# Group buys and Paypal



## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

When a group buy is conducted by a non-vendor and we send them payment via paypal we can eliminate the paypal charge by the way we send the money.

I personally don't see anything illegal or immoral about doing so.  Sending money for normal purchases from a vendor such as myself should be sent such that the fee is paid but a one-time transaction prepaying an individual who is not making a profit??

What are your thoughts?


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## IPD_Mr (Feb 24, 2012)

Technically what you are doing is moving funds from one account to another within the same financial institution.  For the purpose of pooling funds to make one large purchase.  I agree I see no problem with this.  PayPal will get their funds when the purchase is made.  The only problem with this is if something goes wrong the buyer cannot do anything about it as the transaction is not protected.  Do this with only people you know and trust.


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## The Penguin (Feb 24, 2012)

go ahead and send your payment to me that way Smitty - I'd like to see what it says when I receive it.


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## Andrew_K99 (Feb 24, 2012)

How is this done with PayPal? There is the option to send money as a personal payment where the sender pays the fee, then there is the option to send money for good/services where the receiver pays the fees.

I'd be nice is no one had to pay the fee but I don't see where that can be done.

AK


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

*I already did*



The Penguin said:


> go ahead and send your payment to me that way Smitty - I'd like to see what it says when I receive it.


 I did.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

*No control*



IPD_Mr said:


> Technically what you are doing is moving funds from one account to another within the same financial institution. For the purpose of pooling funds to make one large purchase. I agree I see no problem with this. PayPal will get their funds when the purchase is made. The only problem with this is if something goes wrong the buyer cannot do anything about it as the transaction is not protected. Do this with only people you know and trust.


 The buyer needs to make the decision - because the seller has no control over it.  So you do need to trust the seller - but then you have to trust the seller anyway.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

*The fee*



Andrew_K99 said:


> How is this done with PayPal? There is the option to send money as a personal payment where the sender pays the fee, then there is the option to send money for good/services where the receiver pays the fees.
> 
> I'd be nice is no one had to pay the fee but I don't see where that can be done.
> 
> AK


 Nope....select "personal" and "other" or "gift" and there is usually no fee charged to your account.  Other times it is a very small fee as opposed to the 2.2 - 2.9% on a standard business transaction.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

*You've got money*



The Penguin said:


> go ahead and send your payment to me that way Smitty - I'd like to see what it says when I receive it.


You should already have it and it should say "you've got money" with my mailing address and email.


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## seamus7227 (Feb 24, 2012)

Andrew_K99 said:


> How is this done with PayPal? There is the option to send money as a personal payment where the sender pays the fee, then there is the option to send money for good/services where the receiver pays the fees.
> 
> I'd be nice is no one had to pay the fee but I don't see where that can be done.
> 
> AK


 

Instead of "goods", click "personal" , and then click "gift", then there wont a charge to either party. at least thats how ive done it. The only problem that i see with that, is the seller will have to collect everyone's address since it doesnt send it to the seller like it would on a normal transaction.


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## The Penguin (Feb 24, 2012)

Your transaction came through just fine - except for doing it that way, you should have reduced the payment by the "paypal fee" that was in the PM I sent you. :biggrin:

the biggest "problem" I foresee with send payments by this method is:
1. there is no buyer or seller protection through paypal (laughable, I know - but it's still a fact)
2. the buyer (group purchase participant, Smitty in this case) must send shipping address to the seller (group purchase coordinator, Me in this case) by a PM or email. Paypal does streamline the shipping process by enabling the seller (coordinator) to print a shipping label with just a few clicks. using the Smitty method - the coordinator would have to go to the USPS or UPS site and individually type in all the shipping info to create the shipping labels.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

*Note*



The Penguin said:


> Your transaction came through just fine - except for doing it that way, you should have reduced the payment by the "paypal fee" that was in the PM I sent you. :biggrin:
> 
> the biggest "problem" I foresee with send payments by this method is:
> 1. there is no buyer or seller protection through paypal (laughable, I know - but it's still a fact)
> 2. the buyer (group purchase participant, Smitty in this case) must send shipping address to the seller (group purchase coordinator, Me in this case) by a PM or email. Paypal does streamline the shipping process by enabling the seller (coordinator) to print a shipping label with just a few clicks. using the Smitty method - the coordinator would have to go to the USPS or UPS site and individually type in all the shipping info to create the shipping labels.


 I could have put my address in the note where I put my user ID....you could then "cut and paste" to get the shipping address. I'll pm and you can cut and paste to get it from there too.  If you wind up with a little too much money just donate it to IAP


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## The Penguin (Feb 24, 2012)

you've sent your address in a previous PM, so I don't need it again.


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## mredburn (Feb 24, 2012)

I would rather do it that way because on the group buys I have run I add the 3% to the cost of the buy. I have done 3 group buys that exceded $4500 each and if you add 3% to that or about $150.00 per buy it could really put a dent in the festivities if the member doing the coordinating ended up paying for it out of his own pocket.


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

*in the email*



seamus7227 said:


> Andrew_K99 said:
> 
> 
> > How is this done with PayPal? There is the option to send money as a personal payment where the sender pays the fee, then there is the option to send money for good/services where the receiver pays the fees.
> ...


 You can include your address in the email that gets sent to the receiver.  I think it's ironic that in today's world it is cheaper to mail a paper check then to make an on-line payment.


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## Dan Hintz (Feb 24, 2012)

If you trust the seller, then this isn't a problem... personally, I won't do it, and it has saved me on more than one occasion.

The latest moment was an order for back issues of a magazine from someone clearing out their workshop.  Excuse after excuse, even to the point of telling me on several occasions the package had already been shipped.  I opened up a claim, and I'm glad I did... the package had never been shipped (we're not talking about someone being forgetful at that point, we're talking about outright lies).  PayPal refunded my money, and if I had sent it as a gift (as requested), I'd be out of luck.  My guess is this guy was requesting a "gift" payment for everything and shipping nothing... a good scam, and perfectly legal (no matter how unethical).

YMMV...


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## Smitty37 (Feb 24, 2012)

*I wouldn't either*



Dan Hintz said:


> If you trust the seller, then this isn't a problem... personally, I won't do it, and it has saved me on more than one occasion.
> 
> The latest moment was an order for back issues of a magazine from someone clearing out their workshop. Excuse after excuse, even to the point of telling me on several occasions the package had already been shipped. I opened up a claim, and I'm glad I did... the package had never been shipped (we're not talking about someone being forgetful at that point, we're talking about outright lies). PayPal refunded my money, and if I had sent it as a gift (as requested), I'd be out of luck. My guess is this guy was requesting a "gift" payment for everything and shipping nothing... a good scam, and perfectly legal (no matter how unethical).
> 
> YMMV...


 I wouldn't do it on something bought on eBay either and I don't ask people to do it on anything they buy from me.  The thinking here is that we are dealing with another member who is essentially doing a favor.  There might be a small possibility that we will not get the item, but I guessing that it is very small.


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