Merchandise Fee

[Orchard30]

hi there. I'm from South Africa and a friend has sent me money via Paypal in Dollar currency. but it is asking me to pay a merchandise fee? Can someone please explain this to me? Why do I need to pay a merchandise fee to receive money? is this legit

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Orchard30 

Is this a 'real' friend or just a seller or an internet person?

Only >>>

You never pay any upfront fee as a seller.

Ignore scammers that send fake Paypal emails telling you that you need to pay an upfront fee to verify/upgrade/or any other reason to 'accept' a payment.

You would certainly never have to send funds via another payment processor/bitcoins/ or tokens/vouchers of any sort.

Any fee is auto deducted by Paypal at the same instant the remainder of the payment is credited to your Paypal account balance.

No funds in your balance = you have not yet been paid, even pending/held payments will still show in your Paypal account activity.

[Orchard30]

A definite friend whom I'm thinking waited a while to try a scam on me 😀 but thank you. This was very helpful. I've reported the email as well.