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Paypal question (credit card related)

SooksSooks 714 Posts
edited November 2005 in Strut Central
I usually use paypal to send money, not receive it, so I'm a little confused here. I just got a few Paypal payments, and the first two were normal, but then on the third it tells me that I have to upgrade to premium to accept credit card payments. Aren't all of them credit card payments? Did I go above a certain limit and get flagged? I don't really understand.

  Comments

  • p_gunnp_gunn 2,284 Posts
    don't do it!
  • SooksSooks 714 Posts
    well, at this point I think I have to do it - don't want to turn down the guy's money - but I would like to understand why.
  • Tuff_GongTuff_Gong 627 Posts
    The first two were probably people actually transferring money from one PayPal account to another. People can use credit cards to make payments to you on PayPal, but in order to accept credit cards you have to upgrade your account to a business account or something like that. When you do that PayPal takes a percentage of each transfer. If you're just an occasional PayPal user it's probably not worth it to you. I sell stuff on eBay regularly enough that it was worth upgrading to the business account just so people could pay with credit cards, plus the PayPal debit card I got is cool. But if you're not planning on selling a lot of stuff and having people pay via PayPal then you might not want to upgrade.

    See, springing this whole "upgrade" thing on you is one of PayPal's kind of dirty tricks. If you don't upgrade then you'll just have to tell the person that they can't pay via credit card and will have to pay another way. I'm assuming most likely they tried paying with a credit card rather than just actually transferring money via PayPal. It's been so long since I've had to worry about it that I'm not certain though.
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    The first two are people drawing from their bank balance. The new one is payment from a credit card.
  • SooksSooks 714 Posts
    So for the first two they would have had a positive paypal balance? I was a bit confused when I looked at the paypal page and it says "Personal accounts are free, but may not receive debit or credit card payments" - and I thought, what other ways are there? but now I think I'm starting to understand.

    Other than their 2.9% fee for accepting the payments, are there any other downsides / fees involved with upgrading?

  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    I'm trying to understand this too because I'm about to start receiving payments for the first time

    Most of the payments I make through Paypal come directly out of my bank account... is this type accepted?
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    Most of the payments I make through Paypal come directly out of my bank account... is this type accepted?

    yeah that's the only kinds of payments you can receive with the "free" account, if they pay through their paypal balance or credit card you'll need to upgrade or refund their money and tell them to do a money transfer from a bank account or pay a different way than paypal.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I usually use paypal to send money, not receive it, so I'm a little confused here. I just got a few Paypal payments, and the first two were normal, but then on the third it tells me that I have to upgrade to premium to accept credit card payments. Aren't all of them credit card payments? Did I go above a certain limit and get flagged? I don't really understand.

    (888) 221-1161

    Thats ^^^ paypals telephone number. Give them a call and ask them. When on the phone with them contemplate the fact that when you sign up with paypal you waive your rights to credit card consumer protection laws and give them full control of any accounts you have with them and any accounts (credit card or bank) you have linked to them.

    After your phone call ask yourself if they seemed like nice helpful people you want controling your accounts. Remember they are not a credit card company thus they do not need to follow federal laws regarding credit cards. Also remember they are not a bank thus they do not need to follow federal laws regulating banks. If they are not a credit card company or a bank what are they? No one knows.

    Dan
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