on 11/24/03 7:21 AM, fred42@xxxxxxxxx at fred42@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> When I got emails after my auctions being ended due to the 4 lause I had
> added eBay quoted that it is law in the state of California, specifically
> relating to credit card surcharging. Not having read the law or being a lawyer
> I can't confirm it more than that. Perhaps if anyone has a merchant account in
> that state they can help us out with this one.
I've seen it published in the newspaper by "Action Line" columnist a couple
of times - there is a state law which forbids retail establishments from
adding a surcharge for credit card payments. There is no law forbidding a
discount for cash payment however, but you can't discriminate only against
those who wish to use credit; it is presumed that they always have the
alternative of paying cash so the cash discount is not discriminatory but
rather a voluntary choice of the buyer to use the credit card at the higher
cost. I think in any large purchase where you have the option of paying with
cash or credit card you should ask the retail management if they will 'knock
off 5 0.000000or cash payment?'. Americans in particular are not used to
bargaining, but I've gotten some good discounts just by asking for something
off the price for a cash deal.
>
> I am under the impression that Paypal's fee scale is competitive to a merchant
> account. Looking at the other companies offering credit card processing
> (Andale, 2checkout) their fees are a little higher and they cite that it is
> less than the setup and maintenance on a merchant account.
>
> Personally I have been feeling like eBay and Paypal have become a little bit
> too business oriented in the last couple of years. By that I mean the
> bulk/drop shipping fixed price market. I have come to realise that high
> shipping/handling charges are part of this too. I hate it when I have to put
> in a higher shipping and handling cost to ensure that I am not out of pocket
> with the Paypal fees, but the alternative is that I get my auctions ended
> and/or piss off buyers (I have had people refuse to pay extra for Paypal, in
> fact back before I had to take out the 4 lause not a single person actually
> paid it). eBay said that I should incorperate the fees into the selling price
> of the item. Which is fine for a fixed price new item but a second hand item
> has a more flexible price. And anyway I want to be sure that I recover the
> best value of the item; to me the cost of shipping and Paypal is not part of
> the value of an item.
What I'm seeing more of is the arbitrary 'shipping and handling' fee which
more than covers the actual shipping cost. This is fairly common in business
practice, usually the fee is set so that most everything yields more than
its actual cost except for extremely bulky and/or heavy items. Where I
worked a while back I think they were getting several thousand $ extra per
month due to e.g. a standard $7.95 shipping charge for orders under $100. I
think a lot of eBay sellers are charging $10 or so for shipping when the
actual postage is $5 or so, the rest is "handling charge". I think this
needs to be stated up front, I've been surprised a few times by what I would
consider excessive quotes for shipping cost, and though I didn't like it
there isn't much I can do about it. In my auctions I state that I charge
only the actual amount of shipping... and I've lost money on that by
mis-estimating the true cost, but usually only a couple $ off.
>
> My experiences with Paypal have made me realize that every time I use that
> Visa/MC card about 5 0s going to Visa/MC. I think it it sucks just as much
> everyone here, but everyone of us that uses one of these cards is paying them
> already and the businesses we are paying have to have that 5 0n mind when
> pricing there services. If you wanted to buy shares of something then Visa is
> a serious one to consider given the way society uses their services (a nice
> stat is that over xmas the average usage of cards is about 4500 transactions
> per SECOND, a 35 0ncrease over normal).
When I was in college working retail, the way I understood it was that the
Visa/MC 'load' was a sliding percentage based on the size of the transaction
and your total dollar volume per month... the biggest merchants paid about
3/4% and the highest the fee went was about 30r 4 0.000000or an
'individual-size' merchant account. I don't recall if there was a base
charge per month as well, but that would skew the percentage at small
volumes.
>
> Anyway gripe mode off. ;)
>
> I am still going to buy stuff on eBay but my selling habits may change.
>
> Dan S
I generally request payment by 'money order only' stated up front in the
auction, but I wonder sometimes if I'm losing potential revenue and bidders
due to this. I have taken payment through PayPal a couple times, the fees
weren't excessive, but I thought it wasn't worth it for the 'convenience' to
me. Most all the other payment methods I've used as a buyer have stuck the
fees on me, so when I can I pay by PayPal, but I try not to accept it for
incoming payment. Similar to paying the full credit card balance every
month, use the system for your advantage not theirs. I wish I was working so
I could do that... <sigh>
--
Jim Brokaw
OM-'s of all sorts, and no OM-oney...
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