible, period. Part of their business model is the sequestering of funds on the (proven) assumption that a portion of these will simply never be reclaimed and can then fall right through to the bottom line. Do not EVER link your PP account to your primary bank account. There are many, many stories of large, random dips with repayment stonewalled right up until the initiation of legal action. If PayPal wasn't so ubiquitous in our gear trading milieu, I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmcmanus Posted January 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 The thread title actually should have read "...when selling goods and receiving funds via PayPal" because having the sender of funds select "gift" rather than "goods" is what saves the recipient the 2.9% fee; it's also what is now causing certain transactions to be red flagged. Seems to me that the best way to avoid getting caught up in this situation (short of playing by the rules and absorbing the 2.9% fees), is to: 1) avoid putting anything in the comment box, such as a shipping address or reference to the item sold, that would make it look like a "goods" transaction, 2) have the buyer send a nice round number, such as $100, rather than $103.58 or $96.75 (which don't look like typical gift amounts) and then agree to square up on the difference by some other means. 3) try to minimize the number of gift transactions that are being sent to you by any one person or at any one point in time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beefy Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 *shrug* I gift myself money between Australian and Canadian PayPal-linked bank accounts all the time. Cheaper than any bank money transfer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepak Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 (edited) PayPal is horrible, period. Part of their business model is the sequestering of funds on the (proven) assumption that a portion of these will simply never be reclaimed and can then fall right through to the bottom line. Do not EVER link your PP account to your primary bank account. There are many, many stories of large, random dips with repayment stonewalled right up until the initiation of legal action. If PayPal wasn't so ubiquitous in our gear trading milieu, I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. Spot on. I have a bank account linked to Paypal, but as soon as any money gets transferred to it, it immediately goes into my primary checking account. I never have more than a few bucks in the Paypal bank account. I'll also never use a cash balance to buy anything. It always comes from either Discover or AMEX, both have backed me up in the past when Paypal weren't doing anything. Edited January 5, 2010 by deepak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpedo Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Funnily enough when I've used the gift option to send funds, the fees have been charged on my side, so I don't see Paypal needs to flag or claim, they get their money whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_hankins Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Spot on. I have a bank account linked to Paypal, but as soon as any money gets transferred to it, it immediately goes into my primary checking account. I never have more than a few bucks in the Paypal bank account. I'll also never use a cash balance to buy anything. It always comes from either Discover or AMEX, both have backed me up in the past when Paypal had their thumbs up their ass. This is how I use mine too. I've been trying to get completely away from even using it at all, but some people dont want to deal with checks or M.O.s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Currawong Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 PayPal is horrible, period. Part of their business model is the sequestering of funds on the (proven) assumption that a portion of these will simply never be reclaimed and can then fall right through to the bottom line. Do not EVER link your PP account to your primary bank account. There are many, many stories of large, random dips with repayment stonewalled right up until the initiation of legal action. If PayPal wasn't so ubiquitous in our gear trading milieu, I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. This, plus since they own the market, they can get away with screwing over anyone and everyone, changing the rules on a whim to gouge more money and nobody can do anything, as the only other alternatives are a pain. Now if only Google would start their own version of Paypal with veryy minimal fees... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 They tried with Google Checkout. Hasn't got any traction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_maher Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 I'm somewhat surprised that there hasn't been any anti-trust rumblings about Ebay requiring Paypal payments. Seems pretty unfair and certainly gives Paypal a clear advantage. Of course they're (I think) owned by the same group now so it's hardly surprising but it has to be nearly impossible for anyone to compete as a result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Currawong Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Ebay Australia tried to lock things down to only allow cash in person or Paypal, and had to back down after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission were called in to examine things. That they require Paypal to be an option on all auctions unfortunately doesn't break competition laws in Oz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monkey Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 I'm somewhat surprised that there hasn't been any anti-trust rumblings about Ebay requiring Paypal payments. Seems pretty unfair and certainly gives Paypal a clear advantage. Of course they're (I think) owned by the same group now so it's hardly surprising but it has to be nearly impossible for anyone to compete as a result. Good point, Nate, and I agree. There are new sheriffs in town, though, and I think PP should be concerned after DOJ/FTC have finished with their first round of fish-fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pars Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Anti-trust? With the previous administration that allowed among other things, AT&T? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monkey Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 I think the Maytag/Whirlpool merger was an even more egregious example of the previous admin's attitude about antitrust. But those days are over. We've already seen how aggressive/active the competition authorities are going to be (e.g., Wireless investigation, Intel, revision of the Horizontal Merger Guidelines). So much so that the current admin actually asked them to back off given the state of the economy. We can expect a very different antitrust landscape over the next few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 They tried with Google Checkout. Hasn't got any traction. Google checkout had a chance when their fees where about half of what paypal's are but then they upped their fees to be about the same. Very stupid idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 too funny.... Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio - View Single Post - Why not to accept "gifts" on paypal when selling items on paypal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_maher Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 too funny.... Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio - View Single Post - Why not to accept "gifts" on paypal when selling items on paypal Amazing. Same kid had enough scratch to just buy a balanced beta22. Must be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFKMan23 Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Amazing. Same kid had enough scratch to just buy a balanced beta22. Must be nice. So he's the one who bought the Rockhopper balanced B22? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_maher Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 So he's the one who bought the Rockhopper balanced B22? If you're talking about the one on Stephen's site currently, no, he bought an older one from last year that velogreg sold (IIRC). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopstretch Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Amazing. Same kid had enough scratch to just buy a balanced beta22. Must be nice. And JH13s and HD800s and a DA-11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monkey Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Maybe he works for Koss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlSeibert Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Do not EVER link your PP account to your primary bank account. x2 I have a no-fee checking account that I keep just a small amount of money in linked to PP. It just makes sense to limit your exposure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherwood Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 A) Fuck him. His name is mud to me now. How did he not see this coming? I despise Paypal as much as anyone else, but they do provide a service that they should be paid for. I understand the ebay "mandated paypal" argument, to a degree, but when you're using it for private transactions where it's not mandated, you should either give them their cut or realize you're taking the risk. I occasionally ask for gifts on sales where my perceived margin is very small, but I've never thought of it as anything but gaming the system. To be upset that they froze your funds when you cheated them... seems short-sighted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecclesand Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 And JH13s and HD800s and a DA-11. Mummy and Daddy's little spoiled brat. Fucker! Only because I'm jealous. I wish I was someone's spoiled brat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltron Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Maybe he works for Koss. He's only 15 or some shit, so maybe his mom is the Koss Bandito. Anyway, this fucking kid is on my last nerve. He did the whole Piccolino cable pumping thing and ran Wilson's loaner program but now he is a TWag convert and loves everything those morons do, including commenting on how that shows what incredible markups there must be on high-end cables. Genius. The following posts are sickening but show his family's 7.1 B&W 802 setup (with the center and rear surround channels about 12 feet in the air ), which he calls "my listening area." He has invited people over and laxx seems like he is going to watch movies with him, and I think it would be funny to show up drunk as hell with a 12 pack and some Jaegermeister. My listening area and headphone rig are separated so I will start with one first Watching on the 65 inch runco plasma with the Mcintosh projector retracted into its bay in front. Sorry for my ****ty quality it was on my d90 dslr so bad mic for sure and no stabilization. McIntosh amps: Sub: Fronts: Mids + Rears: Generalized video of everything: Why thank you it is quite a joy to listen to would love to host some head-fiers to have their minds blown off on it oh and yes that is a fire place under the tv area but it is never on when the system is on. Youtube really screwed the quality of my videos so if you would like a really high quality version send me a pm. They do very much so we use to have krells top mono's but they had some sort of defect and kept blowing (I think it was something to do with the power circuit) so we swapped them for the 1200 series Mac's and very happy on the switch over and they run cool which goes to show how efficient they are. Man that velodyne 1812 sub is unreal! Tons of power and tons of control of course turned way the hell down because even in that room it is way to much without dimming it Long Island eh? I'd love to hear that, or better yet, watch a movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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