# Avoid Paypal Receiving Fees!



## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*Avoid Paypal Fees!*

I just figured out that people with Personal accounts don't get charged a fee for receiving money! However, personal accounts cannot except credit card payments, only cash transaction from existing paypal balances or directly from the bank.

People who have business or premier accounts will get charged for receiving, but can receive credit card payments.

Most people send me "cash" and I've "lost" probably over $50-100 in paypal fees. So I searched the paypal site trying to figure out the downgrading process from a premier account to a personal account:

*TO DOWNGRADE to Personal Account:*

You have to email them through their customer support help question email, stating that you want to downgrade your account. And they will do it in a few days.

Only problem with downgrade you won't be able to upgrade again as far as I understand, and you can't receive credit card payments.

Let me know if this helped anyone,

-John N.


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## jude_uc (Feb 7, 2006)

You could always have two paypal accounts: one business and one personal. Several vendors I've dealt with had two different accounts depending on cc vs. non-cc. 

-Adam


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## Ibn (Oct 20, 2004)

Two accounts as Adam has stated.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I see their fees have gone way up too. I received a $41 payment this week and only wound up with something like $32 of it. :shock:


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

John,
The specifics are that you are only allowed to downgrade an account once. So if you were to upgrade back to a premier or business account you would not be able to downgrade again.

I downgraded my Premier account back to a personal one because I hated having to jack up the postage I charged folks to cover the PayPal fees.

I haven't bothered creating a second account because I don't do than much selling, and because listing two PayPal accounts only means that you'll get twice as many bad transaction—CC payment to the personal acct and cash payments to the Premier—because a lot of folks aren't all that attentive.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

If I downgraded, would I still be able to purchase things with credit cards? I know that I would not be able to receive payments via CC.

Thanks


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

JerseyScape said:


> If I downgraded, would I still be able to purchase things with credit cards? I know that I would not be able to receive payments via CC.
> 
> Thanks


Yes, I believe you can still pay using your credit card.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

jude_uc said:


> You could always have two paypal accounts: one business and one personal. Several vendors I've dealt with had two different accounts depending on cc vs. non-cc.
> 
> -Adam


Same here. I just have an account with my e-mail address and a second one I added the letters ncc to (no credit card) . This helps me keep them straight.

If you do not have a business account, you can still pay with a credit card.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

JOHN N,

What e-mail address did you send that notification to? I tried searching but they have so many different departments that it's not even funny.

Oh yeh, I just took out my bank info from Paypal due to this site: www.paypalsucks.com READ THE HORROR STORIES!!


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

JerseyScape,
Here's the link to the info page on downgrading your PayPal account:

Can I downgrade my account?


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

bharada said:


> JerseyScape,
> Here's the link to the info page on downgrading your PayPal account:
> 
> Can I downgrade my account?


Thanks....I just did it. I didn't do it for the fees though but rather for the horror stories that were posted in the forums of paypalsucks.com. Yeh, it scared the heck out of me.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

This is the e-mail I received from PayPal along with my downgrading notice. Many might benefit from this before they downgrade.....



> Thank you for contacting PayPal.
> 
> We appreciate that you have tried our PayPal Business/Premier account. Per
> your request, your PayPal account has been downgraded from a
> ...


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*Downgraded to Personal 2 times*

I accidentally upgraded my Personal account to Premiere. It was already once downgraded from Premiere to Personal so does that mean that I can't downgrade again to personal?

Nope! I called the paypal and had them downgrade me again. Didn't have any problems with the Paypal representative on the phone. So in my case, contrary to Paypal's statement, you can downgrade your account more than once.

-John N.


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## Avalon (Mar 7, 2005)

I was always taught to not invest money anywhere you can't speak to a person, in person...or that's watched like a hawk & operated via Federal guidelines (my new rule, such as your business 401K plan, IRA's, etc.). And I think this is a good rule of thumb. Paypal to me is only a mediary of payment or receipt of payment, and I expect it to cost something for their service. I've yet to see these huge charges some of you claim, but then again, I mostly just buy plants, so a $1 or so fee on $30 is acceptable to me. I accept CC's, but never pay with CC's (I pay with cash). I never keep an 'online' balance of much more than $50, money I don't depend on. I'm not interested in a Paypal CC, Money Market, or anything other service they have to offer. IMO, CC's suck, MM's suck, and I have a debit card through my own bank. There are far better ways to make money on your money that anything PP has to offer.

So, I don't see what the big deal is with PP. I have experienced issues in which their 'security' has halted a transaction, but it was in my favor, if you wan't to view it that way (I was receiving the payment). While it took a while to resolve (couple of weeks), it did go through.

You MUST NOT put full faith into everything. You MUST question every step of the way and be wary of the methods. I view PP as a 'third party monetary organization,' and I would advise everyone else to do the same. I do not trust PP anwhere close to the extent that I trust my bank (and that took some time as well). I choose to not get any further involved than simple transactions from people I know, or can trust from a distance--with a blanket or two of security that lies in between. And if you take that one remote chance, always be prepared to lose.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

You guys realize it only like 2%? Its a couple dollars from each transaction at the most. You guys still get off easy!


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Robert Hudson said:


> You guys realize it only like 2%? Its a couple dollars from each transaction at the most.





JanS said:


> I received a $41 payment this week and only wound up with something like $32 of it. :shock:


Well, I don't know what happened with this payment then. If it were 2%, I should have had about $40.18 out of the deal, but that wasn't the case. I'm not saying you're wrong Robert, but I don't think I've even seen as little as a 2% deduction from my account for a credit card transaction.

Do you have a different rate since you say the rest of us have it easy? Is it different for businesses? I'm just asking because I don't know the answers to those questions.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I don't even do that much with paypal any more. I do a handfull of transactions a month, and I use it to pay a couple advertising bills, like APC, and one or two vendors I buy from. I have had the account since 2001 or 02 I think. I would be shocked if they took out as much as you say... thats what 20 or 30%? That can't be right! I am sure its somewhere between 2 and 3% for me, and I can not imagine it would be much more than that for a personal account

My bank charges me somewhere between 2 and 3 % for my credit card sales transactions, plus a monthly fee, plus a internet gateway monthly fee, plus other charges and fees... I've been doing it for years now and I still can't figure it out. They just keep taking more and more of my money! They charge MORE for credit card _reward_s cards! I'm actually paying for your friggin frequent flyer miles! Thanks a lot!  Since I started selling wholesale, I found out the banks charge TWICE as much per transaction for business credit cards than personal credit cards! I hate, hate, hate, hate, the banking credit card industry. It is the most crooked industry in the world! Paypal is a piece of cake compared to having a real merchant account. My first year that I switched from paypal to a merchant bank account my sales tripled. You can not run a business if you do not accept credit cards. And they know that. I HATE THEM ALL! :frusty:

You can find out from paypal what percentage they take. They have to tell you and it should be on the WEB site somewhere


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Maybe that one was just a mistake that I never challenged, but it's been too long to dispute it now. I guess I should pay more attention... 



Robert Hudson said:


> They charge MORE for credit card _reward_s cards! I'm actually paying for your friggin frequent flyer miles! Thanks a lot!


No kidding? I use the reward card all the time, but I had no idea that the person on the other end had to pay extra for them. Even our check card gives us points, so I suppose that cuts into every purchase we make too. Of course I'm sure every vendor has to adjust the price to help pay for those hidden charges.


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