【INFO】Sending & Receiving Payments Via PayPal

Hello, my lovely photocard collectors!

I'm here today to post some helpful information for both buyers and sellers when it comes to sending and receiving money through PayPal.

I know a lot of you guys use PayPal when it comes to sending payments, if you're a buyer, and receiving payments, if you're a seller.  Many of you use PayPal for both, while some of you may only use it for one or the other.  Many of you never have any problems when it comes to working with others and using PayPal.  However, with all these scammers that pop up on social networking sites like tumblr and YouTube, we admins want to give both buyers and sellers some safety tips to avoid any sort of issues down the road when you're buying or selling an item.



For buyers:

A lot of buyers use PayPal to send money to sellers for items, especially if that seller lives in a differently country than you, and sending CC (concealed cash) or using a bank transfer isn't an option for you.

The admins and I would like to stress a very important tip to make sure, in case anything were to go wrong during your transaction, that you will be able to get a refund for your purchase.

Usually one of two things can go wrong when buying an item:
1. Item arrives damaged or not as described (i.e., you may receive a completely different item than what you bought)
2. Item never arrives at all

Usually, good sellers are usually pretty good about working with you when one of these things happen.  They may offer a replacement item (if the item arrived damaged), or arrange to send the item they meant to send you (if there was a mix-up and you received a completely different item).  Good sellers will also offer a refund if it turns out your item was lost somewhere along the line, and never made it to you.  However, you cannot always count on the fact that your seller will be a good one.  There has been a rise of scammers and fake photocard sellers out there, and some times, there's no way of knowing if the seller you're dealing with is a scammer until it's too late.

So here's one thing you can do to protect yourself:  send you PayPal payments as "Goods/Services." Never send them as a "Friends/Family" payment.  And here's why.


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When you send the payment as a "Goods/Services" payment, your payment will be protected by PayPal Buyer Protection, and you will be entitled to a refund up to 45 days after you sent the payment.  So, in case you get a bad seller that sent you fakes, or you suspect they never sent your card at all, send your payments as "Goods/Services" so that you may be able to get your money back.  You will not be able to receive a refund if you sent your money as a "Friends/Family" payment.

When you do this, sellers will be required to pay seller fees, and will not receive the full amount you sent to them.  This is not mandatory by any means, but it would be a courtesy to add an extra dollar or two to the amount you're sending, just to cover any fees.  The seller would be very grateful for that.  However, again, this is not a mandatory requirement, but a courtesy.



For sellers:

Now, I know a lot of sellers (trustworthy sellers) ask for payments to be sent as a "Friends/Family" payment to avoid PayPal fees, which can add up quickly, and make it harder on you to receive the amount you wanted for your item.  I myself have done this in the past, and so have other established sellers on this forum.  However, your buyers will not be protected here if they send payments this way, and, as sellers, we need to make buyers our number one priority.  That is the only way we'll be able to have any sort of business with any buyer in the future.  So here's some tips for our sellers out there.

As a seller myself, I know it sucks when you can't get what you want for an item because you have to pay seller fees for either eBay, PayPal, or both.  So here's a couple solutions for you to consider when receiving a payment as a "Goods/Services" payment.

1. Add extra onto the amount you would like for the item you are selling (i.e., price includes any PayPal fees). -- You're selling a card for $20 USD, and you'd really like to get the full $20 USD for it.  As a way to ensure you get that full $20 USD, you can always add enough onto your asking price to cover any PayPal fees you may accrue from selling the item.  However, this upping of the price may deter some buyers, even though including PayPal fees shouldn't be too big of a difference.  Some buyers are just easily deterred. 

2. In addition to posting things like "shipping costs," add a "PayPal fees" cost into your post. -- Many buyers add shipping costs to any posts they make when selling cards (e.g., shipping fees to all countries is $x USD).  Another option is to add a "PayPal fees" cost to your post (e.g., PayPal fees for this card is $1 USD).  PayPal fees will always be a flat rate of 2.9% of your asking price, plus an additional $0.30 USD.  So:

$20 USD for an item with FREE shipping --> PayPal fees for $20 (free shipping) --> $0.58 USD + $0.30 USD = $0.88 USD
$20 USD for an item with $5 USD shipping --> PayPal fees for $25 USD (include shipping costs here) --> $0.73 USD + $0.30 USD = $1.03 USD

There are many PayPal fee calculators you can find via Google to use for both options 1 and 2, if you're like me and terrible at math.

3. Kindly ask buyers if they would like to help you out by sending a couple dollars extra to cover fees. -- You cannot always count on this option, but you can ask a buyer to add an extra dollar or two to cover any PayPal fees you may accrue. However, we admins cannot stress enough that you cannot always count on this option, nor can you force a buyer to do it. Options 1 or 2 may be better options for you to consider.


Sellers, I know some of you may not like these ideas, but if you want to continue selling items to others, you need to consider your buyers to be of the utmost importance.  The only protection they have is to send payments via PayPal as "Goods/Services" payments.  Trust me, I know you hate fees, and so do I.  But, if you want to continue to stay in business, you need to make your buyers number one.  One wronged buyer can ruin you as a seller, especially if you're just starting out selling items.  

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Let's continue to keep this forum a safe place to buy and sell photocards on, guys.  We admins strongly encourage you to follow these guidelines.

Of course, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to comment below, or private message one of us admins.  We are always glad to help you guys. ^^

--addictedtoyouleesungmin, levelgrind, SHINee, tokki, and doodlebug