BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

I have done dozens of transactions on several of these boards and so far have never had a problem. Knock on wood I have always used, and received, the gift option since it came out to save everyone the paypal tax and before that we would exchange PP addresses and send money.

I have a guy (not here) who is adamant about me sending him an invoice. Am I running into trouble down the line with this transaction? I am not a business, so I cant prove I sent him anything other than an empty insured box.

Am I being paranoid or is this normal?

Thanks.

Thanks Sonic! When things get expensive and different I worry. Cant afford to lose that much. I am super honest and always post fast and follow up after the sale. I suspect not many do that and he is worries about me.

Question: what's his stated reason for demanding an invoice? I presume it would be to somehow help him in the event that he doesn't receive the goods he purchased. And then, how might that potentially hurt you? I don't see how it alters the "his word against yours" scenario. It gives him some evidence the transaction took place, but you presumably have no purpose in denying that.

If you go thru the normal paypal process instead, you still have no way of proving you didn't just send him an empty box.


I've only done the "gift" thing once, and it was actually a gift, or rather a charitable contribution. There was a fee taken from the gift sender (me), probably less than the normal paypal fee. I didn't, at that time, bother to compare. How much are you really saving by using the gift option? Is it worth the trouble?

sonictroubadour wrote:

Strat-o-lux wrote:If you go thru the normal paypal process instead, you still have no way of proving you didn't just send him an empty box.

Actually, your receipt does show the weight of the item that was sent, so, you could prove that you didn't send an empty box, but you couldn't prove that it wasn't 2 Lbs 2 Ozs of rocks, instead of a pedal.

Good one, Steve!

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to feel that using the "gift" option to evade paypal fees is bad policy. I hate what paypal/ebay has become, and their fees are excessive. But gaming the system, as Sonic points out, lends a sort of funky vibe to the transaction.

It isnt so much that he didnt want to do the gift option, but every transaction I have done no one asked for an invoice. I just thought it strange and wondered, since I dont know anything about invoices, if it set me up for unusual liabilities.

thesjkexperience wrote:It isnt so much that he didnt want to do the gift option, but every transaction I have done no one asked for an invoice. I just thought it strange and wondered, since I dont know anything about invoices, if it set me up for unusual liabilities.

That's probably been answered as well as it can be. You're perhaps "safer" without one, but providing it certainly shouldn't create unusual liabilities. After all, most sales transactions do involve an invoice or sales receipt of some sort.

By the way, I wasn't passing judgement on your use of gift option. Just expressing my thoughts on it as regards my own use of Paypal.

My guess is that he just wanted to make sure you were the same person he was sending the funds to via paypal.

I had one guy ask for this in the past but backwards-- I was buying from him and he insisted he send me an invoice rather than me just sending the $$ to him.