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

[sovy.livejournal.com]

Artists either factor it in to their price or just swallow the fee themselves. Businesses that have credit/debit machines also have to swallow the fee so this isn't really unusual. It is also against the Paypal TOS to charge a person for paypal fees.

Personally I just use the Payment Owed option and pay the fee and everything myself because I live in Canada and use CAD so Paypal's cut goes from 3% to ~6% (cross border and currency conversion fees) and that might surprise the artist. It saves me from the drama and sending a second payment. In the future I'll probably just tack on 5%-10% onto the commission price to cover the fees and use the purchase goods/service option because how I thought Payment Owed worked might not line up with how it actually does work. That and I get buyer protection (lol, what good that will do).

If an artist didn't account for the fees then just tell them to adjust their prices and that this first lesson is pretty cheap at about a dollar or two of their own time.

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

"Businesses that have credit/debit machines also have to swallow the fee so this isn't really unusual."

I don't think most people realize this, unless they have either worked for a small business that told their employees about this, or have owned their own business.

[teahound.livejournal.com]

This. Then people get pissy when smaller companies have a minimum price an order has to be, so they're not losing money on the transaction. Example: The 7-11 will let me use my card for a $0.54 soda because they make enough on their other transactions to cover the fee there. The nice little ice cream place by my house has a minimum $2-3 transaction limit so they're not essentially buying you the ice cream, if that makes sense.

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

Yep, I had to run to the ATM and get $10 out one day for to pay for two card cases (just over a dollar), since the place had a $5 minimum for card charges.

The fish store I worked at also had a minimum charge, but I forget what it was. And the fees the credit card companies charged to process the orders are/were very high. PayPal is incredibly reasonable compared to those.

[bluefantasyz.livejournal.com]

The local gas station adds a .25 surcharge on orders under $4 paid with a credit or debit card. Though I'm pretty sure they make plenty of money there...

[kadaria.livejournal.com]

Annnnnd to complicate matters there are credit companies won't allow businesses to do a "minimum transaction" policy which is why some smaller, local venues won't go electronic. One thing I have seen a local gas station get away with is charging a few cents less per gallon on gas that is paid for in cash. I don't know how kosher that loop-hole is.
But this is also why you get businesses that won't use certain credit cards like American Express; they charge a higher rate than visa/mc.

/end learning