Paypal question

[CBB]

I posted some baby items to sell on craigslist. Someone asked if I accepted Paypal. I do have a paypal account, but had only made purchase through it. Can someone explain to me how I can accept payment through it? What kind of info do I give to buyers for them to make the payment? What kind of buyers should I watch out for?

TIA!

[wellyes]

Just give them the email address associated with your paypal account.

Couple of warnings:
- You will be charged fees as the seller (can't remember the exact amount, something like 80 cents + 2%). So add that on to the price.
- I believe there is a fee if they use a credit card instead of having funded paypal (linked to a bank account). That plus the above would make me tack on about 5% to the overll price.
- Remember that paypal is designed to give the buyer protection similar to a credit card. So after they give you money and you give them the item, they can put in a protest with paypal to try to get their money back. And they'll probably win, unless you MAIL the items to the buyer with delivery confirmation.

I would not use paypal for Craiglist unless the item were pretty cheap. I do use paypal on diaperswappers but there users have a 'reputation' - a history of transcactions - and you can see whether they have a history of being a reasonable buyer/seller.

Having said all that, I've used paypal to pay for stuff on Criaglist once or twice, because I have funds in my paypal that I like to use up on baby stuff. It's not necessarily a scam. Just be careful.

[KrisM]

To receive a payment, you simply give them your email address associated with your paypal account. They enter that in, and the amount, and send it off to you.

However, I would not accept paypal for a local sale of an item. The buyer can file a dispute within paypal saying they never received the item and you would have to provide paypal with online proof of delivery (Delivery Confirmation from USPS, UPS Tracking, etc). Since the person is picking it up, you won't have this information and paypal may refund the money.

I would only accept cash for a Craigslist transaction.

[KrisM]

Just give them the email address associated with your paypal account.

Couple of warnings:
- You will be charged fees as the seller (can't remember the exact amount, something like 80 cents + 2%). So add that on to the price.
- I believe there is a fee if they use a credit card instead of having funded paypal (linked to a bank account). That plus the above would make me tack on about 5% to the overll price.


Fees are 2.9% + $.30. There is no additional fee for credit card. There used to be a fee just for account that accept credit cards, but they changed that recently.

[CBB]

Thank you for the replies! Very helpful info! I didn't know there is a fee involved. These are very small items that I will be sending by mail. I won't miss out much if I got scammed - hopefully that won't happen.

Thanks again!

[KrisM]

Thank you for the replies! Very helpful info! I didn't know there is a fee involved. These are very small items that I will be sending by mail. I won't miss out much if I got scammed - hopefully that won't happen.

Thanks again!

Make sure you get delivery confirmation and you'll be set. If you print postage via paypal, delievery conf. is free for priority mail and only $.18 for first class. I think it's about $.70 at the post office. If someone does try to claim they didn't get it, you should have proof that it was delivered.

And, make sure you ship to the address on paypal and not a different one, if you want to be covered.