PayPay Fees - possible to charge the customer

[Guest jazzyyy]

Hi

Please can someone help?

Is it possible to pass the paypal(std) fees to the buyer.

STEVE

[Guest]

I think I remember seeing a mod that would add a fee to any payment made through the PayPal interface.

However, you may want to think about the image that charging such a fee would give to your business. When credit cards were first created, there were (and still are) some strict rules about NOT charging extra fees to those customers using that form of payment. It's okay to give a discount for using cash or check, but it's not okay to charge extra for using credit.

In actual practice, your prices should cover all of your costs of doing business, including the fees to process your customers' payments. PayPal is a service to you, the merchant, so that you may sell more than you would otherwise sell if you did not use the service.

[Guest jazzyyy]

Hi

You make a valid point.

Many of the items(stamps) that I'm selling start at only 0.30p, so if I pay the paypal fee i'll be at a loss.

Any idea where I can find the MOD.

If I did wish to go for the option of discount for cash / cheque, what would be the best way to link it to the shopping cart.

Steve

[Robsta]

I agree with Alan entirely. Doesn't look good. Just increase your prices slightly to cover it.

[Guest jazzyyy]

Hi

Thanks for the good advise, I'm going to forget about charging the fees to the buyer.

How would you go about offering discount for cheque payments.

Steve :whistle:

[Robsta]

Why bother? they take longer to clear, more overhead for you as you have to check up on whether it's cleared and the customer has to wait longer for their purchase.

[Guest]

When I first started online, I had followed some advice and used ClickBank as my payment processor. The problem there was the $1 per transaction charge plus 7.5% of the sale. (Their affiliate network was the attractive part of the offer.)

I felt then as you do now with the PayPal charges - too much to add to the cost of the sale.

The solution is to increase the average sale to the point where the processing fees are a more reasonable percentage. A 25 cent transaction fee on a 30 cent item doesn't make any sense, but a 25 cent transaction fee on a $5 order is more reasonable.

Find a way to encourage larger orders so that the transaction fee becomes inconsequential.

In short, trying to focus on selling items that low priced isn't good business sense. Especially online where cash payments aren't even an option.

[Guest EverythingWeb]

I believe PayPal have also reviewed their policies regarding charging your customer for their fees. They are against this and i believe they might close your account if they find you are doing this wink.gif

Technically speaking, and I only speak from experience, but it is okay to pass on Card processing charges to the customer, but they MUST NOT exceed what the merchant is being charged. Basically, you are not allowed to profit from Card Charges.

The next time you visit Tesco's and pay by card, you will notice that on the reciept it says "2.5% of your total due is paid to Tesco Card handling Services Ltd to cover the cost of processing your card. This does not affect the total amount paid by you".

[Guest]

The next time you visit Tesco's and pay by card, you will notice that on the reciept it says "2.5% of your total due is paid to Tesco Card handling Services Ltd to cover the cost of processing your card. This does not affect the total amount paid by you".

Your quote seems to contradict your point. Specifically:

This does not affect the total amount paid by you.

What Tesco has done is base their prices on their costs of doing business, which include payment processing fees.

If the cost to the customer is the same regardless of payment method, then you're legal. If the cost to the customer is greater (than the listed price) when paying by credit, then not. The only legal way (that I know of) to get around this is to list a higher price, but give a discount in certain cases (such as when paying with a preferred payment method).