I continue to read from dissenters about gift payments through PayPal.
I wanted to offer an opposing view and get your thoughts.
It pretty much can be taken on a case by case basis.
I always allow gift payments and have taken hundreds of them with zero problems.
They benefit the payers. I always give the savings back to the buyers which they appreciate.
Another benefit is that there are some people and countries I wouldn’t ship to unless it’s a gift payment so it gives those people a way to get an item they wouldn’t otherwise get.
In all cases I make it clear that if something goes awry the responsibility falls totally on them. They benefit, they assume the risk.
Now what do I prefer? Any way the payer prefers… though I’d rather the customer save the money than give it to PayPal.
The seller has no obligation whatsoever to even send the item if they were gifted the payment. There are a handful of people I would trust sending a gift payment but for 5% why even take the risk?
When that 5% equals hundreds if not more its more appealing to the buyer and seller & ofcourse his not saying do gift payment with any Tom Dick and Harry but if the seller is reputable its a good way to get a discount for both parties.
If you already have a good rapport with them then the risk is lower of course, but who knows how they could react if the deal didn’t quite go to plan? 5% might be a big number in some deals but if the person can afford the other 95% to spend on a card then 5% extra for peace of mind and security is a small price to pay in my opinion.
As @xuzu has stated the risk is on the buyer. I paid @japanime with a gift payment on XY6 promos, but I trust him. But while in charge of trading at PokéBeach there was a seller who required gift payments and disappeared. As far as I know the buyers were s.o.l.
The point is, give the payer the choice to save the money instead of giving it to PayPal. You say it’s only 4% but PayPal was built into a billion dollar company on those little 4%s
Honestly, I can’t think of a single member here on the U that I wouldn’t trust if I sent a gift payment. There can be no dispute. If a package gets lost I, as the benefactor of a gift payment, simply loses. No dispute.
Lastly as I mentioned before, if you live in Nigeria I will gladly ship to you if you make a gift payment. If you don’t make a gift payment I can’t ship to you. This policy of mine gives a good honest Nigerian collector an opportunity they normally wouldn’t get.
I do not think anyone was arguing against the seller offering it. The warning is to buyers to use gift payments only on trusted sellers, or they are rolling the dice.
Not everyone has as good intentions as you do @garyis2000, there’s no shortage of people who are out there primarily to scam others. I’m sure if you asked 100 members here, a relatively high % of them would trust you with a gift payment, a higher percent than some random seller on eBay, but it’s a slippery slope.
Even here, there’s only a very very few number of people such as yourself, smpratte and TheCharizardAuthority to name a few who have such a big reputation that (shit, missed that plasma 10 zard ending ) they would be unlikely to act badly in a transaction. So in that respect you probably are different to 99% of other sellers but you should remember that.
It is so incredibly easy though for someone like me to turn up to a place like this, post a bunch of pictures that could in reality belong to anybody, make a bunch of posts and then appear like I’m someone who could be trusted. That’s why I will never think it’s a good idea to actively publicise and celebrate the idea of sending someone a gift payment. If someone really wants to do it they should make their own judgement call and do it at their own risk, Paypal may have made an empire out of all those 5%’ but it’s obviously for a reason and the service they’re offering must be worth it!
If you are someone I know, and talk to all the time, chances are I’ll send gift.
If you are someone I know, but only sort of, and you kinda don’t really post a lot… Goods.
What is the actual legality behind sending gift payments when it’s for a sale? What’s different about shipping something to Nigeria that makes gifting the better choice?
I assume it’s to do with a higher likelihood of packages going missing… In terms of legality there is none. The payment is a “gift”, you may in return expect them to send out ur package, but if they never do, there’s not a lot you can do about it.
I typically don’t have a problem with gift payments. Whenever I sell on Reddit, most people usually trust me and send as a gift wihtout me specifically asking for a gift payment. Saving fees and giving the buyer a discount at the same time is always nice. I have only been scammed once when paying this way, but luckily it was only $9. I am sure to always use my CC from now on, because the bank pretty much always wins chargeback, even of gift payments, so it’s safer.
Still, PayPal isn’t a large group of idiots… They are well aware of the fact that people use gift payments as a way to avoid fees (which is against their TOS). They will flag accounts whenever they notice a large # of gift payments received frequently and/or large sums of $ being received this way. This may lead to the gift option being removed from your account, or your account suspended altogether.
As an accounting/business major, I can see why PayPal is ticked about people using the Friends and Family option to avoid the fees. Their service makes it a lot easier to exchange money than it would normally be, and 2.9% + $0.30 isn’t a big deal. People using their service for free isn’t good business for them. But, it all really depends on the seller and buyer to determine what to do. The alternative that many sellers do is to state that the buyer must add 3% to the stated prices. I never liked doing that, just seems a bit wrong IMO…
Tl;DR: PayPal may ban your account for abusing their gift payment option, but it really comes down to what the seller/buyer feel comfortable with.
I was referring to the PayPal fees (it’s 2.9% + $0.30 but everyone usually just states 3%), but yes, you are correct. That is also against PayPal’s policies, since it’s the seller’s responsibility to cover those. I always felt like it is unfair to specifically force that on to the buyer, so I just calculate what price I need to sell my stuff at to break even/profit after factoring in any eBay/PayPal fees.
If PayPal would have “flagged” anybody it would have been me and they have not. Between many of the top sellers and myself 10s of thousands get gifted yearly…sometimes monthly.
To say “your account suspended altogether” or “PayPal may ban your account” is totally absurd. You should realize that since you also said they aren’t “a large group of idiots”. Eventually canceling the gift option is possible but only as general policy.
) they would be unlikely to act badly in a transaction. So in that respect you probably are different to 99% of other sellers but you should remember that. 
