PayPal dilemma...help!
 

So, I finally decided to sell some stuff on ebay, starting off with my old DOT headlights. The winning bidder is new to ebay and transferred the funds to my PayPal account via his credit card, which I cannot access without upgrading to a Premier or Business account. These apparently charge 2.9%+.30cents for EVERY time you receive funds via PayPal---WTF?

I don't want to do this, so what do I do with this guy who's chomping at the bit to receive my headlights?

L'il help?

As the seller, you had control over how payment was going to be handled and it appears that you agreed to accept payment thru Paypal. Consider it a "lesson learned" and honor the commitment to sell that you made with the buyer.

Understood, I fully intend to meet my obligations. But, if I upgrade to a Premier account, am I committed to this thievery for every transaction thereafter, or can I downgrade the account back to Personal and only accept PayPal transfers from a bank account?

The Paypal charges are not egregious. The cost basically represents the entire amount charged by the credit card company. The seller always has to eat this expense if he accepts credit cards.

I don't accept credit cards, or Paypal. It's a money order or personal check.
They can take that fee and stick it.

If this will be your only sale on e-bay, I agree with the above "lesson learned" if you continue to sell, its not a bad deal. The 3% fee exposes you to a lot of potential bidders and well worth the exposure.

Well, unless I'm misreading the fine print, if I remain in a Personal account, I can receive funds with no fee at all, but only from a person who's been fully accepted into the PayPal system and has funds withdrawn from their bank account. If I upgrade to the Premier account level, even those bank account transfers are subject to the 2.9%+.30 tax.

This particular ebay transaction is going to cost me ~$4.00, which I'm happy to eat if I can make the buyer happy, but I don't want to get stuck forking this tax over from there on out, just cuz I was too ignorant to think ahead.

grumble grumble grumble

In past experience, both as a buyer and seller, on Ebay, I've seen sellers structure their "handling" fee to recoup expenses. Those charges should always be posted with the listing so that a buyer can decide whether the added cost affects the value of the purchase. I always grin when I see a seller adding charges for handling and the item arrives in a free USPS priority mail box or worse.

Something has changed with Paypal, perhaps someone can explain what has gone on. I used to use a credit card with Paypal all the time on Ebay and the last time I tried to use it a few weeks ago, it said I had 'reached my limit' and that in order to keep using the account, they needed my bank account information. I could also no longer see the option of paying with a credit card on my account.
Was it that too many people were being ripped off on Ebay and getting refunds on their credit cards and Paypal (ie--Ebay now) could not get the money back from sellers? Is it an admission that Ebay has lots of fraud?

I'm at the same place.

There is a limit of $2,000 for any account that is not "verified" with a bank account. This has always been the practice. I don't know the reason, but, apparently, they desperately want your bank account information to do whatever they wish with it.

They are not getting it from me, I'll tell you that. I'm just below $100. left on the account and, when it runs out, I'll setup another new account using one of the other e-mail account names.

Once they have your bank account, they can dip into it whenever they determine that you owe them money. Additionally, they really would prefer for you to use your bank account, rather than a credit card, because they avoid all credit card fees. It's much more profitable that way.

The ~3% is well worth the extra $ you'll make on auctions, IMHO. Most retail merchants pay a similar feee; I know when I worked for a small retail business we paid right at 3% for each CC transaction. It would behoove you to accept CC payments via PayPal if you plan to sell much on eBay. Your profits will go up accordingly.

As someone else stated, if the fees bother you, set your shipping prices and round them up. I pack my items well, and generally charge $20 for items that might cost $16 or $17 to ship; the rest, as I see it, covers PayPal fees, my time rounding up decent boxes and newspaper, cost of bubble wrap, etc...

Note, too, that if you accept overseas bidders, PayPal will charge an ADDITIONAL exchange fee for payment made in other-than-US $.

I know quite a few Paypal members who converted to "Verified" status by providing a checking account for information and have long since closed those checking accounts. Paypal apparently does not check on the account's status after they test it with the penny tranfer to make sure the account exists. Of course that means that you cannot transfer any Paypal balances to that cancelled account.

Uncle sam will get you
 

Open a business account and don’t be surprised if Uncle Sam comes a knocking for his tax money from your business.
DHS

Do you know someone with a business account who can take the payment for you? I don't think buyer or seller are stuck with fees if you reject the payment and have the buyer remit to another account.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

I bit the bullet, signed up and pay the fee. No problems so far.