I've noticed this is a trend among artists, not just here on Subeta, but pretty much everywhere on the internet. For the most part it's harmless, but I'm gonna tell you a little story.

To start off, it's actually against Paypal's TOS to request to be paid as a 'gift' or 'payment owed' for digital art.

I know it's nice not to get charged the fees, but that's the price you pay for using Paypal. The money you're receiving is not a gift; you're getting paid for a service. 'Payment owed' might make sense, but you're still paying for the service, you don't owe anyone money because you borrowed it from them or because you owe rent. It also seriously fucks over the customer if you ever decide to not deliver the finished piece. (I'm not saying any artist here does that, especially if you ask for payment after the product is delivered.)

If you send payment marked as a gift, or anything under the second tab, you cannot dispute it. I know this from reading artists_beware and because I've been fucked out of my money and now can't dispute it because I was asked to send it as a 'gift.' I've just been sending it marked as gifts because I thought that's just what you do, but in reality you shouldn't be doing it at all, unless it's actually a gift.

On any other site, if an artist asks you to send money as a gift and is also asking for prepayment, it's probably a huge red flag. However, a lot of artists, and even commissioners like myself, are just doing it out of ignorance.

The premise of not being charged with Paypal fees is really enticing, but the fact of the matter is that it's not a good practice, and is in fact against Paypal's TOS. If you google 'sending money as a gift through paypal', 99% of the topics you'll see are all warning against doing so.

Thanks for this. I just got paypal, have barely used it, and wasn't aware of this. Now I know its something to look out for.

See, this is something I've never been sure about and I kind of just.. don't say anything on how to pay me for my art over paypal. I think I'll set up a short little tutorial or something letting people know how they should go about not using the 'gift' option.

If you select it is a purchase of services, aren't you not charged for it? That's how I was always told to send commission payment.

Oh huh, I had no idea it was against the TOS. I've always asked to be paid as a gift to avoid fees because I'm already undercharging for my art, and hate paying fees on top of that. Actually, I've been charged fees before even with gift payments, so that point is kind of moot too. I'm also afraid of the buyers doing chargeback, as I've heard of that happening so it's not just the buyers that have to worry here! But if it's against the TOS in the future I'll change to getting them to pay for service and just increase my art price.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

I think there's an option when sending payment to check that you'll pay the fees, at least that's what I've read! I'm not sure if that's true or not, but if it is then that helps a lot for the fee business.

Art is risky business, both for buyers and sellers. : ( I think every form of payment, besides sending cash in the mail or something, involves fees, which also kind of sucks.

It does! I mostly seem to work with people that I already know these days, so I'm not too worried, but every so often I'll work with someone that I've never seen before, and that's when I start breaking out the watermarks and triple check everything before I send the art over xD Thankfully I've only been screwed over once, and that was just for a little sketch!

ART WORLD NOT AN EASY PLACE.

- I really appreciate the warning, as I'm new to PayPal and using it is a learning process for me. Thanks for that.

Fees with paypal are just ridiculous for the buyer and the artist. If you need to give the money back, who is that even possible with the fee deduction in place? You'd just be giving back a fraction of the price and there's nothing you can do about it.

Necro, I think...? Or no, it's actually in the 'useful topics' list. I did it again, great. Don't think you can remove this post..?

thanks for posting this, very helpful information!

..since this is not necro then..?

The fees might be uncomfortable, but paypal is not a charity. You know, thats the deal. They offer a service and if you want to use it, you have to pay for it. If you are not really willing to "accept" that, you should try to use a different payment option. In "reality" a bank would charge you fees either, just because its online doesn't make it less of a service that has to be paid for.

Since this is not necro... xD

Yeah, there is... for Paypal US and I think some other countries, but not all of them (mine doesn't, for instance) D: I am so very annoyed by this, but yeah, I definitely make sure to add something on top of what the artist asks for, because I'd hate to have them part with a fraction of their payment for that :/ And it's better not to think about skipping tax payment, after all, it's a cash transaction often involving unknown parties. Must do things right.

Chase now has a QuickPay option that is set up just like paypal. I don't think it has any fees on it (granted, I've only ever used it to send money to someone who also had a chase account).

Just wanted to point out, this website is amazing for figuring out fees, what to charge to combat them, etc.

You can type in how much you want to make after fees, and it explains how much to charge up front.

So how ARE we supposed to receive payments for art?

Just don't mark it as gift. If its not a gift, but payment, don't mark it as gift. And thats it. Means either of you have to pay a small fee for the transaction. But thats just fair if you consider that you are using their service after all.

ah okee, thanks for the info :)