This article was interesting. PayPal refused to process payments to Bradley Manning's legal defense fund. (It has since been reinstated.) PayPal also froze WikiLeaks' account.
This is one fallacy of using the State financial system. You can be cut off for politically-motivated reasons.
A prosecutor can get an injunction freezing your bank account. Then, you can't even afford to hire a lawyer to contest the asset seizure!
This article is interesting. The author of TortoiseSVN had a disagreement with PayPal and had his account frozen. "PayPal account frozen" freezes your entire bank account. Now, you have the burden of proof to recover it.
If you use PayPal, use that account *ONLY* for PayPal and keep the minimum balance. Your only account at that bank should be your PayPal account. I've heard too many horror stories.
PayPal also froze Markus Persson's account, the author of MineCraft.
If you use the State banking system, and you're unexpectedly successful, then the State may freeze your account, claiming fraud!
Suppose I put a "donate via PayPal" option on my blog. In addition to any PalPal fees, I have to declare the income and pay tax on it. PayPal automatically reports transactions to the IRS.
For a $30 transaction, PayPal charges a fee of 2.9% plus $0.30. This is a fee of $1.17, *PLUS* the recipient owes income taxes.
Suppose you mail a one ounce silver round to me. The postage is $0.81. That's cheaper than PayPal. Plus, I wouldn't have to declare it as income!
Is it legal to mail silver? Yes. Various dealers do this. However, there is a risk that your package could be tampered with. Also, if too many people are mailing you silver, then the post office may rat you out to the IRS.
To mitigate the "Post Office rats you out to the IRS risk.", an agorist courier service is needed.
That was an amusing calculation! It's cheaper to mail someone a 1 ounce silver round, than to pay them via PayPal! PayPal transactions are taxable, in addition to the PayPal fees. If you get physical silver it's tax-free!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
PayPal Or Post Office
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6 comments:
In the UK, Value Added Tax is charged on silver coins. VAT is currently 20%.
So much for the argument that the "efficient" paper and digital money "facilitate" transactions, as opposed to "inefficient" specie (precious metals)!
You may want to open an account with Gold Money and have your donate button linked to that. Not too many people use it, but your blog isn't for the regular soccer mums either.
Gold Money is offshore, but I still don't trust it. It is a whole lot better than PayPal, but when the push comes to shove, of course Gold Money are going to do whatever the big bully says.
Have a Gold Money button next to PayPal? Cash your gold out of goldmoney from time to time, don't trust it 100%.
Where is the "send FSK a silver round button"?
Your business logic is slightly off here. Currently you do not have a donate button, therefore no one can easily donate. If you had a paypal button you would probably get some donations. Even though you will have to pay the fees and taxes you would realize a net profit.
I would recommend against a donate button because you might feel like you are whoring yourself out. Plus you might be tempted to write popular posts to make more money. It is much more interesting to read your posts than it is to read most news articles.
Paypal and credit card companies have brainwashed people into thinking that this is the best way to pay. As a merchant I accept both paypal and all major credit cards. As you know the cost of accepting credit cards is hidden from the buyer. In fact certain discounts are given to buyers to use their credit card. Did you know that the cost of these incentives are sometimes directly passed onto the merchants. Sellers get screwed and buyers remain oblivious to the cost that they ultimately will be paying. The question is "why don't merchants revolt and start accepting payments directly from their customers".
I am revolting.
Last fall my credit card processors sent around a letter requesting my SSN due to changes in their reporting requirements. To be brief this is what it said: in 2011 we will issue you a 1099, in 2012 we will with hold 28% if you do not provide us with your SSN.
A 1099 form is for income received. I have not received any income from the credit card processor. Their job is to transfer money. They have not purchased anything from me so why are they going to give me a 1099 (paypal is also giving 1099s in 2011) This is not part of the "health care bill" it was put into law before that.
I have been trying to get my customers to pay by check instead of credit cards. The resistance that I have found is that "checks take too long to process". To solve this problem I am thinking about extending to customers instant credit up to $300 so that there is no delay in shipping. If they do not send payment then I could post them to a public blacklist on my website with their name and address displayed.
a very depressed - DC
DC:
I am making about $5/month via ads. Extrapolating, I'd need about 200k daily visitors to earn enough to blog as a full-time job.
I'm not interested in begging for donations. It seems silly that sites like C4SS beg for donations. Start an actual agorist business!
If I put up a "PayPal donate" option, I'd pay the PayPal transaction fee *AND* income taxes. I'm not encouraging people to make a 50% donation to the IRS/State.
Credit cards have a weird rule due to their monopoly market power. They charge a fee of approximately 3%. You can't pass that fee on to your customers. Credit card contracts disallow you from charging customers more, if they pay by credit card.
If I did start a business, I'd want to be paid sometimes by check and sometimes by cash. Then, I'd have some income and my taxes would look reasonable, but then I would get some extortion-free earnings.
If I send FSK $100, how is it a business of the state? Why does the state thinks that it is entitled to some taxes? I do not understand this principle. If I am using any kind of state utilities, then charge me a fee, not a tax, so that I can see it, and circumvent those utilities in the future.
If I am to send FSK $100, how is it anyone's business, huh? It is not. Profit or not it is no one's business, but strictly between me and FSK. I fail to explain what makes this state business.
Also, the VAT is a "value added tax". This is a misnomer! It should be called: Making Sure We Steal tax, or MSWS Tax. Because:
As government steal by printing, the value of all things as measure in devalued currency is growing (it takes more and more cups to fill the pitcher, if cups are getting smaller and smaller, because there is more and more cups and they all must fit into one pitcher!). This increase in measurement the government calls the "Added Value" and taxes.
You like statistics FSK? Calculate ANY $tats about anything vs. Silver in the last year. Ag baby!
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