Paypal 'gift' Payments

[elisew]

I recently made a 'gift' payment via paypal but unfortunately the transaction hasn't gone as smoothly as hoped for, it wasn't something that was in the sellers control nor was it in mine either, but a refund was offered 'should anything go wrong'

Now I know there's a lot of grey areas relating to these gift payments and I suppose it can be viewed as being daft to make a 'gift' payment because theres little or no protection from paypal themselves, but when you send the payment to save the seller paying any fees and you trust the seller because of their reputation, then surely you would hope they would do the honest and morally correct thing if a refund is required.
I'm not saying that the seller in my case won't refund but it just got me to thinking that I bet there's a lot of sellers out there that wouldn't do the 'right' thing and refund.
I guess that if anyone uses a credit card to make a gift payment at least they're in a position to make a chargeback on the payment so that's some comfort to a person at least.

Has anyone else hit a sticky situation with 'gift' payments via paypal?

 

[fluffycabbage]

I recently made a 'gift' payment via paypal but unfortunately the transaction hasn't gone as smoothly as hoped for, it wasn't something that was in the sellers control nor was it in mine either, but a refund was offered 'should anything go wrong'

Now I know there's a lot of grey areas relating to these gift payments and I suppose it can be viewed as being daft to make a 'gift' payment because theres little or no protection from paypal themselves, but when you send the payment to save the seller paying any fees and you trust the seller because of their reputation, then surely you would hope they would do the honest and morally correct thing if a refund is required.
I'm not saying that the seller in my case won't refund but it just got me to thinking that I bet there's a lot of sellers out there that wouldn't do the 'right' thing and refund.
I guess that if anyone uses a credit card to make a gift payment at least they're in a position to make a chargeback on the payment so that's some comfort to a person at least.

Has anyone else hit a sticky situation with 'gift' payments via paypal?

Ive never had a tricky situation, but only because i pay gifted to people i absolutely trust. Even then, if i need the purchase to be protected by paypals policies then i will pay fees.

 

[Dan-CR4]

If you use your credit card to make a gift through paypal. your credit card company may not be able to help. instead of paypal gifts use paypal as you normally would but send a little extra to cover fees, that way the seller gets the money they want and you should still be protected by paypal.

heres an online tool to calculate the fees http/www.rolbe.com/paypal.htm click on your flag for the currency you want

 

[rdp50734]

If the buyer is prepared to pay the fees on top of the purchase price then most if not all sellers would accept. I often have payment by gift to not pay the fees. but if the buyer is prepared to pay then then thats their choice and I'm happy to go with it.

It is also up to the seller to offer a refund, many state no returns or admin fee 5% restocking fee 30% plus you must pay the return postage. Soon totals up you just gave them your money, and thats with paypal goods purchase.

You have to be very sure of the terms and conditions in any transaction. They are all different in one way or another.

 

[elisew]

If you use your credit card to make a gift through paypal. your credit card company may not be able to help. instead of paypal gifts use paypal as you normally would but send a little extra to cover fees, that way the seller gets the money they want and you should still be protected by paypal.

heres an online tool to calculate the fees http/www.rolbe.com/paypal.htm click on your flag for the currency you want

Thanks for the link

I don`t know about other Credit Card companies but I know for example that mine will definitely do a chargeback even if a payment is sent as a gift.
If you have proof that goods were involved in a transaction i.e emails, msgs etc then they`re happy that the payment was in fact made for goods and are happy to help recover losses

It`s just a shame that people sometimes have to take this route when all you`ve done is trust someone.

 

[JoshuaA]

At the end of the day using the "gift" for a purchase is really abusing the system. It is there for the sole reason of gifts but obviously people wanting to make a little saving opt for that and then suffer little or no protection at all. It's a shame PayPal won't do anything, however that buyers protection you get is covered when you pay that little bit extra for the fee.

I will only give gift payments if I really don't care about the money i.e paying someone £3/4 for postage on something they're sending me for free. Or I have requested they send the item first, sometimes some people are quite willing to do so. My very first instance of this was when a lad up in Scotland posted me his Marzocchi Shiver DC forks (£500-800 new) and said after me trying for a week or two to arrange a courier service which refused to go to his remote location that he "trusted me" and sent them anyway without me paying . I obviously thought for a second... Do I or don't I... of course I paid but for that moment! He was also a well respected member of the PinkBike forum so he didn't nick them off the back of a truck .