Paypal fees?

[korsetkoat.livejournal.com]

This has already been been discussed in this community before- who should pay the fee, the commissioner or the artist? The general agreement seems to be, factor paypal fees into your initial commission price to cover it, because it is the artist who should pay the fees and not the commissioner, as by PayPal's TOS. However, there are many artists I've met who do not seem to have read/know PayPal's TOS and their prices are not factored for the fees.

What should a commissioner/artist do in a situation where, a commissioner sends money thinking an artist has factored in fees, but in fact hasn't payed what the artist was wanting (i.e., an artist wants 4.00$, they only get 3.58$)? It seems like one of those situations that could get ugly if not treated with care. Which is why so far I, as a commissioner, have been paying fees most of the time when buying a commission.

Would the artist have the right to withhold artwork until the full fee has been paid? Or does the commissioner have the right to the commission because it is the artist's own hindsight and ignorance that got them out of some money? I haven't had this situation myself yet but I feel as though this kind of thing will happen at one point or another. Is it a courtesy for the commissioner to send more money despite the TOS or should the artist, well, just suck it up because it is due to their own ignorance of the TOS?

Edit; I suppose the easiest solution for an artist who will not give you art until you pay more money is to open a dispute.

However, let's say you told them all this but they ignore your warning about the TOS. Should you report someone for breaking the TOS by making your customers pay the fees? Is there even a way to do so?

Comments

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

I believe that practice is actually against the rules the credit card companies put in, so said small businesses are breaching their contract doing so.

[gel-wolf.livejournal.com]

huh. I didn't know that! O: I just assumed because it's such a widely used policy in like coffee shops and such that it was ok.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

They get away with it because nobody knows to report them, but it's against the contracts because well, it means less people using CC's, which means the companies get less money, so they don't want businesses doing that.

[bluefantasyz.livejournal.com]

Do you know HOW to report them? Because the local gas station charges a .25 surcharge on debit orders under $4, even though I'm sure they rake in plenty of money...