NOTE: referencing PayPal and Friends, Western Union or Venmo may result in your reply being blocked.
We STRONGLY recommend against these forms of payment.
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NOTE: referencing PayPal and Friends, Western Union or Venmo may result in your reply being blocked.
We STRONGLY recommend against these forms of payment.
It’s pretty clear. Most sites discourage these forms of payment. As a buyer, you have no recourse if a purchase made with these forms of payment goes south.
Hi Mandobar. With respect, I didn't view it as clear, which was why I asked the question. As you know, Paypal has two main categories of payment, or they used to: "Friends and Family," for, clearly, wiring money to friends and family. Their second category of payments was sending money to pay for "Goods and Services." I've read that some people trying to save the "Goods and Services" fee (3.9% I think) have tried to purchase things using the "Friends and Family" descriptor. The chief reason, in my mind anyway, for using Paypal is to secure the transaction from any kind of mistake, accident, damage, or from purposeful shenanigans. It is my understanding that "Friends and Family" payments do not secure a "Goods and Services" transaction, for obvious reasons, but it's more than just that. Paypal provides a useful service and, like anybody else, deserves to be paid for that service. To try and hoodwink them by using "Friends and Family" for a "Goods and Services" transaction is simply wrong on several levels and is also, I would imagine, quite possibly illegal. Always pay Paypal their asking price to use their services! If the 3.9% fee is a problem, the seller and buyer can just split the fee or the fee could be figured into the asking price. My original question was prompted by the words "PayPal and Friends." I didn't know what that meant and still don't. As the mandolincafe staff are very good and very competent, I imagine it is either some new category of which I am unaware or a typo. I suspect the latter.
As Mandobar said it’s pretty clear.
“Postings referencing Venmo, PayPal Family and Friends and Western Union will be blocked as their use is not permitted by those companies for commercial transactions.”
I’m not sure why you missed the “Family” part, but it is in the guidelines.
There are lots of people who just can't accept the notion of paying a transaction fee, no matter how much they are charging for an item, and will do anything to avoid it. Yes, of course it's unreasonable but those folks are out there.
"Friends and Family" is not the official name of the PayPal service. Perhaps it once was, but it isn't now. Neither is "PayPal and Friends." But you get the idea.
I've used all of those payment methods and others, but generally not for Cafe transactions. It's just simpler to follow the rules.
Yep, it's there all right.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve 2E
What threw me was the original wording of the guidelines instruction. If the guidelines had said "PayPal Family and Friends," I would have understood. But it didn't say that and I was not sure what it meant as written. "Paypal and Friends," is what the guidelines referenced. "Paypal Family and Friends" means something different to me. I just wanted clarification.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve 2E
That’s cool. I read the guidelines after your post and noticed it referenced “PayPal Family and Friends.” I copied and pasted directly from the guidelines and wasn’t sure why you didn’t see what I saw. I didn’t see “PayPal and Friends” in the guidelines. Like you I’m just seeking clarity.Quote:
Originally Posted by timacn
No, it isn't: https://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin...page_button=onQuote:
Originally Posted by timacn
Attachment 201438
This is what I see at the moment.
'Postings referencing Venmo, PayPal Family and Friends and Western Union will be blocked...'
This might be clearer:
'Postings referencing Venmo, PayPal’s 'Family and Friends', and Western Union will be blocked...'
-the problem being that if someone has never used PalPal before then they may believe, from this text, that PalPal is not allowed at all.
@Mandobar Your 'Sorry, I am no longer suffering fools' in itself may also be confusing! :)
I think everything is cleared up. I copied my initial quote directly from somewhere on the mandolincafe site and that quote read as if PayPal, Venmo, and Western Union would be blocked on the site. My guess is that the guidelines were published in several places on the site and one of those places had a typo. Very good policy for mandolincafe to prohibit PayPal "Family and Friends" transactions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon DS
-I can imagine a couple of situations where it would not be a good policy, however the policies of MandolinCafe are not up for discussion, for obvious (good) reasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by timacn
:mandosmiley: :)
Hi Simon. I think for buying any sort of "goods and services," Mandolincafe's Paypal policy is a good one and it adheres to Paypal's official guidelines.
The people running Mandolincafe strike me as extremely competent and extremely ethical, so their Paypal policy doesn't surprise me.
I don't understand why Venmo is blocked. Who says it's not for commercial transactions? I don't use Venmo, but I just looked at the site and they sure seem to encourage commercial use. Am I missing something?
Well, Venmo has indeed started charging a fee for some transactions; to my surprise I incurred a fee last time I sold a mandolin using Venmo (in a face-to-face, non-Cafe deal).
I don't know what this fee covers, or whether Venmo has introduced (or will introduce) buyer protection policies similar to PayPal's.
Of course all policies are subject to periodical review. If Venmo establishes such protections, who knows? It's entirely up to the site owner's discretion.
OK, I see that (according to Wikipedia) "Prior to October 2015, Venmo prohibited consumer-to-business transactions on the platform. " After that it got more complicated. So, the policy made sense originally, and now, who knows?
It was a little confusing for me. I didn't get "and Friends."Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandobar