I don't like PayPal but will use it if there is no other alternative and I trust the seller. But even then, I treat the transaction like sending cash, with no chance of resolving a problem if I encounter one. PayPal strikes me as very much like the airlines: They sell you an expensive contract with robust protection for themselves and no avenue for a passenger to recover if the airline defaults. That stinks. I think PayPal has found a (temporary) way to skirt the protection federal law affords buyers in credit card transactions.

I don't like doing business this way, and I have not purchased items for which I only had a marginal desire or need when PayPal was the only way to pay . . . they just weren't worth the risk.

While traveling in Australia recently, I encountered a business practice that has yet to become very common in the United States. Vendors - in my case hoteliers and tour operators - would charge me the fee they paid to process a credit card transaction in addition to the cost of the goods and services. I was traveling and had better things to worry about, so I just blew it off. But back home, I REFUSE to do business with someone charging this separate fee. Merchants that accept credit cards are getting a lot of business precisely because the buyer can pay with a credit card. I don't think it's unreasonable for the buyer to demand the seller pay the credit card fee.

Wait . . . I can hear the howls of protest from merchants now. I am not laying out a logical business case for or against credit card fees and who should pay them. I'm just expressing my buyer's preference. I'd probably rationalize some entirely different opinion as a seller.

So the point of the [sale price + credit card fee] comment is this: If you plan to accept both PayPal and credit cards, roll the average cost of a sale (credit card fees + PayPal fees) into the price you charge. Don't break it out as a separate fee. If you charge a premium for me to use my credit card versus some other method of payment, I'll go elsewhere and probably never come back.

Is this an irrational position on my part? Absolutely. All logical arguments will be ignored . . . this isn't about logic.

Abax