Is PayPal falling out of favor ?

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bananapeanut

·Feb 9, 2023

I'm under the impression that PayPal is not as widely accepted as it used to be in the watch community and on various forums. It also seems that more sellers are accepting wire only as a method of payment. Is it something you've noticed too?

 

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josiahg52

·Feb 9, 2023

That's what I do. Ditched PayPal some time ago. Zelle, wire, USPS money order, cash, or face to face only.

 

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SpeedyPhill

·Feb 9, 2023

We guess You're right as this trend is not only in the watch community, same for the book community 📖

 

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rendo

·Feb 9, 2023·faux legend

This makes sense, but I don’t think the other options provide buyer/seller protection for the times when you need it.

 

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Duracuir1

·Feb 9, 2023·Never Used A Kodak

Hey @josiahg52 and @SpeedyPhill is Paypal out of favour with you due to fees? Security? Or are your other long distance options simpler, cheaper and safer?

 

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josiahg52

·Feb 9, 2023

@Duracuir1 fees, security, simpler, free of the political machinations of a group of narrow-minded hand-wringers. For now, anyway.

I'll take my chances and perform my own due diligence. It's the same reason why I don't want to partake in eBay watch selling scheme.

 

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TheGreatKat

·Feb 9, 2023

For me paypal has ridiculously high exchange rates...I avoid as much as I can.

 

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Shabbaz

·Feb 9, 2023

I still use Paypal. But I try to avoid it if I can. I once had a very, very bad experience with Paypal as a seller.

 

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YYTIN

·Feb 9, 2023

TheGreatKat

For me paypal has ridiculously high exchange rates...I avoid as much as I can.

Exactly the same for me => with trusted seller I go for Wise when there is currency exchange rate involved and the % taken on it by PP exceed the shipping cost !

 

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Vercingetorix

·Feb 9, 2023·Spam Risk

It’s the reporting to the taxman.

 

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GuiltunderGlass

·Feb 9, 2023

This site exists for a reason, and there are many.

https://paypalsucks.org/

 

B

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bonzodog

·Feb 9, 2023

Paypals buyer protection failed me ,I closed the account ,won’t use them again.

 

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wsfarrell

·Feb 9, 2023

Minority opinion here: there are several BST sites I frequent (not watches) where the rules state that all sellers must use PayPal Goods & Services, and quote a single price that includes the PP fees and shipping. This is a good thing in my opinion. (1) This is how selling is done in 99.9% of commercial establishments (seller builds card fees and such into the price). (2) PayPal G&S protects the buyer. (3) Seller is getting the money and should be paying the cost of selling. (4) Venmo, Zelle, wires, etc. offer zero protection for the buyer. You might as well put $100 bills into an envelope and drop them in the mailbox. (5) "Net to me" is just a pure sign of seller greed. I'm getting really tired of Rolex flippers (for example) who double the price of a watch and then force buyers to pay the 3.5% PayPal fee.

 

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paddymoran

·Feb 9, 2023

For international/ foreign exchange transactions PayPal is about the cheapest payment method if you use Friends and Family. Just make sure you do the conversion outside of PayPal.

See below image - I bought a watch for £4,500, converted € to GB£ in Revolut and paid by PayPal in GB£. The PayPal fee was £1.63 (flat fee) or in this instance 0.036% of the purchase price.

However, when buying from someone I don’t know/ don’t trust I would be very wary using PayPal as I have minimal confidence in their ability to review a dispute and find in favour of the wronged party.

 

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lucian23

·Feb 9, 2023

PayPal has some outrageous exchange rates but i they count on the buyer and seller protection.

 

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sonicosa

·Feb 9, 2023

I got 2 scam invoices through Paypal yesterday, which had never happened before. Apparently they just disappear if you don't pay them, but it's unfortunate that is part of the user experience at this point.

 

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Dan S

·Feb 9, 2023

wsfarrell

Minority opinion here: there are several BST sites I frequent (not watches) where the rules state that all sellers must use PayPal Goods & Services, and quote a single price that includes the PP fees and shipping. This is a good thing in my opinion. (1) This is how selling is done in 99.9% of commercial establishments (seller builds card fees and such into the price). (2) PayPal G&S protects the buyer. (3) Seller is getting the money and should be paying the cost of selling. (4) Venmo, Zelle, wires, etc. offer zero protection for the buyer. You might as well put $100 bills into an envelope and drop them in the mailbox. (5) "Net to me" is just a pure sign of seller greed. I'm getting really tired of Rolex flippers (for example) who double the price of a watch and then force buyers to pay the 3.5% PayPal fee.

Go ahead and accept PP G&S, but be prepared to pay capital gains tax on any gains, without being able to write off any losses. That's how sales of collectibles are taxed in the US. And IIRC, unlike other assets, collectibles are subject to a maximum rate of 28%.

Edited: Feb 9, 2023

 

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mbp

·Feb 9, 2023

I reluctantly accept PayPal. Often will take Venmo as well

sonicosa

I got 2 scam invoices through Paypal yesterday, which had never happened before. Apparently they just disappear if you don't pay them, but it's unfortunate that is part of the user experience at this point.

Yes, just let it ride. There should be an option to ask them to cancel the invoice too.

 

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josiahg52

·Feb 9, 2023

I occasionally get invoices or requests emailed to me. I go to the website, log in, and have never seen anything. Purely spam emails.

 

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dsio

·Feb 9, 2023·Ash @ ΩF

I can say that when we have had to deal with scammers, the people who paid the money for paypal fees were happy they did, when its wire, wise etc there’s not much we or anyone else can do unfortunately so make sure you take precautions before using non-reversible payment mechanisms.