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

[lenny-mutt.livejournal.com]

Yeah by PayPal rules you're not allowed to blatantly charge the customer to cover the fees. I see artists doing this all the time and I wonder how long they'll be able to do that and not get reported. :\

I never ask for fee coverage... Heck, I never even asked for coverage for shipping until a few months ago...

[korsetkoat.livejournal.com]

I would like to know how to report someone's account for TOS violation...I don't have anyone in mind but it sees like something you may need if someone has been warned of the TOS and STILL tell their customers to pay the fees.

I do not know how to do so, though. D:

[lenny-mutt.livejournal.com]

I was wondering how you do that as well, actually... I'm sure there's probably something about it in PayPal's TOS, maybe I can dig through there and find something. If I do, I'll reply with more info :D

[lenny-mutt.livejournal.com]

Well actually all I'm seeing right now, unless I missed something, is where you can report a problem with a particular transaction. I don't see anything about users but surely there's a way if something happens you do need to report somebody, I guess by sending them some sort of message by e-mail or something that effect...

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Log into your paypal account. The link to report account abuse is in the Contact Us tab somewhere.

[lenny-mutt.livejournal.com]

Aha! That makes sense... Thanks :D

[korsetkoat.livejournal.com]

I can't see to find it anywhere... I see "Report a problem" but it's limited to a single transaction rather than a user.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

Contact Us > Report Fraud/Prohibited Use

You don't need to enter in a specific transaction ID at all, so don't worry about that. Just be sure to include all they need to know in the bottom box.

I reported a third party selling artists' work without their permission this way, and I got back a reply very quickly that it was being handled.

[korsetkoat.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for the how-to! :)

[be-prepared.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's only an issue i think if they are charging more to those that pay via PayPal and not by other means for the same thing.