Fees

[Jvaughan59]

So I own a small business and decided to start taking payment through PayPal.  I already use Venmo (which is totally free).  Anyway, I get payment from some clients and then there are fees deducted.  I asked PP and I got the standard “this is what a fee is” response.   My question is this...can I not make my my account to where IF a fee is charged (I think only if they are using a credit card),  then the client must pay the fee?  Isn’t there a switch I can flip or something?  I remember paying a friend once for a trip we took and I used my CC and I had to pay the fee.  

Appreciate any advice or help with this!!

[PayPal_Olivia · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jvaughan59,

I'm sorry that there's any confusion about fees, and I'm happy to clarify!

When receiving payments for goods and/or services, a fee would always be charged to the recipient. It is not permitted to add a surcharge for the purpose of passing the fee on to a buyer who is paying through PayPal. If the unforeseen cost is such that you need to raise your item or service's base price, that's always a choice that any seller can make, as long as anyone paying through any method is charged the same price and you're not charging PayPal users more specifically for using PayPal.

The payment that was sent in the past via the friends and family option would have charged the fee to you, the sender. Personal payments sent this way do not incur a fee to the recipient. It would not be appropriate to have customers pay through the friends and family option, however, as there is no protection offered for that type of transaction. Friends and family payments are meant to be gifts without expectation of anything of value in return. It's also not permitted to request that clients use this option for business or purchase payments.

I hope this helps!

Olivia

[JKH1]

Has there been a recent legal change in the ability of merchants to directly pass on the credit card fee to consumers? I've received email solicitations from other credit card processors saying that a change has taken place, and that merchants are now allowed to pass the fee on. 

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @JKH1,

Thank you for the great question!

The Selling and Accepting Payments section of the PayPal User Agreement still states that surcharges are not allowed, and the Policy Updates page doesn't show any changes coming in the near future about that specific portion of the agreement. You can reach both of those pages by clicking Legal at the bottom of any PayPal page, if you'd like to read in greater detail.

I hope this helps!

Olivia