posted on September 22, 2008 12:57:21 PM new
I am being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century now that I am forced to sign up for Paypal if I wish to continue to sell on eBay. I am a small time seller - usually list about 30 items a week and have about 3600 positives. Does anyone have any advice for me when I sign up? I would like to have payments put into a dedicated checking account, but I know nothing about Paypal as I have never used it. (The closest I have come is when I get bogus messages telling me that I need to "click here" to verify my account on Paypal! Anyway, any advice will be welcome.
Jane
posted on September 22, 2008 02:13:08 PM new
You should get a business/premier account ,get a Paypal debit card linked to your checking account .
You can use your debit card as a credit card when you go shopping,Paypal wil give you back 1 1/2% of the total purchase charged to your card.
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Gulag-a Soviet era concentration camp is now reincarnated as EBAY with 13,000 rules.
posted on September 22, 2008 03:29:13 PM new
Go to your Paypal account and under your Profile,click on Paypal debit card and choose back up funding.
Enter the bank checking account you want to use as a backup funding-when you go shopping with your Paypal debit card as a credit card like you said you have done,when there is not enough fund in your paypal account to cover your purchase,it will withdraw fund from your checking account.
You can specify the limit how much you would allow as backup funding-from 200 dollars up to 1000 dollars from your checking account.
See this is better than using your bank debit card,everytime you use the Paypal debit card as a credit card,Paypal earns a discount fee from the merchant(it could vary from 2-4%) and it gives you 1 1/2% as it is really your money.
This 1 1/2% rebate can be a nice break if you use it to buy airline ticket,large appliances etc.
I use it to pay my Ebay fee!! Ha ha ha!
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Gulag-a Soviet era concentration camp is now reincarnated as EBAY with 13,000 rules.
[ edited by hwahwa on Sep 22, 2008 03:31 PM ]
posted on September 22, 2008 03:37:58 PM new
Sellers MUST have a business account.
eBay debit card used as a credit card ONLY now gives 1% back. You can use it to pay for your eBay fees, for example but you have to set it up as a credit card, not a PP withdrawal. The 1-1/2" is grandfathered to old accounts.
Create a separate checking account that is linked to your PayPal account if you would rather have funds deposited in an account as opposed to using a debit card.
Print and pay for your shipping labels with PayPal. It will save you time and effort. Free (priority), reduced fee delivery confirmation, discounted on line priority rate, international as well as domestic. Apply for a UPS discounted eBay rate if you ever ship other than post office. Use carrier pickup.
Note that seller protection only protects you from fraudulent credit card purchases, or purchases where your delivery confirmation shows purchase was delivered. It does not cover anything else.
In case of a dispute, note that you must take a return, and refund both original cost and shipping. Buyer pays return shipping. Insurance is for the protection of the seller, not the buyer. If you're a good packer, this will rarely apply to you. You can always put away a dollar for each transaction into an insurance kitty, and use just in case something breaks. If I had done that, I would be $6,003 richer, and out $142.50.
It's not all a bad thing. I find my best deals come from sellers who don't offer PayPal. True. And you will no longer have mysterious payments with no name, address, or ID of item.
posted on September 22, 2008 05:20:40 PM new
You do not absolutely have to have a Paypal debit/credit card - although I do, and it can come in handy. You can also transfer funds from your paypal account to your checking account by electronic means through Paypal, it usually takes 3-4 business days for the transfer to happen, or a check can be requested from paypal - which can take over a week.
The fastest way to access your Paypal funds is to get the debit card - you can take out up to $400 per day from your Paypal account in cash. It can also be used like a visa/mastercard debit. If you do not have enough money in your Paypal account to cover an expenditure when you use your card, it should draw from a backup source which you can designate. I have always had a problem with it drawing from the backup source for some reason, it doesn't work well for me.
My goal with my Paypal account is to not let money set there and do nothing. I just don't trust them and I am always concerned that paypal will make up some ridiculous excuse to hold all my funds and leave me broke or a claim will be filed by a buyer and funds put on hold. So I only leave enough money to cover specific purchases and fee payments and move the rest to my bank account.
posted on September 22, 2008 05:27:20 PM new
I forget to mention that I also sign up for Paypal money market mutual fund- my Paypal balance earns me a small interest while sitting idle.
Carol,
Instead of signing up with your checking account to withdraw your fund to your checking account,use your ATM or debit card associated with that checking account.
It should take less than 2-4 days.
Credit cards/debit cards use a different infrastructure ,it is more modern and faster.
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Gulag-a Soviet era concentration camp is now reincarnated as EBAY with 13,000 rules.
posted on September 22, 2008 05:32:28 PM new
I do use the debit card, but I offered that up as an option if she didn't want to get one. The drawbacks to it are the fee for the withdrawal ($2.00 - no biggie) and the $400 daily limit withdrawal, which can be a big pain - but it's still nice having instant access.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on September 22, 2008 06:23:32 PM new
Thanks hwahwa
A few weeks back I used the paypal card to charge items totaling over 1500, I did that spending on line within 1hr and paypal called me asking if I made all those purchases, they just wanted to make sure it was me.
which I thought was great, this way if the card number was stolen they could cancel the card.
I did the same buying on a regular Master card and no one calls to check if I made all those purchases.
posted on September 22, 2008 06:41:43 PM new
It could be you have a different pattern of buying with your MC,like bigger ticket items and been with them longer.
Someone once told me they have software which tracks our habits,like you go for coffee ,lunch,drycleaner,supermarket and gas station and never spend more than 100 at these places and then all of a sudden you go on a buying spree buying everything in sight and the stores you visit are all along the same street.
It is like you just drive in and out of each strip mall and buy up everything expensive which can be converted back to cash-gold jewelry,gold coins and electronic items.
And you dont even stop for lunch!
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Gulag-a Soviet era concentration camp is now reincarnated as EBAY with 13,000 rules.
posted on September 22, 2008 06:47:48 PM new
Sorry Toni, but wait until they block your debit card access to your PayPal funds without calling you. It might not seem so great.
Had it done to me six times. Got tired of PayPal telling me "it's a MasterCard fraud prevention thing, go talk to them."
I no longer have a PayPal debit card. Since I empty the account each day including weekends, can't see why I'd want to pay $2 (!) to get cash at an ATM when I can withdraw PayPal funds transferred to my ING Direct account for FREE. Sometimes PayPal withdrawals transfer as quickly as overnight.
MasterCard is lying when they tell you they're trying to protect you. You aren't on the hook for unauthorized use of your card. They're trying to limit their own losses.
fLufF
--
If you're spending $7500 a month on maid service, why only $1700 on jewelry?
posted on September 22, 2008 07:30:13 PM new
Guess your right Fluffy, I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope that never happens to me.
But what I do is spend all the money that comes into my paypal account since I don't have my checking account linked to my paypal account anymore. I only had it when they needed to verify my address.
There was this one time that I was making so many purchases that when I went to check my balance in paypal I noticed a charge that I didn't recognize so I called and told paypal, before I could say another word they canceled my card...lol now I had no card for 1-1/2 weeks till the new one came and now they needed to verify my address again and now I had no checking account linked to paypal.
So the girl said to me do you have another change card with the same address I said yes, so she used my other card to confirm my address and then the next day I took my charge card off once my address was confirmed.
After I finished talking with her then it came to me who had made the change....I made the charge but forgot that I did since I had been to a lot of sites buying....lol
posted on September 22, 2008 08:11:15 PM new
Tom's correct. You want a premier account. A business account is for ... businesses. I actually never knew the difference, just that I have a premier one ... Thanks Tom!
Caroline