Mass Sending and Receiving Money in European countries: Fees? Scam??

[nhuy0601]

Hi there,

I am a researcher conducting a survey in the Nethelands. The participants in our survey are from European countries (not EU alone). I reward them 2-5 euros for the time they spend. I can't directly send the money to them because provision of personal identifying information in research is stricly forbidden. Therefore, the only way I can make a money transfer is to have them send me a payment request via email. 

1. My first question is: do the participants have to pay a fee when receiving my payment, if I choose to send the payment as a friend, and no currency conversion is needed.

2. My second question is if I perform the above transaction for multiple times (e.g., a thousand times because I recruit 2000 participants), will Paypal consider this as a scam? The nature of my transaction is not for purchase of goods and services, either.

Thanks!

[PayPal_Martina]

Hi @nhuy0601,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the Community Forum!

In general, money sent as Friends and Family is not subjected to a fee when there is no cross-border transaction or currency conversion involved. However, if they are providing you with a 'Service' when filling in the survey, the transaction may be considered for Goods and Services. In that case, the amount would be subjected to a fee. Unfortuantely, we can't predict when an account will be checked, or which action will be considered risky, and we can't share information on our security practice as this is confidential. Here some information that you may find useful on when we may place a limitation on an account to request additional information: 

• Additional Information about Account Limitations

• Why is my PayPal account limited?

I hope this helps!

Martina