We have monitored the frustration and confusion around the recent PayPal changes and wanted to address them directly.
To start, with no warning, PayPal removed the marketplace solution that Audiogon has used for many years, which allowed individuals/hobbyists to sell products using a Personal Account. This is no longer supported. All marketplace PayPal transactions now require both an email address and a merchant ID.
To see your Merchant ID in your PayPal account settings you have to either be a Business Account or a legacy “Premier” Account (which is like a hybrid personal-business account they no longer support).
Obviously, this is not ideal for our users, nor for us. We are requiring our users to adopt this solution, because it is what PayPal has forced us to adopt.
We are actively working on a more elegant solution, but needed to implement changes quickly to alleviate the hundreds of transactions it would impact.
To clarify a few claims and questions we have seen:
1) Yes. You can use a Personal Account to “sell” an item. A regular PayPal support agent may have even told you this. However, it has been communicated to us that for transactions on our site—now that they have removed their marketplace solution—PayPal disallows it. Here is a direct quote from their Merchant Support Team:
“Now, this is the fun part for your personal account clients but I’ve tried to simplify it as the point of personal accounts is not to sell but there is still that sort of secret ability. (PayPal would rather the clients just set up a business account but the ability is still there)…”
Doesn’t make much sense to us, either.
2) There are no differences in the fee structure between a personal and a business account. In addition to the other benefits a Business Account provides, it can hide your email address and name from appearing on the transaction, a privacy matter some users may find appealing.
3) We do not make any money off PayPal transactions, nor from you upgrading to a Business Account. There is no revenue split, or kickbacks. PayPal Transactions happen through PayPal and all the fees are collected by them.
We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused many of you. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and will do whatever we can to support any issues or address any grievances you may have.
