Changes For PayPal on Audiogon

[LarsT]

PayPal recently changed their policy regarding marketplace sales, and they are now requiring a business account with a Merchant ID. Can anyone explain what, if any, ramifications there are if I do this. Or should I just accept credit card payments?

[For The Love of Music]

Setting up for taxes?

[Antonmb]

All PayPal accounts, whether personal or business, already have a Merchant ID. It will show in your account setting. Do you have a link you could share where you saw the requirement to upgrade to a business account? I’m unable to find reference to this requirement.

[Projectman]

I have used PayPal for 20 years and have never upgraded to a business account. I did notice in my account settings that I do have a merchant ID.

The chatter on the forums is PayPal will now report sales to states that have implemented a State sales tax. That could be a big hit for some people.

[Still-One]

Over the past year or so PayPal has "asked" if I wanted to open a merchant account. I have never responded.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Still-One

Over the past year or so PayPal has "asked" if I wanted to open a merchant account. I have never responded.

Jim.......Same here. Just this morning I received a PayPal email encouraging me to "take advantage" of the business account. No thanks.

[rnrmf1971]

From what I understand, not everyone has this merchant ID. Some years ago, longtime users, who perhaps conducted a certain amount of business on PayPal, were automatically upgraded to an account type that was a blend of personal and business accounts and included a merchant ID. I vaguely remember being notified of the change to my account. This type of account is apparently no longer available. From what I read, newer personal accounts no longer have a merchant ID.

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by rnrmf1971

From what I understand, not everyone has this merchant ID...From what I read, newer personal accounts no longer have a merchant ID.

This is from the PayPal website:

“How do I find my Secure Merchant ID on my PayPal account?

Each PayPal account has an unique merchant account ID. When you create a payment button, you can choose to display your merchant account ID instead of your primary email address. This way your email address won't be visible to spammers.

You can find your merchant account ID under "Account options" in your Settings.”

https://www.paypal.com/c2/smarthelp/...locale.x=en_C2

And this from a moderator on the PayPal Community forum:

“All PayPal accounts, regardless of Personal or Business, will have a merchant ID as all accounts are capable of receiving payments. It does not affect your account in anyway, but does help our customer service locate an account if you were to ever need assistance in selling. Otherwise, it's just cosmetic.”

[rnrmf1971]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

This is from the PayPal website:

“How do I find my Secure Merchant ID on my PayPal account?

Each PayPal account has an unique merchant account ID. When you create a payment button, you can choose to display your merchant account ID instead of your primary email address. This way your email address won't be visible to spammers.

You can find your merchant account ID under "Account options" in your Settings.”

https://www.paypal.com/c2/smarthelp/...locale.x=en_C2

And this from a moderator on the PayPal Community forum:

“All PayPal accounts, regardless of Personal or Business, will have a merchant ID as all accounts are capable of receiving payments. It does not affect your account in anyway, but does help our customer service locate an account if you were to ever need assistance in selling. Otherwise, it's just cosmetic.”

It may be the case that they don't make the merchant ID visible in all cases. Thus Audiogon has published instructions for a "backdoor" solution to find one's merchant ID in the address bar of one's browser.