Is Escrow.com violating Paypal TOS? Who else is doing this?

[PowerUp]

I found this in the "Auction Thread" Sticky rules"

4.7 No Surcharges. You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions.

At escrow.com, I know the escrow fee is higher when the buyer chooses to pay with Paypal, I suppose is because to cover the Paypal fees. Is escrow.com violating the Paypal TOS? Which other service you know that is doing this? Does anyone know whether Paypal enforces this rule on the merchant or not?

 

[AdoptableDomains]

At escrow.com, I know the escrow fee is higher when the buyer chooses to pay with Paypal, I suppose is because to cover the Paypal fees. Is escrow.com violating the Paypal TOS? Which other service you know that is doing this? Does anyone know whether Paypal enforces this rule on the merchant or not?

With paypal and most credit card providers (Visa, MasterCard) it is against the rules to charge the fee back to the buyer. However, many companies get around this by offering a cash discount. This is essentially just giving it a different name, but it works.

Escrow.com goes a step further and has two levels of service. The premium service happens to accept paypal and credit cards, the standard service doesn't. There are a couple other minor differences as well which you can see HERE. This is probably enough difference to call it a service level instead of a fee for paypal and credit.

 

[Pred]

Moniker add 4% on when funding account if paying by paypal

so this is against terms and conditions? It regularly annoys me that they do this

 

[Name Trader]

eNom too

 

[PowerUp]

Does AfterNic charge additional? I've never used their service before.

With paypal and most credit card providers (Visa, MasterCard) it is against the rules to charge the fee back to the buyer. However, many companies get around this by offering a cash discount. This is essentially just giving it a different name, but it works.

Escrow.com goes a step further and has two levels of service. The premium service happens to accept paypal and credit cards, the standard service doesn't. There are a couple other minor differences as well which you can see HERE. This is probably enough difference to call it a service level instead of a fee for paypal and credit.

What do you mean by "giving a cash discount". Can you elaborate or give example?

 

[lzy]

Moniker add 4% on when funding account if paying by paypal

so this is against terms and conditions? It regularly annoys me that they do this

I'm curious about this too. Do Moniker have some sort of special privilege in this case?

 

[copper]

Moniker add 4% on when funding account if paying by paypal

so this is against terms and conditions? It regularly annoys me that they do this

You are right

 

[shockie]

paypal should take that out of its tos imo... unless they lower their fees!

 

[AdoptableDomains]

What do you mean by "giving a cash discount". Can you elaborate or give example?

Examples:

1. A lot of truck stops now show two prices for Diesel fuel. One price is for cash, another price is for credit. They essentially are offering a "cash discount" for non-credit transactions.

2. I used to go to a computer show/flea market where most vendors had a sign up that said "All marked prices reflect a 3% cash payment discount". This allowed them to charge 3% more for credit without violating the letter of the credit card agreements.

Really, it's all just word games. As long as you don't call it a credit card surcharge or merchant fee or discount reimbursement, you can pretty much get away with it.

Enom uses another tactic by having you buy "points". They just give you 97 points per $100 paid by credit or paypal instead of 100. Their cash discount is you get the full 100 points if cash payment is mailed or wired to them.

Here are the rules from the standard MasterCard merchant agreement at mastercard.com (bold and underline by me):

9.12.2 Charges to Cardholders
A merchant must not directly or indirectly require any MasterCard cardholder
to pay a surcharge or any part of any merchant discount or any
contemporaneous finance charge in connection with a MasterCard card
transaction. A merchant may provide a discount to its customers for cash
payments. A merchant is permitted to charge a fee (such as a bona fide
commission, postage, expedited service or convenience fees, and the like) if
the fee is imposed on all like transactions regardless of the form of payment
used.
• A surcharge is any fee charged in connection with a MasterCard transaction
that is not charged if another payment method is used.
• The merchant discount fee is the fee the merchant pays to its acquirer to
acquire transactions.
9.12.2.1 Charges for Unique Transactions

As an acceptor of credit cards, PayPal has to abide by these rules as well, but also imposes them on non-credit card PayPal transactions.

 

[Pred]

so can Moniker rep come on and tell us they are going to stop this practice?

after all, if we cant even post a thread on np asking for 4% to be added on, how can a commercial giant like Moniker (that's just been bought for 200 million $ by oversee) keep penny pinching this 4%?

it's against paypal terms of service after all

nb: i have always been biggest fan of Moniker, i have thousands of domains there, but this and a few other things have troubled me recently. Moniker and Monte were always great to listen to domainers and work with us. Lets see if this is still the case...................

Monte?

 

[Mark]

It is odd that some Registrars do this .... and others don't.

Moniker does it - Resellerclub/Directi sort of does it (They only deposit the amount minus the fees) , But other sites like domainsite etc ... Deposit the full amount toward your account balance/purchases.

 

[lzy]

so can Moniker rep come on and tell us they are going to stop this practice?

after all, if we cant even post a thread on np asking for 4% to be added on, how can a commercial giant like Moniker (that's just been bought for 200 million $ by oversee) keep penny pinching this 4%?

it's against paypal terms of service after all

nb: i have always been biggest fan of Moniker, i have thousands of domains there, but this and a few other things have troubled me recently. Moniker and Monte were always great to listen to domainers and work with us. Lets see if this is still the case...................

Monte?

Moniker's rep haven't been coming to NP lately right?

Love to hear what Monte have to say about this too.

 

[Brujah]

Enom and Sedo both charge 3% if not mistaken, depending on the amount.

 

[dnb8]

Enom and Sedo both charge 3% if not mistaken, depending on the amount.

Sedo charge 3% if more then $500.

 

[Pred]

time we kicked all their asses if u ask me.
they are making millionms and penny piching from us and breaking a lot of rules.

none of them are as big as paypal so how about we get the various spokes[people on here? if they decide not to turn up, we report them to paypal for violation

simple. sick of these pricks making millions and having cheek to charge us the extra mile

 

[PowerUp]

time we kicked all their asses if u ask me.
they are making millionms and penny piching from us and breaking a lot of rules.

none of them are as big as paypal so how about we get the various spokes[people on here? if they decide not to turn up, we report them to paypal for violation

simple. sick of these pricks making millions and having cheek to charge us the extra mile

I think nothing will change financially speaking. Moniker (and others) will just revise the wordings or the way they credit your accounts so as to comply with Paypal's TOS, as pointed out by Adoptable domains above.

 

[Pred]

i tend to agree

i expect nothing less of enom etc, but Moniker have a chance to shine like they once did and buck the trend
they have to remeber they are nothing without us, show us loyalty or we vote with feet. simple

:kickass: