SimMarket now charging a fee for Paypal usage?

[Luis Hernandez 564]

I did a bogus order in Simmarket (funds very tight for now, just for curiosity, never placed order), when I found this rather nasty surprise:

(Highlighting is mine)

I'm thankful to SimMarket for meeting a big part of my FS needs but, honestly, this looks like nickel & diming.

I don't feel like giving my credit card details to an additional vendor. Looks like I'll be voting with my wallet next time I feel the itch for payware...

 

EDIT: forgot to add, this fee wasn't there before, or at least it wasn't applied in October 2016 (my last order)...

[specialist 51]

Yeah, that's right. If you don't want to be charge a fee, you can either pay by credit card, or buy the same item at another store. What can I say, it's a business, and services do cost.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Paypal is a pain in the @$$ for many vendors so this is no surprise, I gave up on them years ago

[tonywob 4,768]

Same in many places. e.g. Booking flights and hotels. Most will change extra for the convenience :/

[Jimm 437]

9 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

I did a bogus order in Simmarket (funds very tight for now, just for curiosity, never placed order), when I found this rather nasty surprise:

(Highlighting is mine)

I'm thankful to SimMarket for meeting a big part of my FS needs but, honestly, this looks like nickel & diming.

I don't feel like giving my credit card details to an additional vendor. Looks like I'll be voting with my wallet next time I feel the itch for payware...

 

EDIT: forgot to add, this fee wasn't there before, or at least it wasn't applied in October 2016 (my last order)...

I recall making purchases at Sim Market, in the past, but I have no need for it, since there are plenty of other E-Tailers I can purchase from that won't charge extra for PayPal.  Nickel & diming is a good way of putting it.  Shopping online was supposed to be the fastest, most convenient way of purchasing anything online, but now Sim Market is making it a little more 'inconvenient'.  I have to laugh that another one of their payment methods is cash...who the heck sends hard cash through the post these days?  While we're on the subject of online payments, how is it they'll allow credit card transactions, without a fee, but Paypal has one?  Credit card companies obviously charge fees too, so this doesn't make sense.

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Thanks for the heads-up, Luis.

 

Simmarket charge in EUR, so Paypal doesn't have to do any currency conversions for my EUR account. Purchases in USD or AUD can easily be 4% more expensive when payment is provided through PP (due to the way PP calculates those conversion rates).

So Simmarket would still have an edge here but, unfortunately, they have to charge 19% VAT each and every time I buy from them, which is not what vendors outside of Europe usually do.

The combined effect of 19% VAT and 1,5% Paypal fee is almost 21%, as opposed to 4% for me when I get charged in dollars. Sorry, Simmarket, it looks like you're losing me as a customer "a bit more" now ...

[vc10man 732]

1 hour ago, Jimm said:

I recall making purchases at Sim Market, in the past, but I have no need for it, since there are plenty of other E-Tailers I can purchase from that won't charge extra for PayPal.  Nickel & diming is a good way of putting it.  Shopping online was supposed to be the fastest, most convenient way of purchasing anything online, but now Sim Market is making it a little more 'inconvenient'.  I have to laugh that another one of their payment methods is cash...who the heck sends hard cash through the post these days?  While we're on the subject of online payments, how is it they'll allow credit card transactions, without a fee, but Paypal has one?  Credit card companies obviously charge fees too, so this doesn't make sense.

+++1

Intend to give them a wide berth from now on, despite having bought loads of add-ons from them. It's like you line up to get concert tickets, you pay the asking price, and then discover you've paid 2% for the privilege for lining-up yourself as the box office rakes in a tidy 'little earner' for ripping us off. Likewise with simMarket

[skelsey 765]

1 hour ago, vc10man said:

It's like you line up to get concert tickets, you pay the asking price, and then discover you've paid 2% for the privilege for lining-up yourself as the box office rakes in a tidy 'little earner' for ripping us off. Likewise with simMarket

I think that's a little unfair given that PayPal charge almost 5% (plus a currency conversion fee) per transaction outside the US (and even inside the US it's still about 2.5% + fees). It's very convenient for buyers, but as alluded to above expensive and not very convenient for sellers. I doubt SimMarket are making any profit on that extra fee: it is an attempt to incentivise customers to use an alternative payment method. In the same way the box office you compare it to would rather you booked online using the automated service which means they don't have to employ so many people on the desk: I doubt a couple of percent covers the cost of an actual human printing and handing you your ticket.

It would probably be easier for SimMarket to withdraw PayPal as a payment method altogether, as increasing numbers of online retailers have done.

[laserit 93]

I stopped using PayPal

 

Their exchange rate is highway robbery

[Zatoichi 45]

Merchants are passing the fees they used to absorb along to us.

[Jim Young 2,356]

I thought credit card companies charge store owners a service charge too but the store owner eats the service charge in order to continue to do business with a customer or the credit card company will add the charge to your credit card statement.  PayPay is a very secure way of paying for a purchase via your bank account or credit card company.  I like security and don't like giving everyone my credit card numbers and debit card numbers and bank information to every store owner I deal with.  PayPal prevents this from happening.  SimMarket has no idea where your money came from by using PayPal.  PayPal has other services they provide too. 

Best regards,

Jim

[vc10man 732]

3 hours ago, skelsey said:

In the same way the box office you compare it to would rather you booked online using the automated

I did that for a recent Bob Dylan concert in LIverpool. Guess what? Got charged £7 for what was supposed to be a Special Delivery of that ticket. And what happened? Ripped off by the online box office purchase with a bog standard 2nd Class mail delivery!!!! Were I to have lived in student digs, that much-sought after could very easily have gone 'astray'.

AFAIC, if that's simMarket's policy after having bought from them for years, then it's their loss as I'll direct my CC elsewhere.

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

3 hours ago, Jim Young said:

PayPal has other services they provide too. 

One of the neat features is the fact that, if you have a PayPal account and a friend or family member has an account, they can send you hundreds of dollars to your account via PayPal just by typing in your e-mail address in PayPal.  Can a bank do this?  Can a credit card company do this?  Maybe but not as fast and slick as you would want the money super fast.  When one of your favorite friends or family member gives you money to buy, say, P3DV4, they can instantly send it to you. If LM uses PayPay, you just tell PayPal what funds you want to use.  If not enough money was received from your favorite friend, you can tell PayPal to withdraw a portion of the money you received and tell PayPal to use one of your credit cards.  No charge for this service.

Best regards,

Jim

[laserit 93]

7 hours ago, Jimm said:

I recall making purchases at Sim Market, in the past, but I have no need for it, since there are plenty of other E-Tailers I can purchase from that won't charge extra for PayPal.  Nickel & diming is a good way of putting it.  Shopping online was supposed to be the fastest, most convenient way of purchasing anything online, but now Sim Market is making it a little more 'inconvenient'.  I have to laugh that another one of their payment methods is cash...who the heck sends hard cash through the post these days?  While we're on the subject of online payments, how is it they'll allow credit card transactions, without a fee, but Paypal has one?  Credit card companies obviously charge fees too, so this doesn't make sense.

In my business, MC and Visa charge me between 1.49% and 1.9% per transaction depending.

Interact is a flat $0.12 cad per transaction.

American Express wants over 4%, so they can get stuffed, I won't accept American Express.

I don't know what PayPal's rate is, but if it  is similar to American Express I don't begrudge Sim Market. The ######ing should be towards PayPal.

Paypal charged me 4% conversion rate on a (personal digital entertainment software) foreign currency transaction. I Won't make that mistake again. My bank only charges 0.5% 

Every so often in my business I convert $50,000 - $100,000 from CAD to USD and I usually pay about 0.2% through a currency broker.

PayPal IMHO is a little too greedy

[Jimm 437]

3 minutes ago, Jim Young said:

One of the neat features is the fact that, if you have a PayPal account and a friend or family member has an account, they can send you hundreds of dollars to your account via PayPal just by typing in your e-mail address in PayPal.

speaking of which Jim, can you loan me $50? I'll send you my Paypal link.