PayPal made changes to its user agreement, PayPal Here agreement, and privacy policy that will go into effect in May. It also made changes to its user agreement that went into effect this week.
Previously if you sent a personal payment, you could generally elect whether you or the recipient paid the transaction fee. As of March 25, senders are no longer be able to choose who pays the fees for some personal payments and instead, senders are always required to pay applicable fees.
PayPal explained that in its new, updated user experience, the fees will always be disclosed to the sender of a personal payment before he or she sends the payment. But, it wrote, “Keep in mind, that if you are the recipient of a Personal Payment from a sender who is not using the updated experience, you may have to pay the Fees if the sender elects that the recipient of the Personal Payment pays any applicable Fees.”
Another set of changes to its user agreement take effect on May 15, 2014. U.S. Sellers who sell an item to buyers in the UK will be subject to the UK buyer protection rules which have greater coverage for buyers. It explained that PayPal Seller protection is available for eligible payments from buyers in any country, but, “When a U.S. seller sells an item to a UK buyer, the UK buyer protection rules will apply to that transaction.”
PayPal is also raising the transaction amounts that require signature confirmation in order for sellers and buyers to qualify for PayPal protections. PayPal currently requires that sellers obtain signature confirmation for transactions of $250 or more in order for a transaction to be eligible for seller protection for an Item Not Received Claim – it is raising that amount to $750, and the foreign equivalency amounts are also being increased.
PayPal currently requires a buyer to obtain signature confirmation of return delivery for transactions that total $250 or more in order for the transaction to be eligible for PayPal Purchase Protection for a Significantly Not As Described Claim, and PayPal is raising the dollar threshold from $250 to $750.
There are a host of changes outlined on the PayPal Policy Updates page, sellers should be sure to review it carefully.
In its email to merchants notifying them of the changes, PayPal wrote in part, “We know this might not be your favorite stuff to read, but it’s important and we have to inform you about it all, so if you are interested take a look. Our legal team has worked long and hard to make the changes clear but if you have other pressing things to do we’ll understand. In short, we’re continuing to be more transparent with all our privacy policies and we’re protecting you more with upping the transaction amounts that require your signature and there are a few more items as well.”
