PayPal Friends and Family?

[wdfifteen]

I ordered a part for my VW from an individual VW dismantler.
He INSISTED that I pay by PayPal Friends and Family. I told him I would gladly pay the PayPal fee, but nope - ONLY Friends and Family, even if I paid the 3.5% fee. I passed on the deal because I do not know what reason one would insist on Friends and Family other than a scam.
Am I missing something here?

[Eric Hahl]

Sell enough on ebay and get a 1099 form. F&F avoids this I think.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

Sell enough on ebay and get a 1099 form. F&F avoids this I think.

Yea, and I heard Pay Pal heard from the IRS, and the IRS wants the taxes owed on all the actual businesses selling under friends and family.

[aschen]

Buyers can scam sellers by getting items and then disputing with paypal. Im told paypal usually sides with buyers so its a common scam.


I think the idea of paypal protecting online transactions is officially dead, the scamming type just changed

[JackDidley]

You did the right thing.

[LWJ]

Yes. I just dodged this very same bullet. Seller was all too willing to ship a 50-60# hunk of steel to me for the price asked if ONLY I could do F&F.

Nope.

[Zeke]

Paypal is circling the drain. Don't leave any money in an account.

[stevej37]

Nothing to do with F&F...but I was a heavy user of PayPal on Ebay just a few years ago.

One day, I couldn't log in and they wanted answers to my security questions. There were four of them including 'Where were you born?'..'What was the name of your first dog?'..'What is your mothers maiden name?'
According to them...I failed all of them.

I'll never try to use PayPal again.

[GH85Carrera]

Most of my PayPal use is shopping at web sites that I do not want to set up yet one more username and password. If they take PayPal, I enter that option, my shipping address is adding instantly, and I check out. Done.

[rwest]

The answer would be yes, I’ll pay with friends and family if you send the item first so I can make sure it is how you advertised it, then I will f&f the money to you.

[john70t]

PP has (supposedly) had a long time reputation of withholding funds from individual sellers for months/years.
Reversing payment after confirmed delivery.
Sketchy business imo.
And then they thought they could charge $2500 for wrongspeak. Whatever that means.

Would you like 'friends' to be able to charge your account? Sign me up! Got my eye on an original velvet poker dog painting.

[Rick Lee]

I use PayPal F&F all the time and I'll use it with strangers if it's something like buying car parts from a fellow Pelican. I've never been screwed, not once. Biggest deal I've done was probably $1500 on a cross-country Craigslist buy. Just gotta buy the seller and not the merchandise. With the 1099 requirement for 2023, it's understandable sellers don't want to have to account for regular PayPal goods and services revenue. I just sold a gun part(s) for $450 on eBay and I really don't feel like digging up the receipts for the parts to offset the "gain."

[rfuerst911sc]

When a seller won't or can't take a conventional credit card what are you guys using for payment ? I use PayPal from time to time but if they suck who or what is better ?

[masraum]

I'd have passed. It's probably less about the ability to screw you and more about the new IRS/tax rules. If someone is hard and fast on "must do it this way" and that way is a cheat/sidestep, then that's a flag for me. Unless I'm really desperate and that's the only source, I'd pass.

I think the folks that are forcing F&F but are selling a bunch of stuff, I think they're going to have a rude awakening. I think Paypal is going to end up flagging folks that surpass a threshold for F&F.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

When a seller won't or can't take a conventional credit card what are you guys using for payment ? I use PayPal from time to time but if they suck who or what is better ?

I've been using Paypal. I've used Zelle a couple of times, but those have been for folks where I was face to face with the person or knew them. Another option is Venmo. I don't have a venmo setup, but I think it was specifically created for paying vendors. I don't know anything about it.

[Rick Lee]

I spend or receive at least $10k per year on PayPal F&F and Zelle. I pay the whole Verizon family plan bill for six people and then get reimbursed. That's $4k/year right there. I also pay for some contract labor and buy leads for work via PayPal or Zelle. Since I deal with mostly friends and family that way, I really don't want anyone to deal with the fees.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Most of my PayPal use is shopping at web sites that I do not want to set up yet one more username and password. If they take PayPal, I enter that option, my shipping address is adding instantly, and I check out. Done.

I used to think that was a terrific way to buy. And I only bought, never took any money in. Still, they wanted me to send them my SS# and a utility bill or copy of my DL (or both, maybe) and that was it. We're done.

Haven't bought anything recently off eBay but I used to buy welding supplies and they had my CC info where I could just do the same as PP used to be. One click. IDK if the flea has changed.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

When a seller won't or can't take a conventional credit card what are you guys using for payment ? I use PayPal from time to time but if they suck who or what is better ?

I use ebay at least once every month for buying....never found a time when the seller wouldn't accept the cc. Maybe I've been lucky.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by masraum

Unless I'm really desperate and that's the only source, I'd pass.

I sort of made myself desperate. After too many disappointments in reproduction parts I stopped looking at them and went only for used original German VW parts. This guy was the only one who had listed anyof these in months.
After the no-deal with him I looked at repo stuff. He wanted $25 for a pair of these dodads and the repros are $8 a piece. I only need one. It's an easily replaced cosmetic part. If the chrome is weak I can replace it every three years and still be money ahead.

[Chocaholic]

I use Venmo for receiving rent payments from tenants. They’re always reported anyway so the 1099 is of no concern. But the on-line payment services will dry up now that every transaction is reported. Good way to kill some businesses.