TOPIC:

I have noticed that several of my recent purchases have come up "Pay after delivery". I assume this is a new thing. It seems Paypal pays the vendor immediately then charges you some time later.
While on the surface it sounds like a good thing, it looks like it debits your bank account directly even if there is balance available in your Paypal account which may not be what you want to do.

It is possible to change the funding source manually at time of purchase during the checkout process, but it seems to default to "pay after delivery" so needs to be changed every time.

I have also tried to manually pay a scheduled PAD payment using my PP balance (using the "Pay now" button), but it seems not to be possible (i.e. it will only allow you to use your bank account).
I have not done enough transactions to confirm the above yet - can anyone else comment?

I am also concerned who is paying for this. Seeing as PP is effectively "lending" you some money for a couple of weeks, there must be an additional cost to them, which presumably will get passed on somehow.

Hmmm, reading the Ts&Cs:

The entire transaction amount will be funded from the buyer's primary bank account linked to buyer's PayPal account, even if the buyer has a balance in their PayPal account.

It also implies that to get this, you have to "enroll". However, I did no such thing.

Edit: It is possible to switch this off as the "preferred" payment method in your Paypal account (under Profile > My Money). I have done so. However I did not switch this on in the first place and did not receive any notificiation that it had happened (probably was buried in some Ts&Cs update). Very sneaky

I see a couple of potential "reasons" for Paypal "offering" this feature ...

It's possible they think that they are missing out on escrow transactions (where the seller pays a third party & the money is passed on to the seller only after the buyer agrees the item is ok), but TBH if I had so little trust in someone that I needed to use escrow for an eBay purchase, then I simply wouldn't be buying from them.

I think it's more likely that Paypal are trying to move away from credit card funding (which they have to pay a percentage on) to direct bank funding (which they don't) under the guise of offering an "improved" service. One might think that lower costs would mean they no longer have to charge anyone receiving money such a high percentage, but I'm sure that their reasoning would be if you're still getting the same (or "better") service, why shouldn't you pay the same?
Vastly increased profits are due solely to good management on their part

You don't have to do anything to accept changes in Paypal conditions or enroll in new features, by continuing to use the service after they have notified you of any changes you're deemed to have accepted them - it's the same method banks use, bombard you with so many and so large updates to terms that you can't possibly understand them all, not that you really have a choice other than to accept them anyway.


I looked at Paypal's site, I see no mention of "Pay After Delivery" in my profile, nor does that come up when I search on it

What I did see was that Paypal have my debit card and bank account details, despite me never having given them. No doubt my agreement for them to contact my bank and demand them was "sought" and "given" in a T&C update & my continued use of Paypal

add: a quick google search immediately brought up paypal help pages on PAD ... I see the phrase "You need a confirmed bank linked to your PayPal account to use Pay After Delivery. "

Luckily my bank account is unconfirmed, and will remain that way ... at least until Paypal work up a way to confirm it without my involvement

I don't imagine there's any way to opt out of buyers paying you in this manner? Of course not, that would go against their ethos of "Buyer Protection", also known as "giving unscrupulous buyers the means to shaft legitimate sellers more easily".

What eBay/Paypal fail to realise is that if they don't look after sellers, they'll lose them... and without sellers, no-one can buy anything, and there's no way for them to make a profit.