I spent a career in the banking business, and I have a little different perspective on it. Some of it you may find helpful (although frightfully boring)
Paypal fees are actually pretty similar to Mastercard and VISA fees from a sellers standpoint. I accept all three in my business. Paypal is a flat 3%. The rate on MC and VISA is a little lower, but the bank that processes those transactions for me also has a transaction fee, a monthly statement fee, etc., etc.
Add it all up and my costs are about the same either way, so MC, VISA, Paypal, it all works.
Sure, I wish I could only do business with checks and money orders. But a good percentage of my customers would probably go elsewhere if I tried that, and then I run all the risks of fraud, bad checks, etc. etc.
As a former banker, I can tell you that forged money orders are one of the more popular scams. If a person wants to burn you they can do it that way as well. And foreign checks or money orders? No way.
Bentpole, I'm guessing that the Canadian Money Order you received was not drawn on a US bank. That means it has to go through the foreign collection system and the bank doesn't get there money for weeks during that process. So they can't really credit you for it until it clears collection. It is an archaic system, but that's how it works. And the scary part is that even once they receive credit for it, foreign checks can be returned sometimes months after initially being processed. And if a check comes back bad, your bank will charge you for it. You're the one who originally accepted the check, and the bank is doing you the service of clearing it for you. But they don't assume any risk of fraud from whomever wrote it.
Think about it this way. If some guy in another country steals a check from someone and writes it out to you. You deposit it, it goes through a couple of weeks of clearing and the bank credits your account. But the person on whose account the check was written doesn't have any idea what happened until he gets his bank statement. He then goes to his bank and tells them that the check was stolen and his bank returns it to your bank. Since many people don't balance their bank statements immediately each month, days, weeks, and even months could go by before the fraud is discovered. And you will be the one left holding the bag.
What it all boils down to is that you either need to trust the person you are accepting payment from completely, or you pay the fees to have Paypal, MC or VISA accept the risk for you. Take into account the cost of doing business in another country before you enter into the transaction.
When I received money from a person outside the country I am paid in US funds and don't pay an exchange rate. You received the money in US funds. It works the same way with the credit card companies, travelers checks, and any transaction that must covert currency from one country to another. Money is simply a commodity, and the handlers of the money get paid to do what they do.
If we all converted to the Euro our problems would be over :rolleyes:
(seriously tongue in cheek!)
Topic: Paypal - watch yourself (Read 742 times)
