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The link redirects me to the homepage.

Paypal is ripping me off. So you think it's fine to charge customers more money than what the website lists and what reliable currency converters list? I bought Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 in January and I don't remember the price being different than what was shown on cdjapan. They should have their conversion up-to-date if it's not. There is no excuse.

Secondly, Paypal is not a bank or really comparable to one. They can't protect you for shit if someone hacks into your account or if a buyer wants their money back. They rip off people who want to sell products online. You may think complaining about $3 discrepancy on their yen to usd currency converter isn't much, but this stuff adds up -- they regularly rip off sellers charging them around 4% (3.75% in Jan 2012) of the cost of their good sold. They aren't as special as they think they are and people are wising up.

From music seller http://www.ear-rational.com

Spoiler:

I mentioned Dwolla in the latest weekly update, and I thought I'd send a more detailed email.

We've been accepting PayPal payments for about 10 years now, and while it's great being able to send payments back and forth via email, it's expensive. We pay 2.5% + 30 cents per transaction, REGARDLESS OF THE FUNDING SOURCE.

Paying 2.5% + 30 cents to receive a credit card payment is actually a reasonable deal, given that we are an Internet retailer and do not handle the credit cards in person.

But paying that amount for a payment which is coming from the customer's bank account is ridiculous. Even worse, PayPal charges that same fee when the funds are coming from the customer's PayPal balance! (In that case, the funds are in PayPal's coffers--they simply lower the customer's balance by the amount sent, and increase my balance by the same amount--minus the fee).

(For those who have told me that PayPal payments are FREE if you are not paying by credit card, this is only true for Personal payments. It's certainly possible for you to send me a Personal payment when you are not paying by credit card, but technically it's against the rules. Personal payments are great when you want to send money to your kid in college, or to pay your rent, or to split a dinner check, but they are not supposed to be used to pay for goods.)

SO, I'm glad to see there is a viable competitor out there when it comes to paying directly from your bank account.

Dwolla (which I think is a dumb name, but what do I know) allows you to send money from your bank account to mine, and charges only 25 CENTS to do this, regardless of the size of the transfer!

They are currently moving between $30M and $50M per month. Signing up is quick and easy (and FREE), and sending payments is FREE. The recipient pays 25 cents to receive a payment, but the sender pays nothing, just as with PayPal. Here's an article entitled "This 28-Year-Old's Startup Is Moving $350 Million And Wants To Completely Kill Credit Cards":

http://read.bi/toVnVt

One downside for now is that they are U.S. only. I suspect they will be able to expand outside the U.S., but fees would be higher due to currency conversion and whatnot. But we'll see.

So if you are currently in the U.S. and paying us via PayPal, and are NOT funding your payments with a credit card, please consider signing up for Dwolla (http://www.dwolla.com) and using it to pay us. You can feel good knowing that we are not getting screwed by PayPal in order to receive your cash. (=

Here's a recap of our preferred electronic payment methods:

INSIDE the U.S. and using your bank account to pay

1. Dwolla (we pay 25 cents to receive your payment) or
2. PayPal (we pay 2.5% + 30 cents to receive your payment)

INSIDE the U.S. and paying by credit card, or OUTSIDE the U.S.

1. Use PayPal to send us payment, or
2. Enter your credit card info on our website and we will charge your card

(we pay the same fee either way)

I realize this was long-winded, so thanks for reading this.

Dave

First off, Dwolla is U.S. only, so stop reading if you're not in the U.S. (I apologize, but there is no way for me to limit these emails to the U.S. folks on my mailing list).

Next, I want to clarify my comments about Dwolla, because I see they have the potential for being misinterpreted.

I am NOT asking my customers to stop using credit cards. Credit cards are a standard way of doing business and businesses expect to pay a fee to accept credit cards, and the 2.5% + $0.30 I pay is in my mind a reasonable fee for offering my customers the convenience of paying by credit card. Many credit cards offer cash back, travel points, and other loyalty programs, and I'm happy my customers are taking advantage of such deals.

However, paying 2.5% + $0.30 to accept a PayPal payment which was funded FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, is usurious, and Dwolla knows this. I wouldn't be surprised if PayPal eventually lowers the fee on bank-funded payments, in order to stay competitive. But for now, they aren't budging.

SO, if you are currently using PayPal in order to send us payments FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, please consider using Dwolla. Switching from PayPal to Dwolla for these kind of payments will save me needless fees, and will cost you nothing, since you wouldn't be getting any cash back/travel points/etc. by doing a transfer from your bank account.

If you're currently using credit cards to pay through PayPal or you've entered your credit card info for us to charge your card, then stick with it if it works for you!

Thanks,
Dave

I ended up purchasing my product (Tetsuo Complete Box) from otaku.com because Alex lists the amount in USD and paypal can't price hike. Buying stuff from Japan is expensive enough. I don't need paypal trying to milk more money out of me.