ebay vs audiogon

Treyhoss if I am reading your response correctly, in your experience, people overwhelmingly seem to prefer funding their PayPal transactions with a Credit Card, so much so, that you were forced to abandon your "FREE" Personal Account for a Premier Account and pay the infamous 3%. Again, in my opinion the 3% is reasonable when accepting credit card payments (it's the nature of the beast), but the 3% just KILLS me when it’s a bank transfer. So accepting credit cards is one of the reasons so many people are being pushed into PayPal Premier accounts that levy a 3% surcharge on receiving any funds. PayPal…very tricky.

In addition though, accepting Credit Cards via PayPal is not the only thing pushing A'gon uses into PayPal Premier Accounts. PayPal Personal Accounts have a receiving limit of about $500 dollars/month (though according to PayPal's, website it can vary), so it is my understanding that if you exceed the limit of the personal account they bump you to a Premier account (again charging 3% regardless of the funding source used in the transaction). Again, it seems to me the average cost of an A'gon item is between 1000-1500 which bumps almost all A'gon sellers who accept PayPal into Premier Accounts fairly quickly, and that is probably why so many postings on A'gon include "PayPal adds 3%" I suppose the nature of our hobby and the high ticket price of audio gear will just always put most A'gon users in the Premier Account Category. Therefore the "PayPal adds 3%" isn't likely to be going anywhere anytime soon.

The last item I sold on Audiogon was a pair speakers for $1800. I sent them C.O.D. and it took 21 days from the day I shipped them till the $1800 cleared my checking account. 21 days is kind of a long time to be apart from $1800 or any amount for that matter. Furthermore, with so many bad cashiers checks in circulation, every time I take a cashiers check from an A’gon sale to my bank, the teller always looks at me cross-eyed and reminds me that the check might be bad and that I must wait until the funds clear before they will guarantee the funds. Having said all that, I think I am done with the C.O.D. thing. I’d prefer to receive money exclusively via an electronic payment service like Paypal for speed and convenience but for 3%...I'm not sure.

Jmcgrogan2 you are right! Thanks for the input. I even searched the PayPal site and they explicitly condone the practice of having a Personal account AND a Premier account for this precise purpose. However, it becomes a bit complex because your PayPal accounts must be tied to two separate bank accounts…no two PayPal accounts can be tied to the same bank account (or at least that is my understanding). You are also right that it is a huge hassle to have two PayPal accounts tied to two separate bank accounts but it is a workaround.

However, this “two account” solution begins to breakdown for most A’gon users because most personal accounts have a receiving limit of $500/month before being bumped up to a Priemier account. Personally, I don’t remember buying or selling anything on A’gon for less than $500 (I love this hobby!)

Most of the stuff I was selling was under the $500, but you are right Bluefin, this was another reason for the "upgrade" for that particular transaction.

My take on this from a seller's perspective is that while having the cash in hand quickly is satisfying for the seller, it comes not only with the 3% charge but the buyer's right of refusal, backed by the credit card company, if the buyer doesn't like the item. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about consumer's rights and if I were buying a high ticket item, I'd be inclined to pay by credit card for the purpose of not getting burned. But as a "non-business" seller, by accepting credit card payments I could open myself up to major headaches if the buyer decides he didn't like the item (finding it "defective"). I believe under the Paypal rules, the credit card company, after being contacted by the buyer, can go to Paypal who will then get into your (the seller) personal bank account which is linked to Paypal, to reclaim the funds. As the seller, you're now out the equipment, the money AND that 3%!

The bottom line for me is, with so much "protection" afforded the buyer in a credit card transaction and so little "protection" for the seller in this, asking the buyer to pay the 3% (which the buyer doesn't get anyway!) is a drop in the bucket.

treyhoss,damm good point & ive never thought of it like that,come to think of it some sellers may include the 3% fee to encourage buyers to use other methods of payment.

your right,for how exposed paypal leaves a seller the 3% is a drop in the bucket.

Treyhoss, I totally agree with you. Perhaps the real the person who gets the most convenience out of Paypal is the buyer since they seem to have the last WORD--Not to mention the miles they are probably racking up and the convenience of not having to pay for 30 days.

However, I've got to still take into consideration that a Credit Card (CC) funded Paypal payment means I get my money TODAY (plus the 3-4 business days it takes to download the funds into my actual checking account from my Paypal account).

I guess we all have to remember that the CC Mechanisms of the world were built way before Paypal and were typically only extended to merchants. That is why they call them merchant accounts. Most merchants make a profit on what they sell, and any cost of doing business is usually absorbed by those profits. Merchant have the luxury of dipping into those profits if a customer disputes a credit card charge. The merchant usually takes it in the shorts and goes on...business as usual. Merchants are also a "known quantity" relative to a Paypal user that can accept CC payments with a tremendous amount of anonymity. The CC industry’s VERY liberal "the buyer is always right" dispute policy is a child of an old paradigm that doesn't consider the complexities of pier-to-pier (P2P) transactions conducted through Paypal. I guess what I am really saying is that VISA, MC, and AMEX probably never intended on Individuals being able to accept CC payments. Therefore I think the current system is “broken”.

So again, another paradox I am observing here is that Sellers are most Protected by USPS Money Orders (because you can't stop payment on them) and Buyers are Most Protected by using Credit Card Funded PayPal.

Is there a happy medium in between? The best I can come up with is C.O.D. with a USPS Money Order....Argggg I hate C.O.D. ---too clunky and takes too long to get my funds.