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Jellybelly BearsJust have another question please...this time about payment transactions fees. If a customer wishes to pay through PayPal do you charge them the fees or absorb the costs yourself? How would you work that into customer fees, where do you mention it?
I've sold most of my bears through direct debit, so its only something thats come up a few times, but, i need to know I'm doing the right thing
Flying Fur StudiosHey Sarah,
Yeah, you get stuck with the fee's from paypal. I can't remember off hand what it is now. Last time I checked it was $1.
I think most sellers include this fee in the 'shipping and Handling' charges. I guess it would be up to you if you wanted to explain exactly what all that was.
Sunnie BearsSarah, I think Paypal has a policy that you cannot charge the customer for the ebay fees. You would have to just add that itno the price you ask for the bear.
Sonya
Jellybelly BearsGeez Heather, its only a dollar over there? I was charged $12 the other day...I remember ages ago, I was charged an across border fee...then there is the exchanging money to aud fee...it goes on and on...
Sonya, I'm not going through ebay..so I suppose there are no rules when you're selling privately?
It's best to check directly with Paypal, somewhere in the terms of agreement- or even the Paypal boards on Ebay- there is rules that US maybe Canada and now UK sellers can't charge a fee to take paypal but some people in other countries can ( why it's different I don't know? Perhaps its banking rules)
Charging a fee on top might put people offside- I think it would to me 
I'd build it in to the cost of shipping or the bear.
Bears by JodiI think the fees are different acording to the price of the bear and maybe more if they have to changs currency if it is different from yours. Mine are usually 2 to 3 dollars. I have been thinking about adding it on in the shipping costs or at least half of it. Because by the time you pay e bay to list then e bay when you sell and pay pal fee you loose around 10 dollars. I think that is to much. Expecially if you don't get really what you want out of the bear. I usually have my starting price 20 dollars less then my retail so if thats all you get there is another 30 dollar loss per bear . It adds up.
Bears by Jodi
Just a note.... not only does Paypal have a rule about not charging your customers for Paypal fees... but most credit card companies have the same rule. You cannot "penalize" people for using a credit card (or Paypal) that is the reason Paypal and the CC companies have this rule... which you agreed to when you clicked that little box that says "I agree to the terms...."
You CAN add a small handling fee to all of your sales, however, and that is entirely allowed. You just cannot add it to ONLY Paypal or CC sales... because that is penalizing the customer for using those payment methods.
Personally I just try to "build in" the cost of probable costs to the adoption fee of the bear. I also consider Paypal fees and CC fees almost like an "advertising cost".... because MANY times you would not have sold that creation if you did not accept CC's or paypal....
Little Bear GuyYep I agree with you Laura Lynn, paypal fee's or cc fee's are just the cost of doing business. We don't charge a handling fee along with our shipping fee (cause that irratates the heck out of me when I get overcharged on shipping). We charge the actual cost of shipping, we don't charge for the box or packaging again it's the cost of doing business.
I do know when we were looking at a bear to buy on a website and when we said we wanted to pay with paypal, we were advised by the artist that we would have to had 75.00 on to the cost because that is what it was going to cost her in paypal fee's (we were talking about a bear that was over 800.00) we decided not to go through with the sale because with shipping and that paypal fee it was costing way to much extra.
Hugs
Shane
Yeah, you are not allowed to charge the customer for the fees... Credit card companies will cancel
(or at least threaten to..lol) your merchant services if you try to ding people for using a CC as payment.
The only way to really get around it is to charge more for your item and then offer a discount
for people who pay by money order, cash or whatever. But really it's just a cost of business.. if
the fee's become an issue you just have to charge a little more for your work if you can
Bear Hugs!!
Melanie
Bears by JodiWow 75 dollar pay pal fee !!! Well ....mine never sell for that high so .. wow Thats high !!! my fees are under 3 dollars or so .But my things sell for 80 to 120 dollars , at least for now, but I don't see 800 dollars really adding up to that. Just trying to do the math !!! She must have really been trying to sock it to you .
Bears by JodiSarah - how is your paypal set up? $12 seems kind of high...Like you, I have to use paypal international but I only get charged around the same amounts as Jodi - $3-$4 on a transaction between $90-$110
Are you charging in Aussie or US$ - that may be where the expense comes in? I charge in US
I just accept the charge as part of the cost of selling a bear - I don't build it into shipping - I hate when I get overcharged for shipping - largely why so many US ebay sellers don't get my custom - so many of them add a $3-$5 handling fee onto a $5 global priority envelope - so rude!
Little Bear GuyI hate when I get overcharged for shipping - largely why so many US ebay sellers don't get my custom - so many of them add a $3-$5 handling fee onto a $5 global priority envelope - so rude!
I agree with you whole heartedly, I was looking at an ebay store lastnight and they were selling pearle cotton for noses for $1.25 US. To ship it to Canada from the US expedited mail was $16.95 :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: . To send it regular mail was going to be $6.95 and we all know it's gonna cost them maybe $1.00 and they are gonna put it in a small little envelope and ship it out. Who in their right mind would pay those kind of shipping charges give me a break.
I don't mind a handling fee of $2-$3.00 but when your trying to make money on shipping then I gett p****ed off.
big hugs
Shane
Jellybelly BearsThanks again for all this information 
My bears aren't priced unreasonably, so I'm not worried about loosing a little here and there...my worry is really that some collectors are paying more than others depending on how they pay...or am I just thinking into this too much? lol...probably! I'm kinda known for that lol 
Melissa, Ive been meaning to email you so will do and let you know how I work through pay pal..probably doing it all wrong! lol
BrisbaneSarah ...do you have a premier account or just a normal account...I think you are charged more if someone pays you when you don't have a premier account??? Can't be sure though 
Just a note.... not only does Paypal have a rule about not charging your customers for Paypal fees... but most credit card companies have the same rule. You cannot "penalize" people for using a credit card (or Paypal) that is the reason Paypal and the CC companies have this rule... which you agreed to when you clicked that little box that says "I agree to the terms...."
....
That thing with the credit cards used to be the same here too, but it has been changed in recent years and people can now add a surcharge to use CCs.... even some of the airlines do it here , when you book online with a CC some add $5 or something if you use a CC- which is pretty much the only option
Maybe that's why Paypal can't stop sellers from some countries from adding fees for using CC Paypal? (edited to add that I cant find any recent reference to this being ok now- maybe that has been changed recently)
Posts: 3,540I've never charged extra, nor tried to make up the Paypal fees on my bears. In fact, I think its incredible to have the ability to sell to someone in a different country! So I'm happy with the reasonably small fees that Paypal takes. It also means my bears can go to new homes easier.
But I agree with the others, I get massively ticked when ebayers try to get extra $$ via the shipping costs 
Rufnut Teddy'sSarah I originally signed up with Paypal.com years ago and I have Premier account and have never been charged that much for a transaction fee, generally only about A$1.25 or about USD1.00 per transaction on relatively small sales of under $50.00, there is something wrong with your account, I would contact Paypal and ask why?
