A seller is asking me to send the paypal payment as friends and family. What should I do?
Don’t do it, if there’s a problem you won’t be able to get your money back. PayPal is mainly used for it’s protections for buyers, and if you send money via friends and family you will not get that protection
13 Likes
I couldn’t agree more.
4 Likes
I agree with @chesterhf. It also sounds like a possible scam to me. Anyone not willing to sell using goods & services through PayPal shouldn’t be selling.
4 Likes
I pay the extra percent to cover it on top of the cost. I have protection and they get the full amount.
To sellers that do this though, it would be nice for them to list the animal with that extra percent ontop of the asking price.
7 Likes
That’s a smart idea! I’ll probably go that route when I start listing snakes up for sale. Thank you!
6 Likes
It can be tricky in 95% of the cases I would say DO NOT do it.
To me it’s a case by case basis although with some breeders I would not hesitate with others it is a good way to get scammed.
There are legitimate breeders that do ask Paypal friend and family in an effort to actually protect themselves as there has been an increase of people filing bogus claims (I know of some) but to a new potential customer it can appear as a red flag.
5 Likes
PayPal does not support animal sales! Read that again, PayPal does not support animal sales. If you sell an animal to anyone and use PayPal, they can claim the animal got sick or did not receive the animal. They will instantly stop you from using the money if it’s in your PayPal acct. PayPal most likely will take the Buyers story and shut down the case. They will return the money to the buyer and you will lose the animal and the cash. I have seen it happen to a friend and in the community I’m part of which doesn’t deal with $100 purchases. These are $2000 to 10k purchases. The best way to do these purchases would be through a credit card app like Square or something like that. The problem with that is that you have to pay a fee every time a transaction is done. I have not sold any snakes on here but when I do start selling I would give the buyer an option to pay a little bit more for his protection just like the post office and Fed ex offer insurance.
6 Likes
I forgot to add, PayPal will most likely side with the buyer if you allow them to use regular PayPal. If you only allow family and friends it will be much harder for the buyer to dispute it.
2 Likes
A large percentage of snake buyers will never even crack into $1k plus price range for a snake. If you start dealing in large amount it’s different. You Carry insurances and don’t use the same systems that are used for $100 dollar purchases. I would never spend that kind of money with anyone I couldn’t outright trust. Even then (*radio edit) can go sour. You don’t sell investment reptiles without protecting yourself or knowing what you’re doing or you will get burned.
1 Like
It would be cool to see Morph Market work on some reptile buyer seller specific protection or guidelines with someone like paypal, or other outlets. *Or even a third party protection agreement system.
8 Likes
We do not accept PayPal at all. As previously stated PayPal does not allow live animals sales. If a buyer files a dispute the seller automatically loses. We had this happen on a $500 animal sale. The buyer said the box that was shipped did not have the animal inside it. We provided the tracking info to prove he signed for it and PayPal refunded the buyer and suspended our account for terms of service violations. Bottom line do not use PayPal at some point if you do enough transactions you will lose.
4 Likes
Every seller had me do the same because the fee is smaller it’s nothing to freak out about. If you prefer to do it differently just be willing to add in the extra to pay the extra fee and the seller won’t care. It’s not a big deal at all, I’ve bought five and every seller said the same thing. I do remember stressing about it the first time though then learning that’s there’s a fee difference and that’s the reason.
2 Likes
Live animals/pets is considered property/goods in the spirit of the program. Protected only if the seller can’t provide proof of delivery and provided that your transaction has met eligibility of the program: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full#purchase-protection
2 Likes
What do people use instead of PayPal?
@duckdangerfield you didnt read what @azoreptiles wrote? Paypal will not back you up if its for animals.
After reading further into it, it looks like paypal didn’t care it was an animal or not just that said item was not delivered. Every case is special and I don’t know the specific details. I did read what he said,. I also read PayPal’s agreement. You should browse it.
1 Like
PayPal will not cover you. See the part about if you met the eligibility. Ask them what that means. I never got a straight answer all I got was it’s a case by case basis. That’s paypal speak for your screwed if a buyer files a dispute against you.
Case by case and animals is not listed as an ineligible item.
1 Like
@azoreptiles this is exactly what happened to my friend and others. You will lose.
1 Like