Paypal answers needed for one who is hard of understanding!

[DumbledoresGirl]

I am sorry, I seem to fill MN with paypal questions, but I really don't understand what is going on.

OK, I opened a paypal account in September and have been using it a fair bit since. Originally, I had the basic account and I think that account only allowed me to receive a certain number of payments from a credit/debit card per year. I think I also had to pay fees when I received one of those payments. Yes? Is that right so far?

Sometimes I did not pay fees when receiving payments. I think that was because the payer was transferring funds directly from their paypal account. IS that right?

Today I upgraded to a premier account because it seemed to me I had to to receive some funds today from an ebay buyer. But now today I have received several payments from ebay buyers (lots of items I listed last week finished this morning) adnd every single time I have been charged fees. Is this a coincidence, or am I always going to be charged fees to receive payments now that I have a premier account?

Please, keep your answers simple as I am too stupid to even understand the paypal terms and conditions.

you always recieve a charge by using paypal but its more efficiant and charges usually renge from 20p depends how much money you recieve the more the money the higher the charge

the same when you pay someone else by paypal they are charged for that its just a way of paypal making money for the convenience but i always do paypal as its more guaranteed and quick for payments

Thanks for answering bubblagirl but I am still confused because I have not always been charged for receiving payments. I have just checked my account for the last 30 days and in that time I have received 13 payments. Of those, I did not pay a fee for 7 payments and did pay a fee for 6 payments, 4 of those being this morning since I upgraded my account.

Damn! I think I have found my answer by clicking on a tiny link on the paypal website. From now on, I will not be able to receive funds from another account without incurring fees.

How can I downgrade my account back to the basic one which really was not causing me any problems?

Dumblesores open another paypal account and keep it as a basic one.

I have a basic one and dh has the premier one for exactly the reason you state.

Mind you then you have to start asking people how are they funding their paypal payment!

I would have two accounts as Cargirl suggests. Use the basic one as the default one, and then you will get a message every time you get a non-funded payment, asking you to upgrade to premier. Decline, and ask the person to pay to the other Paypal account. However, doing this is going to confuse a lot of newbies. Maybe worth doing this for payments you receive via here, where you can chat to the buyer first.

It is annoying - a 20p plus 3.4% fee on 99p is a lot! Was working it out last night (wide awake at 3am), if you list something, with gallery at 99p, you give Ebay 30p in listing fees. Then you pay them the FVF - about 5p. Then you pay Paypal 20p plus 3.4% of what you receive via them. So if you've charged £2.00 P&P, you pay paypal 10p plus the 20p, so 30p total. So.. if you only charged P&P at actual cost of stamps, you would be paying out 65p to Ebay and Paypal (who are both the same company!), to receive 99p on something that probably cost £10 anyway - final profit - 35p. Hardly worth it is it?

That's why if I'm listing clothes, I try and do bundles, so they go for higher amounts, and list a whole load at the same time, so people hopefully buy more than one thing, then pay in one transaction, saving me all the 20p charges with Paypal (you only pay one if they pay at the same time for multiple auction wins). I start listing at 10 days, then do 7 days, 5 days, 3 days, 1 day so that they all end at the same time. Works well.

Sorry, very long there!

Can I have 2 accounts with the same name/address?

I am not sure that would work either as I began by asking people to only pay by paypal from funded accounts (when I had the basic account) and no-one seemed to take any notice!

So far today, I have lost out on about £1.30 in fees I had not calculated for before.

Gosh Laura, you calculated all that at 3 am? You are doing better than I am! It has taken me most of today to work out how badly I am being fleeced!

Not sure if the name/address matters, you might need two bank accounts though?

They probably didn't understand about the 'funded accounts' business. I think you only do if you are a seller. They might have thought you meant no e-cheques or something.

And I am right in saying that you are not supposed to bump up your postage costs to cover your paypal/listing fees?

I've been doing Ebay for a while now. I used to be an auditor before I became a SAHM, so I think my brain is desperately trying to keep itself stimulated. Sad isn't it. I'm offering my services to DS1's pre-school for anything financial / paperworky / numbery to keep my mind occupied!

That's correct DG, but you don't have to charge just the cost of the stamps, so I always add on a bit - about 50p - to the actual postage cost. You can allow for 'packaging' - I buy mailing bags from Ebay, which cost between 10p and 20p depending on the numbers you buy and the size, and I allow for the fact I pay for parking at the PO. I try to only post 3 times a week though, or I'm there all the time.

Well, I added on a bit to the actual postage costs (generally speaking, I rounded it up to the nearest 50p) but this has not covered my costs, what with now paying the paypal fees. I have always prided myself on keeping my postage costs to a minimum, and been outraged at the "postage" costs I have paid other ebayers, but now I am beginning to see the light.

DG it's depressing isn't it, yes plus if you're parcelling stuff that takes time - DH wraps DVDs etc in cardboard before envelopes etc you have to source the cardboard, cut it to size etc etc we go through so much sellotape, envelopes, stickly labels for addresses etc etc etc etc It is not easy money like some people think.