In a transaction between 2 private parties, where are the fees reflected?

[oc2nc]

I've only ever used PayPal to buy stuff.  I'm not a business, just a private party who has an expensive ($8000) piece of used stereo equipment for sale and I've found another private party who'd like to buy it and wants to use PayPal.  He's agreed to pay the PayPal fees.   Can I put the fees in the invoice to him or does he initiate the payment to me and put the fees in there?  I considered adding the fees to the item price, but then that just increases the fees.  I can see eating the fees if this were a low ticket item, but we're talking about a couple hundred dollars that are added so that the buyer has the convenience of using PayPal (no such fees are incurred if the transaction were wire, check, etc.)

[PayPal_Andy]

oc2nc-  The way our system works, you would pay the fee to receive the payment. That's just hardwired in, no way around that. And since we are making the payment happen much faster than a check or wire transfer, I'd say the fee we charge for that convenience is warranted. 

However, if the buyer agrees to it, they could send you a personal payment for the amount of the fees.  If it comes from a credit card, they can choose to pay the fee.  That being said though (I know, I'm playing both sides on this), there would be no way to hold the buyer accountable for that payment, so if they send you the original payment, you pay the fees, there's nothing that PayPal would do to make them pay you for that, so it's a risk you'd be running.

Andy

[themarkg]

PP_Andy - I have something similar where I want to buy something from someone privately in another US city. He wants me to pay the fees. Once I pay him, what recourse do I have if I don't receive the goods and this was charged to my CC linked on PP? What if I gift the amount to him instead?

Thanks

[Hv]

A buyer wants my Paypal account so he can send me money for a vehicle I advertised on Craig's List. He offered to pay the fee and he wants my account. I'm not sure this is a legitimate offer or if this is some type of scam. Should I give him my Paypal account or should I have him give me his account so that I can invoice him through Paypal? What are the risks to me if I give him my Paypal account? Thanks Hamid

[PayPal_Andy]

themarkg-  For the transaction itself, you would have your normal PayPal Purchase Protections; if you don't receive the item, you can always dispute it.  Since you would have to 'gift' the fees (otherwise the receiver would pay fees on the fees), you would have no protections through PayPal.  You probably have protections provided by your credit card, but really you'd want to check with them.

Hv-  I'm sure it's possible that there are legitimate offers for vehicles on Craigslist using PayPal; unfortunately I've yet to see one. Of course, I spend my time here where all I hear are the horror stories, so take that as you will.  You could always get their email address and invoice them; them just having the email address for your PayPal account wouldn't cause too many issues, other than possibly opening yourself up to 'PayPal' emails telling you that money is available when it's not. 

But two real big cautions: 1) If it is fraudulent, you're going to get a lot of emails from 'PayPal' telling you the money's there, probably asking you to wire money via Western Union or something like that. They'll look very legitimate, but won't be. Always make sure to check your PayPal balance to see if the money's available before doing anything.  2) There is no Seller Protection for vehicles, so if the payment is legitimate and then they come back and say they didn't get anything or it was unauthorized, you would stand a very good chance of losing the money and the item.  Best option for vehicles is really money in your hand. 🙂

Andy