Someone sent me money and I was charged a transaction fee. How do I fix this?

[santucciohio]

I was sent $235 and charged $7.12 in PayPal fees. Only thing is, this was not a purchase or anything like that. So why was I charged a fee? More important, how do I get my $7.12 from PayPal?

[PayPal_Adrian]

Welcome to the boards!

The amounts you mention work out to about a 2.9% + 0.30 USD fee for receiving a commercial (purchase)  payment.  It sounds like the other party sent it that way.

In order to receive a refund on the fees, you would need to refund the payment back to them and they could then re-submit as a Personal Payment, although the fixed portion of the fee ($0.30 USD) won't be refunded (this is a non-recoverable processing fee).

Adrian

[neeliec]

The same thing just happened to me!!  I was sent some money for a car part my husband is selling to another car buff.  That fellow sent me the money for the part, and I was charged a fee for receiving the money!! 

I've never had that happen before, after all the years with PayPal!!  I am astonished that I as the receiver of the money I have to pay to get it! 

Next time I'll just ask for a personal check through the mail instead of getting charged by PayPal.

[PayPal_Adrian]

neeliec,

That's the way it's supposed to work, and has worked for quite some time now.  The payment you received is for a purchase of goods, and so it is considered a Purchase Payment - and thus assessed a processing fee.  I'd be willing to bet if you go back through your History for other payments received (barring any payouts from rebate or survey sites), you'll see fees there as well.  You can view our full fee schedule online at www.paypal.com/fees.

Thanks!

Adrian

[neeliec]

This was only the second time we used PayPal to effect an exchange of car parts for money.  The previous time there was NO fee to me.  That was sometime in 2010.

Thanks for the reply, though.  Now I know better and will not use PayPal to do any kind of sales transactions outside of eBay or other online retailers.

[cbartek]

$.30 is quite significant if you are selling an item of digital transfer and lets say it is only $1.00 with free shipping. Paypal is taking a third of your profits.

[PayPal_Adrian]

Agreed!  A $0.30 USD fixed fee is a significant percentage if you're only accepting payments for a $1.00.

That's why PayPal offers an alternative to our standard pricing schedule - micropayments!  Micropayment settings can be applied instead, which would change the fee structure to 5% + $0.05 USD.  To learn more about micropayment pricing and how to apply, go to https://micropayments.paypal-labs.com/

Hope this helps slash that bottom line!

Adrian