Hello MorphMarket Community,
I’d like to bring attention to an important issue regarding the use of PayPal for live animal sales, specifically, the risks associated with Alternative Payment Methods (APMs), and open a discussion about how others in the community are navigating these concerns. This topic is more likely to have greater impact sellers, but buyers should also be informed.
While PayPal’s Friends & Family (F&F) option carries inherent risks due to the lack of buyer and seller protection, and PayPal’s TOS for goods and services, it remains a commonly used and accepted form of payment for reputable sellers within the reptile community. However, sellers attempting to follow PayPal’s TOS for goods and services may encounter a more serious issue involving APMs, which include:
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Venmo
- ACH Bank Transfers
- Currency Conversions
- PayPal Credit (buy now & pay later)
- And others…
Key concerns include:
-
Ineligibility for protection: PayPal’s APM terms state that transactions involving live animals are explicitly ineligible for Seller Protection when paid through an APM.
-
Lack of control over buyer payment method: Even when a seller issues a proper invoice or payment request, PayPal may allow the buyer to complete the transaction using an APM by default. Sellers currently have no way to prevent this. Buyers may also send payments directly through PayPal using an APM without the seller being able to control which payment methods they want to accept.
-
Policy precedence: While live animal sales may be allowed under PayPal’s general User Agreement and TOS (with certain conditions), the APM terms override these if there is any conflict—meaning protection may still be denied in a dispute.
-
Practical implications: Even with thorough documentation, a seller could lose a dispute solely because an unsupported payment method was used—often without their knowledge or ability to prevent it.
Links to review PayPal’s APM policy and information:
PAYPAL ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT METHODS AGREEMENT
Alternative payment methods article by PayPal
Discussion questions:
• Have you encountered issues related to APMs when using PayPal for live animal transactions?
• Are there alternative platforms or payment processors you trust more for these types of sales?
• Are there best practices or workarounds to minimize this risk, short of discontinuing PayPal entirely?
This is an important conversation, especially for those of us conducting regular transactions within the hobby. I look forward to hearing your insights and experiences.
Thank you,
Duskglow Reptiles
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Unfortunately there’s not much you can do when it comes to a dispute on Paypal. It looks like it may have changed fairly recently, but they didn’t use to allow animal sales so sellers worked in a kind of grey area. The best I’ve found to do is place a link to a T.O.S. for your sales and a note on the invoice that says the purchase is non-refundable.
Even then, it can still be up to the discretion of whoever gets the dispute. I’ve seen it go both ways.
PayPal Friends and Family is used by quite a few sellers. I would never because it will put your account at risk. If PayPal finds out that you are using it for business sales and dodging fees or taxes they can shut it down with your money stuck in limbo. Also, if a seller charges you an additional fee for PayPal to cover those fees, that’s also against TOS and you can report them for abuse.
The only time I accept F&F is if someone sent it as a tip for my illustration gig or it actually IS a friend. Lol.
As far as PayPal APM… That DOES still say that animals are still a restricted purchase and not permitted. Which has me wondering if the missing live animals in the Terms of Service is a mistake.
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I agree, which is why I operate through a business account and only accept payments via the “Goods and Services” option. I’m not willing to risk having my PayPal account restricted or my funds frozen. While I know some reputable breeders still use PayPal Friends & Family, doing so carries significant risk. Although PayPal is undeniably convenient, it’s also one of the most precarious options for processing payments related to live animal sales.
Given these concerns, I’m seriously considering removing PayPal as a payment method altogether. I currently use Square, Stripe, and Apple Pay. Square has been the most reliable for my needs, and Stripe has worked well for international transactions.
I’ve read some forum discussions where sellers reported being locked out of their PayPal accounts and having their funds withheld. Others argue that the risk is overstated, claiming live animal sales aren’t explicitly prohibited—just regulated—and that as long as you’re doing things “the right way,” you’ll be fine. But after reviewing PayPal’s Alternative Payment Methods (APM) policy, which seems to override portions of the User Agreement that these arguments rely on, I’m not confident PayPal is as safe as we may have assumed.
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I actually knew someone who had their account frozen while still having funds in it. Granted this was 15 years ago…someone used a NSFW term in a field while paying for an illustration. It got flagged by the system.
There was only around $200 I think? But they still refused to unfreeze it. IIRC they said something along the lines of usage fees for malconduct. Attempting anything else through the legal system would just just not be worth it so they left it. Was never able to get another account after within the 5 years we kept contact after that. They used their spouse’s account if they needed to.
But that was part of why I covered my butt by only taking payments through invoice on PayPal or Stripe. The last thing I need is someone using a term and getting my account flagged.
Though Venmo and Zelle have also been ones I’ve taken payment through as well. That’s something that is a bit tougher to navigate since it doesn’t really offer the invoice options.
I don’t know of any freeze issues recently aside from a few donation drives that needed to be double checked because the system flagged too many transactions too quickly…but those all cleared up after a couple days at most.
I have seen the flood of charge back scams though in the freelance artist circles. And there have been a few cropping up in reptile circles as well. One actually posted here fairly recently.
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I used PayPal this way and still had my funds frozen over what they said were tax reasons. Not only did they hold my funds and tell me they wouldn’t be released, when they did eventually release them, I was not notified. I just logged in one day and the funds were there again. I transferred everything, removed all linked accounts, and now no longer use the platform unless I absolutely must.
Ever since, I have used other companies. Venmo I use rarely, since it is also owned by PayPal. I will occasionally take CashApp or Zelle. For the most part, however, I use Square, and I am making it my go-to processor going forward. Between the scale of Square’s operations and the integration with MorphMarket, it’s just the easiest and most reliable option. I will absolutely never go back to PayPal after everything they put me through.
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