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Pay Pal

May 13, 2015 02:49PM
I am a new shopper. Many of the companies that I am interested in signing up with require an active PayPal account. I know absolutely nothing about PayPal. Can anyone give me some insight into what it is, how to sign-up and how much receiving payments through the system will cost me.
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More About Paypal
May 13, 2015 02:56PM
www.paypal.com is Paypal's website - for more information. I've never been charged to receive payments.

Kim
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May 13, 2015 02:58PM
Paypal is a website (paypal.com) that basically functions something like a stripped down, online bank. People will send money to your paypal account and you can link your bank account to it and then transfer that money from paypal to your bank account. It's entirely up and up (it was founded by eBay though very recently they split into different corporate entities for complicated reasons). You just go onto their website and sign up. Receiving payments doesn't cost anything.

For future reference, stuff like this can easily be answered with a cursory google or wikipedia search.
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May 13, 2015 04:59PM
Paypal as it exists today was established in 2001 by Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and several of their associates. It went public in 2002 and was acquired by eBay that same year. It spun off again as a separate entity in 2014.

(Sorry for the infodump; I couldn't resist.)

eBay sellers are charged to receive payments, and other types of business transactions carry a fee to the seller or payment recipient. Whenever I've received a payment for work completed from a company, I've never been charged a fee.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2015 05:03PM by af517.
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May 13, 2015 05:04PM
doesn't ebay charge you a portion of the money you receive? I couldn't tell you how much off hand...but like say the MSC sent you $25, you would only get $24?
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May 13, 2015 05:10PM
@jmitw wrote:

doesn't ebay charge you a portion of the money you receive? I couldn't tell you how much off hand...but like say the MSC sent you $25, you would only get $24?

Not from a single MSC in my experience. I've never gotten a penny less that what I billed.

Paypal charges eBay sellers a fee, but not buyers. I don't know about other types of commercial or retail transactions, but I'm sure they carry hefty fees for sellers.

Being paid for 1099-type work usually doesn't entail a fee for the recipient. It's been a while since I've paid contractors through Paypal, but I don't remember being charged a fee to do that either.
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May 13, 2015 05:47PM
There is only one shop I ever did with a payment from PayPal where a fee was taken out. It was a shop of a church and an amount over a dollar of the fee was withheld. I contacted the company who said no one else ever complained about a fee being taken out by PayPal. They implied the problem was with my PayPal account. That is the last time I ever shopped a church.
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May 13, 2015 06:00PM
PayPal normally charges a 2.9 percent fee (plus 30 cents) when you receive money for goods and services. However, every MSC I have dealt with has a separate arrangment with PayPal, and you are not charged a penny. If your shop fee is $25, you will receive the full $25 and the MSC pays the fee out of its own pocket. The one exception is Stericycle, which charges you a fee on their end.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2015 06:01PM by mystery2me.
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May 13, 2015 08:49PM
It's my understanding that PayPal collects a fee from someone on one end of every transaction, no matter what. Most MSCs I have experience with seem to foot the bill for us...it's cheaper than sending direct deposits or paper checks, so I guess they don't mind.
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