Shodan

In stupid-people terms of course

I'm thinking of selling some of my old crap and having people pay for it with Paypal. When someone uses their credit card on Paypal, how does the money actually get to you? Does it get deposited in a bank account or something? Because I don't recall entering my bank account details when I created my Paypal account...

Why must the Paypal site be so difficult to comprehend

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and all the signs that should show me what's right and what's wrong have been knocked down, shaken and smothered by previous lovers and non-descript others like me, who don't know what it's for, all I know is that I want more.

squarejawhero

It gets put in holding in Paypal, and there's a small charge to move it to your account. In other words, yes, you have to enter your account details somewhere for withdrawal.

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guybrush_guy

they give their money to paypall, and then pay pall gives the money to you. it's keeps the wall up between bank accounts so noone but paypall has access to your account. i've had a paypall acount for about 3 years no and it's deffinatly worth having it.

SakSquash

Woah woah woah. It's a little bit more complicated than that....but I have to go eat dinner. I'll explain when I get back.

SakSquash

Ok, i'm back.

Paypal is a business, and just like any other business; they're trying to make money. Paypal is free....as long as you only receive payments that draw from a bank account.

You can set a paypal account to draw money from different sources, like a bank account, debit or credit card. But in order to accept payments from a debit or credit card, you have to sign up for their premier account, in which they take a percentage of any money that comes through your account, which is how they make their money. But you can put in your auction that you don't accept payments from credit cards and debit cards to avoid having to pay a fee, but most of the people on ebay are friggin' idiots and they'll pay you that way anyway, and you'll have to deny it.

Sometimes it's a pain in the ass, but mostly it's good to have.

fov

Dinner? It's morning. (Or noon on the east coast.)

The way it works in the US is, you can accept payments from accounts that are backed by a checking account for free with the "personal" account. If you want to accept credit card payments, you have to sign up for a business account and there is a charge to accept those payments (a percentage of the payment is kept by PayPal). I only accept checking account payments and it's worked okay for me, but I have never sold on ebay or anything like that, just recieved a few payments here and there.

The money you receive builds up as your PayPal balance. You can use that money to make payments, for no charge. So if someone pays me $20 it goes into my PayPal balance, and if I then want to spend $20 on ebay the money comes out of my balance. If I want to spend $25, the first $20 comes out of my balance and the other $5 comes out of my checking account or credit card (I specify which mode of payment). Personal accounts can also accept money that comes out of a PayPal balance, for no fee.

I have never moved a balance into a bank account, but I think there is a fee to do this.

Again - this is all in the US. I don't know if it's the same elsewhere. I do know that I am not able to accept a foreign payment unless the money is changed into dollars first (again, because I'm not set up with a business account).

-emily

SoccerDude28

Here is how paypal works. There are 3 types of accounts, one individual, one business and one premium.

The first one doesn't allow you to take credit cards, but only e-Checks and money orders. The problem with it is that it takes 3-4 days for a transaction to go through, so lots of people buying from you will be pissed.

The second one allows you to take credit cards, but charges you a percentage (something like 2.99%) on each transaction.

The third account, I'm not really sure about.

Anyway I would go with a business account. Once you set this up, you need to provide a bank account to link to your paypal account. Whenever a person purchases a product from you on Ebay or anywhere else, the amount of money they pay you gets deposited in your Paypal account. To move it to your bank, there's an option to withdraw your money to your bank account and it's free.

EDIT: fov got it all already Except for the part of having a fee to withdraw money to your bank account.

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smashing

I'd gotten some stuff off ebay via paypal before, and as far as I know, the credit card company will convert the currency to the specified one (i.e. from SG dollars to US dollars, via the exchange rate plus the administration charge) before debiting it into the paypal account.

SakSquash

I just have a regualr free account, and transfers to my bank account are free.

Well for me, it's breakfast, because I just got up. But my dad works nights, so we have dinner early.

fov

No it doesn't. When someone sends me money from a checking account it's added to my balance right away.

Maybe the problem was that the person was trying to send me a credit card payment, then. Someone was trying to send me money from Canada and I kept getting the messsage that I couldn't receive it without opening a business account. Marek sent me money a few months ago and it worked, though. I don't know what he did differently. That's the only time I've been able to receive an international payment with my personal account (but I haven't tried too many times, either).

SakSquash

Same here.

gillyruless

SD got almost everything right but he overlooked one thing. Shodan, since you are in Australia, there might be charges associated with transferring the money from Paypal to your bank. I did a quick check and for Australia, it's free if the amount if more than $150 AUD. There is a fee of $1AUD per transfer if the amount is less than $150 AUD.

Like Emily and SD said to receive credit card payments, you have to open a business account and there are fees for receiving funds for business accounts. Unfortunately, since you are from Australia, things get a bit complicated. I think the fee is 3.4 % + a flat fee of $0.40 AUD for domestic transaction (within Australia). The fee goes up to 3.9% if you want to receive funds from other countries. You can bypass this fee if your account is personal but then you can't receive credit card payments. There's also foreign exchange fee if you are paid in a foreign currency. The foreign exchange fee is 2.5%. So if you go through a transaction as a business account holder with someone from the US and get paid via USD, your fee can be as high as 6.4% of the transaction plus $0.40 AUD.

SoccerDude28

Have you ever used a free account to sell on EBAY? That is what I experienced when I had an individual account and someone bought something from me.

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fov

No, only to receive money through private transactions. Interesting. (Good to know, actually, because I might be listing something on eBay in the near future.)

SakSquash

Errr... I sell on ebay all the time, and when I get a payment, it goes right to my account when it's from a checking account. You're probably thinking of when it comes from a debit card.

SoccerDude28

The last time I sold an item on EBAY using an individual account, it stated: e-check, waiting for the transaction to clear. It took 4 days for the money to be transferred, and you can't ship the item to the guy until it cleared. Needless to say, the guy was not happy. I am confused now

EDIT: Could it be that you can open a paypal account without a bank account but with a credit card? Maybe in that case, you have to wait.

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Shodan

Aha! Thanks for explaining it so clearly everyone, thanks greatly

So besides the percentage off transferring fees, is there any fee to upgrade your account? And is this the reason why so many sellers heavily overcharge on shipping rates?

__________________
and all the signs that should show me what's right and what's wrong have been knocked down, shaken and smothered by previous lovers and non-descript others like me, who don't know what it's for, all I know is that I want more.

SakSquash

I'm telling ya man, just go with a free account, that way you don't have to pay any fees.

Echecks you have to wait to be cleared. You can open a paypal with just a credit card or just a debit, but in order to use those, they can only be accepted by those with a premier account. And there aren't any special rules for ebay sellers. It all works the same.

SoccerDude28

There is no fee to upgrade your account. But there will be fees when you start selling stuff. They charge 2.99% in the US per transaction (and more in Australlia like Gilly mentioned) on the final price (selling price+ shipping price).

You can stick with an individual account, but if a person buying from you does not have a bank account associated with Paypal(A lot of people don't), they will have to wait 4 days for their e-checks to clear, which might piss off some people who want the item fast. Just be aware of that.

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Games I am playing: Jeanne D'Ark (PSP)

Firefox rules

Shodan

How do e-checks work? (Sorry, have never had to write a check in my life.) To those of you who sell on Ebay, how often do people trying paying you via Paypal with a credit card?

I know I'd get pissed if someone didn't accept credit card and I was forced to go through the hassle of an e-check or money order, but maybe I'm in a minority.

__________________
and all the signs that should show me what's right and what's wrong have been knocked down, shaken and smothered by previous lovers and non-descript others like me, who don't know what it's for, all I know is that I want more.