PayPal Question
- Thread starter Chislenko
- Start date
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Given them the email address you used when you set up the account. At least that's what I do, and it all goes swimmingly.
Ian H
Ancient randonneur
As long as Paypal doesn't twig that you're diddling them out of their fee.
I guess that would only be if you used the service too often. The odd sale/purchase here & there wouldn't flag up 🚩
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
Yes, that's my experience. The ocassional transaction doesn't create a problem, more frequent ones probably would.
The registered email address is all that's needed.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Indeed. People think it's jolly trying to dodge the fee but it's fraud by false representation. Not worth risking a criminal record of that nature just to save a few shekels.
Indeed; although be aware that the implications go beyond the fee so you need to be mindful of payment type depending on who you're dealing with.
A "goods and services" payment costs the seller money and adds buyer protection; which can be abused through false claims of damage / failure to arrive. As such I'd never entertain this idea as a seller unless I trusted the buyer (so avoid on sales on FB, Gumtree etc).
A "gift" is fee-free for all concerned but carries none of the above risk to the seller, so this is my default choice as a seller or buyer if I'm paying someone I trust. Should also be viable if the payment is being made at the time the item is collected.
Yup - although IME they don't / can't really police it. I suspect as long as you don't hand it to them on a plate (say with lots of gift payments for the same amount with notes stating explicity that it was for a purchase) they're not going to bother.
Does any precident exist for PP pusuing users for this? I suspect they're more concerned with the enormous revenue they must generate from purchases through businesses / more managed platforms (such as ebay) rather than a few folks dodging fees on a handful of private purchases. I can't imagine identifying / proving such transactions would be particularly easy or cost-effective, either..
Further I suspect that since the gift is analagous to a bank transfer (no fees, no "protection" for any of the parties involved) they're probably happy to tacitly allow this as a low-footprint service on their platform, knowing that doing so probably retains account holders who generate fees on purchases they make through business sellers, and - if poked - might otherwise choose alternative methods of payment.
Were Paypal to start heavily enforcing the use of the "correct" payment method it would likely lose them revenue as users jumped ship since there are many alternatives and Paypal no longer holds the monopoly on ebay payments or buyer protection...
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
That I honestly don't know.
Still, with very little to gain and a lot to lose I dont intend testing them over it.
That's fair enough. FWIW my PP account sees a fair amount of action - most outgoing is to businesses so PP get a cut from their end; most incoming is for occasional bits I've sold through sites that lack any payment infrastructure FB etc and is nearly all in the form of "gift" payments with zero problems over the maybe 15-20yrs the account's been active.
Unfortunately there's potentially more to lose than just a small amount of fees in the case of fraudulent claims from buyers since PP typically abitrates against the seller in the absence of any ability to clarify the situation either way...
