PayPal and the GIFT option for international users (19 EU / 6 International countries atm)

[artificial]

definitely works in Austria right now, just purchased something as a gift yesterday!

edit: just found out the michi_mak already pointed that out - thought, I'm the only Austrian here!

yeah, I thought so too .

another one!

[kx.001]

Maybe consumer law in Germany says Paypal have to provide the protection you get when you pay the fees for everyone, so just don't offer the gift option where you waive any of the protection.

Paypal bank is listed in Luxemburg so they can do what they want as it appears

they're a quasi-bank, if they want to operate legally in a country, they'll be subjected to a certain level of scrutiny, otherwise any transactions could be declared void, I imagine. ie they'll have to follow the money laundering laws of the countries they work in.

(I am making this up as I go along, mind, but it sounds reasonable[maybe])

[artificial]

definitely works in Austria right now, just purchased something as a gift yesterday!

edit: just found out the michi_mak already pointed that out - thought, I'm the only Austrian here!

yeah, I thought so too .

another one!

[darsho]

I have a Paypal account for many years, but as far as I know the gift option has never been available in Germany.
Why this is the case, I don't know.

[Mattiiiii]

I have a Paypal account for many years, but as far as I know the gift option has never been available in Germany.
Why this is the case, I don't know.

Same here, I always paid a few bucks more to compensate for this. Always wondered if I was just to dumb to find that option, though...

[samsam]

No gift option in Hong Kong either, but there is a non-commercial option, 'send to friend/family' or something similar.

[WOK]

I don't ''get'' the whole payment by gift only thing. In essence, I guess, the seller just wants to receive exactly what he's asking for with no percentage taken off. I understand that desire, but that can be easily compensated for by simply adding ±5% to what you are sending as the buyer.

Why should the buyer pay the fee if someone wants to have money? I don't get this wide spread opinion. The seller wants to sell something and make a profit with that, means want to earn money. The fees are for his convenience to get the money quick and guranteed. The buyer does a payment in advance already, why should he pay extra for that?

[Compyfox]

@darsho:
It was in the early days of PayPal. Since the "implementation" from eBay, it suddenly vanished. I don't know since when I have my account, but it was from very early eBay days (short after it got named eBay) - though it didn't work for eBay yet, I used it for other international transfers. Yeah, that's long ago.


@aallvor:
Thanks for the contribution, will add that.


@samsam:
Interesting - so international is affected as well.



@DubFox:
The thing with the "payment protection" actually only works with "ebay transfer" here in Germany. For everything else, you're pretty much out of luck (speak of experience)




So yeah... is this an interesting topic to stick now? What do you think?

[WOK]

I have a Paypal account for many years, but as far as I know the gift option has never been available in Germany.
Why this is the case, I don't know.

Because we germans are used to pay fees for everything everywhere. Need an ID card - pay 30 Euro (you MUST have an ID card if you don't want to get into trouble). Need an apartment? Pay 2 month rental to the agent. Self employee? Be forced to pay for the chamber of commerce, institution for statutory accident insurance, health insurence, value added tax in advance, casualty insurance, fee for the trade licence, monthly fee for the bank account, a fee for every payment. Etra fees when using an ATM from another bank. Fees for the credit card. Fees if you lost or damaged your ATM card. Parking fees.
We pay for everything here, even a wastewater charge depending on the size of your roof and the paved garage way(!)  
Paying fees is so common to germans that Paypal does not need to offer gifts to have customers.  

[darsho]

@darsho:
It was in the early days of PayPal. Since the "implementation" from eBay, it suddenly vanished. I don't know since when I have my account, but it was from very early eBay days (short after it got named eBay) - though it didn't work for eBay yet, I used it for other international transfers. Yeah, that's long ago.

So we're both Paypal oldtimers

I use paypal as well since a long time.
Never looked for such a gift option until some years ago and then there was none to be found so I figured it was never there. But of course it must have been there because in the beginning there was only Paypal.com , not Paypal.de, which came a little later as far as I rememeber.

thanks for correcting me !

[@l3x!5]

There was a thread one or two years ago pertaining to this illogical trend in asking buyers to infringe PayPal TOS by sending money to sellers as a 'gift' instead of just operate a 'payment'.

I can't find it, but I recall having soundly argued against this utter nonsense.

1) it very clearly infringes PayPal TOS (I won't go to the length of citing it this time. Please just read what you're agreeing to before you sign for and use a service).

This strikes me the most because KVR is a place where we respect devs, licenses policy etc. to the letter. Wether you 'like' PayPal or not is not relevant (I don't). They provide a convenient service that comes at a cost. Use it and be honest about it, or try and find an alternative.

2) As a consequence, buyers lose all protection and sellers expose themselves to liabilities when PayPal spots them and decide, according to their TOS, that they can simply close their account or god knows what (cue horror stories where seller lose his money etc.).

3) It is plain stupid and serves no purpose. As a seller, simply take your fees into account when you set your price. CONGRATULATIONS. PROBLEM SOLVED.

P.S. : Gift option available in France. For when you want to GIFT someone with money, that is.

edit: grammar

[Compyfox]

Thanks for contributing, @l3x!5.


I think it was like 1-2 years ago that spawned from horror stories in terms of sales here on KVR. This actually "praised" the gift function and sticked since then.

Since the drastic changes in both PayPal and ShareIt, I try to stick as much away as possible. Fortunately there are other services coming up that ask for less fees (if ever), but I didn't dive into them yet.


I think the thing with "pay as gift only" comes due to the fact that a lot of potential buyers wait until the very last minute in terms of price drops/discounts, or are scared off if people write in the thread beforehand "you pay the fees!".

I think adding and taking at least 5% of the sale price into account additionally for covering fees is a good way to go - if you have to go the PayPal route.



I'm looking forward to hear more opinions and try to update the country listing in the pricess.

[D N A]

Germany seems to be in the center of the area mutated from UE - UESSR

Taxes, taxes, banks, taxes, taxes, banks...

Tax for digital goods is one of the most stupid things.

ps. additional 5 % seems to be the good way but it's ... another "tax"

[delaiah]

also, I live in Slovakia and the gift paymet option is available...

[Compyfox]

ps. additional 5 % seems to be the good way but it's ... another "tax"

Yes, but it is a "tax" by Paypal and we (Germany, Norway and Hong Kong as of this moment) have to cave if we want to buy stuff through PayPal. Else, currency exchange fees are ALWAYS involved, and international transfer as well.

So no matter if you use the gift option or not, there are fees one way or another. This thread is there to point that out and show some alternatives.