PayPal surcharge for Bricklink orders in the UK ok?

mressin

Stupid question: I've been trying to make sense of the PayPal Terms of Service in the UK for the last few hours. Do I see it right that in the UK, it's allowed by the PP Terms of Service to charge a surcharge for paying a Bricklink order via PayPal?

legoprods

Not sure about this but I have seen it pop up before on the BL forums.

I think it was in the US where it was against their TOS to do so, but not here in Europe.

CCC

If you want to charge a percentage for taking paypal you can. It will put some people off buying from you though. It might be better to either have a store minimum or a fixed charge if the amount bought is below £5. Other than that, absorb PayPal costs in your prices. If you start charging for it to keep your prices low, people will soon spot it.

monkeyhanger

Absorb it into your prices - there's nothing worse than having a low price and then discovering lots of bolt on charges - better to be totally transparent to your customers IMO.

mressin

Thanks for the replies, very insightful.
I agree that there might be advantages for simply not raising a PayPal surcharge to begin with. And the other (and my main) issue is an interpretation of the PayPal Terms of Service, specifically 4.5 Non-Discouragement. So it is left to the shop to charge such a surcharge, or not.

Right? Anybody disagrees?

CCC

You are fine to surcharge for PayPal. In the UK, you are allowed to surcharge different amounts for different payment methods. Eg. some stores / companies charge for credit card payments. That is allowed so long as the buyer is informed.

morezone

CCC said:

You are fine to surcharge for PayPal. In the UK, you are allowed to surcharge different amounts for different payment methods. Eg. some stores / companies charge for credit card payments. That is allowed so long as the buyer is informed.

You aren't allowed to surcharge on a debit card. You can however impose a minimum spend. With a credit card, you can surcharge as long as the customer if informed.

I wouldn't surcharge. Just incorporate it into your prices. Makes it easier all around

AvengerDr

Apply for a Paypal micropayment account. On sales below £9.375 (!) you pay less fees. 5p + 0.05 * amount instead of 20p + 0.034 * amount

bahnstormer

4.5 Non discouragement. In representations to your customers or in public communications, you agree not to mischaracterise or disparage PayPal as a payment method. You agree that you will only surcharge for the use of PayPal in compliance with any law applicable to you. You further agree that if you do charge a buyer any form of surcharge that you, and not PayPal, will inform the buyer of the requested charge. PayPal has no liability to any buyer where you have failed to inform the buyer of any surcharge. You acknowledge that if you are permitted to surcharge and your further fail to disclose any form of surcharge to a buyer this may constitute a criminal offence by you.


This actually allows you to legally surcharge US citizens buying from EU provided its in your store terms - "law applicable to you".

mountebank

I would characterise what it says a little differently. To me it says that if you're going to surcharge then you must comply with your local law and also inform the buyer what you're doing. And Paypal won't be liable if you don't.

Effectively saying "do what you want but don't break the law and don't blame us". It's Paypal washing its hand of potential problems.