Paypal changes the Rules

[SlowOne]

Received an e-mail from PayPal today, outlining changes in my agreement. No idea why I decided to read it, but this is what it says...

"Restricted Activities

A new Section 9.1.ff is being added to make it a restricted activity to request or send personal transaction payments for commercial transactions. Section 9.1ff will read as follows (presented in context with its root clauses):

“9.1 Restricted Activities. In connection with your use of our website, your Account, or the Services, or in the course of your interactions with PayPal, a User or a third party, you will not:

ff. Request or send a personal transaction payment for a commercial transaction.”

As far as I can make out, that would make it against the PayPal Rules to send money as a gift in payment for items sold on forums such as these, or indeed to ask for the payment as a gift. It's no biggie as far as I can see (simply raise the amount sent to cover the fee) but it does raise the possibility of having some sanctions against you. Also, the Buyer Protection is void if you do this.

13.2 What are the eligibility requirements for PayPal Buyer Protection?

You must meet all of these requirements to be eligible for a payment under PayPal Buyer Protection:

Your payment must be for an eligible item and made from your PayPal Account (see Section 13.3 for further details on item eligibility);
Pay the full amount of the eligible item in one payment. Items purchased with multiple payments – like a deposit followed by a final payment – are not eligible;
Send the payment to the seller through:
the eBay “Pay Now” button or the eBay invoice, or
the “Send Money” button of your PayPal account by selecting “eBay Item” and entering your eBay User ID and the eBay item number; or
for purchases made off eBay: the Send Money tab on the PayPal website by clicking the “Purchase” tab, or the seller’s PayPal checkout flow; and
Open a Dispute within 45 days of the date you sent the payment and follow the online dispute resolution process described below under “How do I resolve my problem?” in section 13.5.

Anyone out there know more about it, or have somewhere one can enquire as to what it exactly means? Thanks.

[mikeyscott]

I wonder how long till the closed the gift thing as accross the glob they must be loosing a fortune.

Direct Transfer or high selling price with Paypal then..

[SlowOne]

That's one thing I didn't understand. When you send as a gift, you pay the fee, so PayPal lose nothing. So why stop the buyer paying the fee?

[twisty]

If you already have the money in your account when you pay as a gift,there is no charge,they only charge you for gift payments if it has to be funded by your card.

[alteredoggy]

Originally Posted by SlowOne

That's one thing I didn't understand. When you send as a gift, you pay the fee, so PayPal lose nothing. So why stop the buyer paying the fee?

dont think i have ever been charged
sent a "friend" a"gift" of £40 last week(and he sent me a speedo for free)
shows up in my bank as £40

*edit* twisty , oh thats why then

[sldmodels]

Think twisty is right on this one. I've send money as a gift and not paid a charge, and when I was going to do it again, paypal wanted to charge me, which confused me at the time.

Lets face it, they're just trying to get more money out of us, not improve the service they offer.

[rocketrob]

I think the simple concept that we're missing here is that Paypal is a business, in business, and it does their bottom line no good whatsoever to process payments in which they're not making any profit on.

The way people used to send money as a "gift," was through the mail (which cost), bank draft (which cost), check (which cost), money order (which cost), or Western Union (which cost).

Paypal provided a convenient loophole, and by what a few people have posted here (and things I've seen written elsewhere) and even eBay sales links, people have been trying to widen the loophole to include things not covered under the parameters intended by Paypal. Seems we've done it to ourselves, so no sense whining about it now. Sad thing is that the only people that it hurt were the people that were using it correctly.

[sldmodels]

I use paypal for the shop all the time, maybe I'm just too cynical when it comes to ebay and paypal, but they charge a small fortune, claim to provide protection, but I've still been stung a few times.

[SlowOne]

Thanks guys. Yes, the selfish majority have wrecked a good system for the rest of us, and yes, PayPal is a business that will make as much money as possible. Now they have made the terms for getting refunds from thieves even harder. I don't suppose that will stop people using it! I use it rarely, and will always use cheques or cash wherever possible.

[mikerobinson83]

there is another company other than paypal that works just as well but the fee's are a lot lower, my flat mate used them when breaking his car and he said it saved him a fortune,it also works on ebay.

will find out the name when i get home and post it up

mike