Why have my purchases suddenly started to attract a £1 paypal fee?

[bristolsc]

Made two purchases today and have attracted 3 x £1 PayPal fees. Why?

[61stephenuk]

I'm not sure but there have been a few reports of this lately, it may be a card verification or similar, others have said the donation box wasn't ticked and nobody has returned to say if they found out what it was or if the payment was later refunded.

You could try asking eBay direct with a callback https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275

[ali_shopaholic]

That’s just happened to me too. I made 3 separate purchases and all 3 have incurred a £1 fee each. I think we need some answers. 

[papso22]

We do, but that requires the people getting charged asking the right people the question!

[marco@ebay · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Is this charge/fee reflected in your eBay account or just in your payment method (Cards/PayPal account)? This is most likely a new fee introduced by PayPal, but I couldn't confirm since we have no visibility over their system, but I am trying to see if I can find more information on this.

Thank you,

Marco

[papso22]

We are seeing quite a few reports of this happening.   It is not completely clear that in each case PayPal was the payment method.  

[bristolsc]

Update for you Marco. I have no idea how this works but my research points towards a credit card verification fee which is generated as "pending" against your selected PayPal payment method if a credit card is involved. It stands until such time as the legitimacy of the credit card is confirmed and then disappears from your credit card pending payments list when the correct transaction charge is debited from your credit card account. At least that is what appears to be happening with my credit card funded PayPal account. Must be something new (perhaps linked to PayPal's recent decision to revert to UK based transactions as announced in one of their updates a few days ago). So far I have not actually been charged any £1 fees, although I still have a number of pending PayPal transactions (with associated £1 fees) which have yet to reach my credit card balance. Hope this makes sense.

[thesmokingrunner]

@bristolsc 

I think you might be correct. I've had a look into the situation and available information suggests that the £1 'fee' is actually a temporary pre-authorization hold made by a credit card when the card is first used, or the card-holder has recently changed their address or other details on their account, in order to verify the card's validity. It is not, as such, charged by eBay or PayPal and is refunded once the actual payment for the goods is processed.

And with respect marco@ebay  please don't post statements like "This is most likely a new fee introduced by PayPal" with no actual evidence to support it. That is a wildly inaccurate assumption. As a representative of eBay your responses - incorrect or otherwise - are given more weight than those of other users. Please remember that. Thank you.

[bristolsc]

I go along with most of that. What I don't follow is the bit about new credit card or account changes. I've been a member for over 20 years and my current credit card, bank account and user account details haven't been altered for at least 15 years. No matter as the 'problem' resolves itself. Just would be nice to know why it happens.

[thesmokingrunner]

@bristolsc 

Apologies - the phrase "a credit card when the card is first used" which I used may have been a little ambiguous; I did not mean a completely new credit card, I meant a newly issued credit card with new start and expiry dates (the type which is issued to existing card holders when their current card reaches its expiry date).

My current card, for example, was issued just over 3 years ago and has an expiry date of 2026; it replaced my previous card with the same provider, an account with whom I have had for well over a decade. The first time that card was used was therefore regarded as 'first use' and it may be that the first time such a card is used without the CVC number being required triggers a temporary pre-authorization £1 payment hold whilst the card details/account are verified.

I don't know for sure if that's what has happened in the reported cases on these boards but in the absence of any other explanation it is a possible reason.

Failing that such a sudden increase in temporary pre-authorization fees may well be explained by a change in eBay's processing, as a buyer actually pays eBay for a purchase rather than paying a seller direct. If eBay changed any part of their payment processing a card issuer may well register a transaction as 'first use' which triggers the pre-authorization hold. And in the absence of any proper confirmation by eBay, rather than the usual "it's not us" denial and deflection, I have to say that's probably the more likely reason.

I last used my credit card, through PayPal, for a purchase on eBay at the beginning of this month and no £1 fee was included at any point. If a fee appears on my next purchase that, to me, will confirm the above has happened. I'll let you know if that happens.