Good alternative to PayPal?

I've had PayPal for years, but fees and other issues make it less desirable now.

What's a good alternative now? Venmo?

I'm not a business, just a guy offloading parts online.

Yes, I did a google search, and while reviews are great, hoping I can get some firsthand feedback here.

Thanks!

i myself prefer paypal even after the 3 1/2% fee when using the goods and services option.
in my OPINION it's the safest and most secure and secure digital payment system when using the goods and services payment option. i just figure the fees into my selling price.
i regularly read posts on facebook about how someone scammed them using the other online payment methods.
in my OPINION. if the seller won't accept paypal goods and services payments this is the biggest red flag of it being a scam. if they don't accept paypal goods and services method i won't buy from them unless the transaction is done in person.

Check out cash app, seems to be way better than paypal

I didn't realize last night that Venmo is owned by PayPal. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Thanks for the replies so far!

I hate the Paypal fee structure. Seems to me that for a simple transfer of funds a couple of bucks flat rate fee should be sufficient. Hell, I can instantly send any amount of money to anyone with a Canadian bank account for $1.50 - why does Paypal need a percentage ?!?! Since Ebay dumped them you'd think they'd be doing something to attract business !!

Pay pal used to be owned by ebay, I used them until my bank took out their fees and there wasn't enough money in the account to pay for what i bought. I lost my info and couldn't get a response from Pay pal and never used them again. If you buying stuff off ebay just use a credit/debit card. That's what i use and never had a problem.

All of these apps are monitored by the IRS and issue 1099’s if over $600.00

The thing that put me off paypal is when their latest agreement update said they're going to start charging a fee if you don't use your account for a year. At least in Canada we've got e-transfer.

Even if you find a good alternate I'd still make paypal available. As a buyer I wouldn't want to have to sign up for some payment system I'd never use again.

cashiers check,postal money order.wont take anything else.

be careful with those as well as they can be forged

Don't sell much on line anymore.

When buying, I use Pay Pal as a guest with a credit card. If that doesn't work, I don't need that part. I seldom need anything specific, so usually someone else has whatever part I need. I don't need anything bad enough to jump through someone's hoops just to buy something from them.

If you are selling something over $600 from a private person, you may want to ask the buyer to give you funds in $500 chunks.

Otherwise, you'll be paying taxes.

If you sell something on ebay for >$600, you then are screwed.


Start tracking what you pay for goods so you have a basis for what you paid for the item so that you only get taxed for the difference (zero taxes if sold at a loss obviously).

My understanding is that sales totaling more than 600.00 in a calendar year generate a 1099.
Same with any TPO transfers (paypal etc). Unless the money is designated as other than for a purchase IE: repayment for dinner, a gift to a friend.
Please correct me if I am mistaken

I have been using Zelle for years with no issues until a client tried to pay me this week, he doesn't have a debit card (hard to believe in this day and age) but Zelle WILL NOT work unless you do! I signed up for Venmo last night because he says he uses it all the time but the payment was still not in my account this morning. I never have had an issue with Paypal...

It doesn't matter anymore, if it is over $600 cumulative FOR THE YEAR you WILL get taxed and sent a 1099 now!

the biggest reason why i like paypal is the ability to get your $$$ back if you pay with goods and services.
a lot of other payment services don't have this ability.

Take friends and family is one way to avoid the 1099.

If you can't figure out how to get rid of the income being reported to you in a business type environment. Put it on sch C and hammer away with expenses. Just a bunch more paperwork and effort which sucks. Be creative and aggressive. The sheer number of additional tax forms the IRS will receive from this one reporting change is going to be an avalanche on them. All you money laundering criminals out there... LOL

I thought I saw that venmo was no longer free in some cases. Charging a fee now in similar fashion to paypal.

Correct.
But you won't have the get your money back option on a purchase if your not happy
AND
I wonder how long it will be until they figure out they are losing a bunch of $$ because of people using that option and then start charging a flat fee

[quote=5thAve]
Quote "The thing that put me off paypal is when their latest agreement update said they're going to start charging a fee if you don't use your account for a year. "

How much is the fee for in-active account?

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8949.pdf

If you get a 1099-k, then fill out that form so that you can specify the cost basis for the goods sold.

What a mess.

$20. Looks like it hasn't hit the U.S. yet but has other countries including Canada. Their site says that even just logging in within a year avoids it so that's something anyway.

Any income you make on electronic pay that totals $600+ a year means a tax form from the government. PayPal, EPay, Venmo, EBay, etc is not considered income. I’m having trouble trying to get rid of stuff I bought 20+ years ago with no recipes since it was all swapmeet stuff.

The above bolded statement is confusing as my understanding is the opposite Unless you can provide receipts to offset the sales price and get the net income below 600.
I understand the receipt dilemma and might suggest, estimate (if allowed), or have friends make you receipts from Joyhn Walters, George Sides, Jim Inzauro etc. those would allow you to show a loss

I can only imagine the nightmare this will create for individuals as well as CPA's, not to mention the CPA will probably charge 600 to do the flippin forms, wonder if that's an allowed deduction from "SALES" income

If I have way know of the person im dealing with ive been sending the parts and having them use a priority envelope with cash in it. Ive never had a priority envelope never make it in the last 10 years. A few caught in stupid USPS loops and came back to me but never a bad deal where I didnt get paid.

Ive also sent parts and a summit order for my payment to be sent to me. Even been paid in a gift card.

Still ways around things.

I use paypal for all my online purchases. It's wonderful! Double layer of protection by using credit card as payment source. It you have a problem it gives them a couple of weeks to fix it and if they don't then contact your bank and they will void the charge on card. I had 1 fraud charge and they PP refunded it in a day.

Same here, big red flag.

I never used PayPal other than to purchase something until twelve days ago to sell a vintage NOS motorcycle part to a guy in Australia. PayPal put the buyer's payment into a hold until he received the item because I had never sold anything via PayPal. He received the item in ten days USPS shipping ($95) and the very next day I had the choice of a bank transfer or leave the money in PayPal.............easy, peezy! I guess the next best alternative to PayPal that I'm surprised no one has mentioned it $$$CASH$$$

I've been here how many years??? I no longer accept purchase transactions via paypal, still make me a risk for buying items?

Know your seller is the key.

I don't need the nanny reporting stuff going on via IRS. This all under the guise of ferreting out money laundering. As though big money folks that need money laundered have been doing it under the old rules in the under 20K levels. LOL





It is ABSOLUTELY an expense that you could write off against the 1099K income. Like I said in another thread, use the new rule to YOUR advantage!

And Bingo on the receipts... do you think for a minute that an IRS agent know what a 70 340 auto carb goes for in the market, or a six pack intake... please... write up a fricken receipt and move on make 20% on the sale and have it turn into a huge loss with all the expenses you can hammer against it. Like your trip to spring fling, hotel, mileage etc... YOUR ADVANTAGE

Problem solved

"I've been here how many years??? I no longer accept purchase transactions via paypal, still make me a risk for buying items?

Know your seller is the key.

I don't need the nanny reporting stuff going on via IRS. This all under the guise of ferreting out money laundering. As though big money folks that need money laundered have been doing it under the old rules in the under 20K levels. LOL"


Same here.

For some reason I got a 1099 for 2020. Apparently several states including my useless state required the reporting a year earlier.
I didn’t get one for 2021, after the stress of getting the one for 2020 I learned my lesson and no desire to do that again.
I’m not a business, I’m a guy whose lived in the same house for 30 years and have a lot of stuff I’ve gathered over my life I’d like to find new homes for.
I typically have no idea or record of what I paid for a car part I bought in the 90s and never used, or a die cast car I bought 20 years ago. Or what the “cost” of something I inherited from my dad is.
I still sell a few things on car sites from time to time, only will take friend and family or a check with wait. Don’t like it or trust me? No problem, but sorry don’t buy from me. Again, I’m not making a living from this , and already have enough stress so don’t need the hassle. If something is more trouble than it’s worth, I won’t do it.
Set up at a swap meet for the last first time last year and will be doing that again in the future. Some stuff I have will eventually end up in a landfill or goodwill.
Thanks government for making life even more difficult for little guys just trying to unload their old unused clutter!

Agreed

But still a PITA, So like others I will no longer take payments via PP, E bay or other TPO's. Not worth the nightmare IMO in addition to what my CPA will bang me
To my knowledge Ebay and others are still fighting for a rewrite on the amount but until it is accomplished, I'll stay out using other methods

Yes a PITA

They have opened the door for folks to write off most if not all your hobby losses.

This is going to flood the IRS with more potential audits. LOL As long as your ducks are in a row, you almost always walk out without an issue. It just has to make sense and be NICE...

i agree.
your internet service provider bill will also be partially deductible.
you might even be possible to deduct your cell phone bill.
depending on where you store the parts you could be looking at deducting some of your home expenses for storing the parts also.
how much of the above depends on how aggressive the person doing your taxes is and how good your receipts are.

on the receipts for the sold parts purchase values. you might just find some of then that magically appear in your notebook laying on your desk if you look close enough. how will the IRS prove they are incorrect

Exactly... most of the agents don't know squat about anything. Primarily care about the reported numbers having supporting documents that tie out. They only care that the recording and submission is consistent with tax code.

Pay for a storage facility? There are so many things that can be written off against the 1099K. Run it exactly like a business. Walking in with a shoebox full of unorganized garbage display you are NOT business like and raises more flags for the agent.

Set up a nice spreadsheet with columns for sales price, cost of goods and gross profit/loss (P&L) column. Total at bottom. Make it so they end up giving you BACK an even larger refund or minimize your liability. Make it your benefit, not theirs. Just takes a little time to get it going. Have all your buy and sell info paired up...

Going to Hawaii, look at some cars you may consider purchasing... oh look a tax write off for the trip. Make sure they are on separate islands so those hop fares are decductible too. LOL Think outside the box. DON'T BE LAZY and roll over and take it. Take the hour(s) you spend wasting on the internet and pay yourself using the gift you've been provided. It's all perspective.

Before the penalties for tax preparers, you could run games that distract. Same as race car inspections. Leave obvious stuff out in the open, nail you on that and miss the real important bending of the rules. LOL I could tell you 8-9 figure tax jobs that got pulled over the years. Oh look there is a 250-500K mistake... pay up... yeah you missed the 2-3 million over there.... all good, see you next year... Only thing, once you got through one with little damage, lots of times they left you alone.

Key point is to have your own business....
Then one can write off certain expenses relative to the respective income of the business...
Example...
A few years ago the IRS struck down writing off the expense of a tax preparer, EZ response just make the tax preparer a subcontractor..

Just my $0.02....

And your "new business" can loose money for 3 years in a row without throwing any flags, if one gets close to breaking even, or may make a few bucks (pay the taxes), you could loose money again and not draw any attention. Generally it takes 3-5 years for a business to break even, longer if there is real property or a sizeable investment involved. The government is pretty understanding, just don't make too much, or loose too much on a yearly basis.