New to selling on Ebay - confused by Paypal

[Bramshott]

Hope someone can help me with this!

Having sold on Ebay for the first time, I've recieved payments through Paypal and some are showing as Completed, but others as Pending because "They are credit or debit card funded payments" and I need to upgrade to a Premier account to accept them. I wasn't aware that anything I had put on my listing indicated that I was happy to accept payments that needed a different type of Paypal account than the one I have. So what do I do - do I have to refuse the payments and explain the situtation? To be honest, I'm not sure I know the difference between the two different types - surely all Paypal payments come from a Paypal account?!?

Not sure this selling on Ebay thing is something I'll be repeating .

HELP!!!!

Beware! If you upgrade to a Premier account you will pay fees on every single payment you accept. I was caught out that way and am still smarting from it.

They have the same paypal account, but basically you need to upgrade to seller status with them - this means you will incur a charge with every payment you receive. It's against Ebay policy to try to avoid doing this by asking people not to pay by paypal if they are credit or debit card funded although people do.
HTH

I did think though that you could accept so many credit/debit card funded payments without the need to upgrade. I may be wrong about that.

Until I upgraded, I simply wrote on my payment details: "paypal accepted but not via debit/credit cards" or similar.

Oh shit, so I have really fucked up haven't I??

Oops just read what winestein wrote. I was unaware of that at the time. And tbh, I quickly upgraded anyway, but I was very annoyed to find myself paying fees on every payment I received. So you have to weigh up the pros and cons of this.

Yup, that's the one that's against Ebay policy DG!

Why do you say you have fucked up Bramshott? You can easily upgrade but just know that you will incur fees.

Oh shit, so I have really fucked up haven't I??

no, just upgrade (and take paypal fees into consideration when deciding on the ebay start price)

DG - have tried that before I understood what was going on. It's 2 per year, so I've accepted 2 payments, but I have 2 more pending. Obviously I don't want to piss the buyers off by refusing their payments.

Thanks for replying. Anyone else?!?

LOL! I just wander through life in a complete haze of ignorance!

I said I'd fucked up, becuase I have sold the things, but in order to accept the money (and most of it is 1 baby item sold for 99p + 1.50 postage) I have to pay more fees.

Just do what everyone else does Bramshott - work out the approximate paypal fees and add it on to the postage cost.
It's sort of a catch 22 - without Paypal on your listing you won't get as many bidders (= as much money) so even after the fee you will have still made more money.
It does depend on what it is you are selling though. There is usually a finite amount people will pay for things so if it's low value it's not worth it.

But I can't do anything in retrospect can I? I have the payments sitting there in Paypal, waiting for me to accept or refuse.

I am a loon.

99p + £1.50 p&P sounds like most of my stuff!!

I'd just upgrade - tell your customers what you are doing, keep them informed and it will all be ok

hmmm - yes, like 99p listings that sell for 99p [wince]

You need to look at it like this: You get charged per listing = what? 35p? You get charged 35p for paypal and get charged final value fees, say 5p. You make 24p on a 99p item.

You need to sell bundles!

Thanks guys! Like I said, the way I am feeling now is just like not repeating the Ebay experience!!

SLM - sorry if I am being dim, but I can't charge them extra now that they've paid, can I, I just have to either upgrade and accept the payments, or refuse them and ask them to send a cheque, which will annoy them (well it would annoy me if I was buying!)

nope - can't ask for more. I'd upgrade and accept.

tis all a learning curve

I won't even go into all my learning curves.....

Bramshott, I think you should bite the bullet and upgrade now so you can carry out these transactions you have pending. Ok you will not make much on thes particular items but you will then be able to proceed with further sales. Factor in the cost of the fees when you work out your starting price/ P&P fees. Then do as others have suggested and only sell bundles (or 2/3 items together) or more expensive items.

Alternatively, you could try emailing your buyers and asking if they would be willing to send a PO instead. I did make some sales before I had paypal. Some people did not see I was not offering paypal but were still willing to pay by other means when I pointed this out to them.

Or, ask them if they could pay you from a funded account.

Thanks for your help. I am actually starting to feel better now that at least I understand what's going on, and that it's not something I missed or checked the wrong box for. It's a bit sneaky though isn't it (of Paypal/Ebay)?!

Bramshott, the exact same thing happened with my mum a few weeks ago. And she had to upgrade her Paypal account.

She's decided not to use Paypal for a while, and has gone back to accepting cheques and postal orders. (and she sold quite a few things this way too)