PayPal
Personal Account Forced Upgrade to Premier Account With Fees

PayPal claims that customers don't have to pay anything for transactions as long as they are within a certain limit: "Personal Accounts are free."

If someone who sells his personal stuff on eBay checks "PayPal," he automatically agrees to upgrade his "Personal Account" to a "Premier Account." This is not explained when he checks the "PayPal" box, but it is hidden in the PayPal user agreement.

Even PayPal's employees don't know that. When I asked why their system would allow a bidder to use his credit card even if my "personal account" would not accept credit cards, the lady told me: just put a note into your eBay listing that you don't accept credit cards.

That's what I did, but some eBay user still used his credit card to pay. I received a message from PayPal with two options, "accept payment" and "deny payment." The "accept payment" option would automatically "upgrade" my personal account to a "Premier Account" with the corresponding rip-off fees. The other option, "deny payment," was shaded and disabled. Below there was a message that I was not allowed to deny the payment since this was for an eBay auction.

When I asked a PayPal supervisor, she told me that I had to accept the payment (and had to "upgrade") according to a hidden detail in their legal agreement (that is obviously not even known by their employees). This agreement states that it is forbidden to put a note into an eBay listing that only PayPal payments without a credit card (e-check or PayPal balance) are allowed.

PayPal's "personal accounts" are only a way to trick people into their rip-off "Premier accounts." PayPal does not make this clear, and even their employees are not able to explain that to customers.

Company: PayPal
Country: USA

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