We use PayPal for payments here at Swappa because they provide protections for both sides of the transaction — buyer and seller. A bit more specific, Swappa uses PayPal for Marketplaces, which allows a buyer to send a payment to the seller, and to Swappa, in one payment transaction. While this simplifies things on the buyer side, from time to time, it can cause some confusion on the seller side due to what PayPal lists as the Partner Fee.
Does Swappa charge any seller fees?
Getting directly to the point here…Swappa charges fair fees, which are split between the buyer and seller.
Additionally, due to how PayPal for Marketplaces works, sellers see two fees listed in the transaction details for any payment they receive from a Swappa sale.
The first fee is the standard PayPal fee, which is charged by PayPal. The PayPal fee is always shown in the transaction details and those can be found in your PayPal account history. However, checking the details of the transaction is where a seller may notice the second fee, the Partner Fee.
What is a PayPal Partner Fee?
The Partner Fee is included as a part of a PayPal for Marketplaces transaction. This partner fee can mean different things for different marketplaces. On Swappa, the Partner Fee is a combination of the seller fee, buyer fee, and sales tax (where required).
When a seller creates a listing on Swappa, one of the first pieces of information they enter is an Ask Price, and sellers pay 3% of their Ask Price for the seller fee. As an example:
- If you list an item with a $100 ask price, you pay $3 to Swappa and receive a payment of $97 (minus PayPal payment processing fees).
Sounds simple enough so far. But due to how PayPal for Marketplaces transactions have the buyer sending a payment to the seller, and a payment to Swappa in a single transaction — the buyer fee and any sales tax, need to be shown as part of the overall transaction details.
This is the point where there may be some confusion, and due to the way PayPal includes the Partner Fee in the seller’s transaction details — it may not always be immediately clear who paid the Partner Fee (a combination of the seller fee, buyer fee, and sales tax).
- For clarification, the seller pays the seller fee, and the buyer pays the buyer fee and sales tax.
If you sold something on Swappa, and the PayPal payment doesn’t seem correct at first glance — think back to the Ask Price you set when you created your listing. The payment you received will always be your Ask Price (minus the 3% Swappa seller fee and minus the 3.49% + $0.49 PayPal fee). If you have any questions regarding the fee charged by PayPal, we encourage you to reach out to PayPal support.
