Having a hard time finding a renter who takes paypal :(

[VanessasMom]

I thought accepting paypal as a renter was pretty standard from everything I've read. Now, I can't find anyone to accept paypal from me. I really want to use my credit card in case of fraud (so I am protected). As a renter, I am assuming a lot of responsibility as well and want to make sure I do things right. Also, where are the renters who will sign a written contract?? I was thinking this would be pretty simple, but I'm having a hard time renting.

 

[toesmom]

I would double check with paypal if they will offer you protection in case of services (not too sure about paypal through your credit card). I think you'll have a tough case, because your credit card can reimburse you in case of a problem, but then paypal could fight it.

Check with paypal for what kind of policies they have in place. I have read on these boards that you wouldn't get reimbursement in case of a problem.

Part of your problem to find a member to rent may be that you should be offering more per point!!!!!

 

[GEB@okw]

You may want to up the offer because at $10 a point for BWV points and losing another 3-5% to paypal and the owners are just not making out. I have been charging 12.5 a point for several years with plenty of people looking to rent.

 

[Dis13]

Doesn't Paypal charge a fee for its service? If so, perhaps you should offer more to cover that fee.

 

[JodyTG]

The fee that PayPal charges is the reason I cancelled my account with them. I do not, and will never again, have PayPal.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

I agree with the other posts about paying the PayPal fees. The first time I rented points and took PayPal I didn't fully understand what PayPal was... I was charged the fees and because I didn't have it in my contract that the renter needed to pay these fees I had to eat it. The next times I have accepted PayPal I tell the prospective renter upfront they are responsible for the fees plus the per point cost to rent. I have not had anyone say no...

Sorry though I don't have any extra points at this time..

 

[Chuck S]

While I don't use paypal, nor rent, it certainly makes sense for them to charge fees. Businesses pay fees evey time you pay with a credit card. Depending upon the business agreement, and which processing company they use, those fees can be substantial. Normal businesses are not allowed to pass those fees along to a customer by charging a surcharge for accepting a credit card. I am surprised that part of the PayPal agreement doesn't prohibit owners from passing those fees on to their renters.

 

[jemiaule]

If you have a personal PayPal account you can accept a payment that has gone through a credit card 5 times per year. A personal account is NOT subject to the transaction fees.

If you exceed 5 credit card funded transactions per year Paypal will make you convert your account to a Business account; then you will be subject to their fees. Fees are $0.30 per transaction PLUS 1.9% of the amount sent.

It does not matter what funding method the buyer uses (credit card, PayPal blance or eCheck) you, as the SELLER, have ZERO protection because you are selling a service which Paypal considers an intangible item. PayPal's seller protection ONLY covers tangible items and if the buyer disputes the transaction you must prove delivery. Some will say "well I can send them the confirmation from Disney" - well that won't work the majority of the time. They want a delivery confirmationfrom a service such as USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx, etc.

The buyer is the one who is more protected by PayPal; never, ever, ever is the seller more protected when it comes to intangible items. Yes, occassionally you can win a dispute but more times then often you can't since it is an intangible item.

There are certain ways you will win but it depends on how the buyer files their dispute. If they file it one way you will (more often than not) win, if they file it another you will (more of then not) not win. Sorry, but I am not about to divulge the different ways because I do not want to give an unscrupulous buyer any ideas on how they can fraud someone. If a moderator wants to contact me for more information so they can later help a Seller on DIS who faces a dispute I will be happy to divulge the information to them.

I am sure someone will argue these points with me but trust me I know what I am talking about here. I have run a web based service, which is subscription based (ie: intangible item), since 2003. I have been frauded by unscrupulous buyers many a time. It stinks. Luckily my web service costs under $20. It makes my stomach turn to think of someone here on DIS could possibly get ripped off for hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars.

If you are going to take PayPal I would suggest you be very careful, take it only from someone who has a good amount of posts here on DIS and someone you fell exceedingly comfortable with. No offence OP but with (as of the time of this writing) only 15 posts I would not feel comfortable accepting PayPal from you.

 

[jemiaule]

Normal businesses are not allowed to pass those fees along to a customer by charging a surcharge for accepting a credit card. I am surprised that part of the PayPal agreement doesn't prohibit owners from passing those fees on to their renters.

They do. PayPal is based in California and California state law prohibits charging any form of surcharge for accepting a credit card funded transcation.

Granted, you will still see people on eBay do this but if they are caught they risk getting both their eBay accounts and Paypal accounts closed.

 

[CarolA]

I thought accepting paypal as a renter was pretty standard from everything I've read. Now, I can't find anyone to accept paypal from me. I really want to use my credit card in case of fraud (so I am protected). As a renter, I am assuming a lot of responsibility as well and want to make sure I do things right. Also, where are the renters who will sign a written contract?? I was thinking this would be pretty simple, but I'm having a hard time renting.

You really think PayPal is going to protect you? Have you ever filed a dispute with them? They will tell you CC company whatever they have to to make sure PAYPAL is protected..... NOT YOU!

I have fought with Paypal as both a buyer and a seller. I will not use them any more. In one case they told me "Yes we know we owe you money, but we don't have any way to pay you back so too bad" (The money was IN my account LOL! IT was a NIGHTMARE, they put some type of computer hold on it and could NOT figure out how to release thier hold! I finally gave them the $20 and WALKED!)

 

[VanessasMom]

Sorry, I didn't mean to get flamed here. I was willing to pay the paypal fees for a renter. I have had several replies from renters renting for $10/pt as well. I guess I'll just pay with cashier's check. Thanks.

 

[Chuck S]

Sorry, I didn't mean to get flamed here. I was willing to pay the paypal fees for a renter. I have had several replies from renters renting for $10/pt as well. I guess I'll just pay with cashier's check. Thanks.

I don't think anyone is flaming you personally, they seem to not like PayPal very much.

I, like you, would have assumed PayPal afforded some protection, as you are using a credit card. Apparently their customer service is somewhat lacking.

 

[jemiaule]

Sorry, I didn't mean to get flamed here. I was willing to pay the paypal fees for a renter. I have had several replies from renters renting for $10/pt as well. I guess I'll just pay with cashier's check. Thanks.

Sorry you felt people offering their advice, informing you (and others) about PayPal fees and policies as well as discussing seller protection were the equivalent of getting "flamed".

Perhaps you and I have a different definition of the word

 

[mikesmom]

Actually I don't think use of Paypal is all that common. I have a Paypal account for sending money OUT to pay for the occasional item on Ebay. I have never sold anything on Ebay, so would not have the slightest idea how to take money IN or how to use Paypal as an intermediary if I did want to sell something. I suspect unless people have an Ebay business they may be in the same boat.

My hunch would be that most of the people who have Paypal to accept money for renting are, maybe not professional, but at least regular renters of their points. Or, they have some other sort of business and know the hassles of the paperwork and fees associated with Paypal or credit cards. As such, they are probably looking for more than $10/point. The casual "I've got points left over" or "I need to get cash for the points this year to take a cruise" people are the ones likely to rent at $10/point but are less likely to have some business like way of accepting money.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[Inkmahm]

Doesn't Paypal charge a fee for its service? If so, perhaps you should offer more to cover that fee.

Yes, they do. I had points transfered to me in 2006 and to be able to use paypal to pay the DVC member, I just had her tell me what the charge was. I paid the charge.

I would think if a renter volunteered to pay the paypal charge in addition to the rental cost, a DVC member would be likely to accept paypal.

 

[WolfpackFan]

As far as receiving money via PayPal it is very easy. I just did it when I sold a cell phone. Once the money was in my PayPal account, I just had it moved to my checking account. Now if you are moving more than $500, you do have to pay an extra fee, but I don't think it's much. Overall I like using PayPal.

 

[crisi]

It does not matter what funding method the buyer uses (credit card, PayPal blance or eCheck) you, as the SELLER, have ZERO protection because you are selling a service which Paypal considers an intangible item. PayPal's seller protection ONLY covers tangible items and if the buyer disputes the transaction you must prove delivery. Some will say "well I can send them the confirmation from Disney" - well that won't work the majority of the time. They want a delivery confirmationfrom a service such as USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx, etc.

The buyer is the one who is more protected by PayPal; never, ever, ever is the seller more protected when it comes to intangible items. Yes, occassionally you can win a dispute but more times then often you can't since it is an intangible item.

And that is probably the biggest reason that people who are knowledgeable about Paypal won't use it for DVC rentals.

I understand the the renter wants protection, but the owner needs it as well. If you really want protection as a renter - book through CRO. The main reason DVC rentals go for cheap (IMO) is that it compensates for the perceived risk.

 

[DMKEDM]

I know lots of people who regularly use Paypal and who like it. But I won't go near Paypal. I've had dozens of "fake paypal" emails telling me to confirm big charges, or verify account information...it scares me (I may know just enough to be dangerous about ID theft!)...in any event, I won't use Paypal.

Best wishes to any and all who want to--I know millions do...but I can't think of a single thing I want--to buy or sell--that would make it worth it to me to use Paypal. I can't tell the difference between "real" Paypal email and scam email and having canceled the account I opened (to buy something several years ago), I now need not worry about it. Since I don't have a Paypal account, I know all the "we've had suspicious activity on your account so verify your account" emails are fake...

I don't have an answer to the trust issue. As one who got scammed a few months back (I'm the "sad story from one who trusted too much" OP), I know the risks can be real. So I think I have to agree with Crisi--unless someone who wants to rent points can get to some kind of "comfort level" with the rentee (and visa versa), no one can expect to either make the money by renting out, or save the money by renting from an owner.

Of course, this is easy for me to say...I do not need or want to rent my points. A couple of times I've read a post that "inspired me" to be nice...to offer to rent points because someone was having trouble getting points (as many posters offered points to me when I got scammed some months back)...it has never actually come to pass, and I'm getting pretty close to just deciding "no renting"--in either direction. It feels bad to have a nice gesture "slapped back" and it certainly did also feel bad to be scammed when I tried to rent additional points for myself.

Bottom line: my two unsuccessful forays into renting have pretty much convinced me that absent some kind of financial "emergency," or knowing the person on the other end of the rental transaction, I'm out of any kind of renting activity...I don't like being mistrusted (even tho I understand no one on these boards knows me and therefore how can anyone know that I can be trusted?)...I'll either go thru CRO if I don't have enough points to go as often (or as grandly) as I want, or buy more points! And there are plenty of people out there who are willing to rent points so those who want to rent won't "suffer" by my decision to stay out of the rental world...

 

[BroganMc]

I can't tell the difference between "real" Paypal email and scam email and having canceled the account I opened (to buy something several years ago), I now need not worry about it. Since I don't have a Paypal account, I know all the "we've had suspicious activity on your account so verify your account" emails are fake...

Just look at those email headers (the full headers) and you'll quickly discover what is a scam. I've had several and a couple that were very clever scams sent to me (they used a PayPal page as a screen capture/photo insert), but I know enough to know how to discern good from bad e-mail.

I use PayPal all the time for work and to sell football tickets on eBay. The trouble with using credit cards is that the seller has to increase fees just enough to cover costs. (And eBay takes more out than PayPal.) For buyers, using a credit card overrides PayPal's built-in protection.

I don't think I'd ever send someone a cashier's check or expect them to send one to me. That's just unreasonably dangerous for me. Only time I have ever done cash exchanges are in face-to-face meetings or for a regular buyer I had a certain level of trust shared.

Course I'm not at the stage of renting points. I'm too busy hording mine for future travels.

 

[JLS]

Whoever posted that paypal does not charge fees for personal accounts for the first 5 transactions per year is not correct. Currently, paypal charges 3% on every transaction. I have given renters the option of either paying by paypal, which some people find convenient, but including enought to cover the transaction fees, or they can send me a personal or bank check. If its a personal check, I have no problem with that but I let them know that obviously the check has to clear and I will wait enough time to make sure that happened (10 days to 2 weeks to be safe), so I make sure I have received payment in full well before the 30 day cancellation deadline.

As a seller/owner, you have plenty of protection because if you don't get paid, or a check bounces or whatever, you can simply cancel the reservation and rerent, as long as you did not put yourself in a bind by renting too close to your cancellation or expiration dates.

Other posters are correct, though, that paypal will not protect you as a seller or renter in this transaction. The renter, unfortunately, just has to have a degree of trust. Ask for references!