paypal rules?

having a hard time finding an answer and was hoping for something definitive before i try it.

i've ordered a new car trailer and was hoping to take advantage of my amex blue incentives($250 back on $1000+ purchase and 0% for 15 months) but the trailer place does not do credit cards. i sent a check for the first half for it to be built.

i had thought, if i paypal someone - say my mom - and not do it as a gift (so no cash advance fee from amex), could she then a few days later when things have cleared, gift the balance back to me(and in turn not have any fees because it'd be from her balance)?

i know it's a little creative, but when amex is giving me $250 and 15 months to use their money for free, it makes way more sense to do it than not. the paypal fee would be around $76 so still way money ahead.

FWIW, I've never done a gift transfer, if someone mentions the fees then I just offer to pay 10% more to cover fees, that either makes them happy or exposes them as a fraudster (no fraudsters yet, just happy transfers) BUT...

When I've had eBay purchases with PayPal get reversed, the money doesn't sit in my PayPal account, it went right back to my bank account. And I don't have a bank account linked to PayPal, just a debit card number.

What you're proposing, the way I interpret it, may qualify as money laundering.

to conceal the source of funds by channeling it through an intermediary?

i love office space. not looking to conceal it, and willing to pay their fee to send it. just trying to find out if it's a viable option to make use of the credit offer without directly swiping my card at the business. maybe i can try it with $10 first and see what happens.

Can't see any reason it wouldn't work.

If you use someone physically closer, they could just give you the cash.

I have had people gift me money, there is no charge.

Patgizz said: if i paypal someone - say my mom - and not do it as a gift (so no cash advance fee from amex), could she then a few days later when things have cleared, gift the balance back to me(and in turn not have any fees because it'd be from her balance)?

I am assuming your initial payment to your mom is drawn on your CC, and NOT sent as a gift. Unless PayPal has changed their policies, she will be forced to upgrade to a premier account (or whatever they call it these days), and will be paying a transaction fee. There might be a new user loophole where you can receive a certain number of transactions or a specific $ amount before forcing the upgrade. But generally, the recipient of a payment drawn form a CC is going to be paying the fee...

There is no fee for you to receive a gift back... though your whole balance won't be available unless your mom ads more of her own money. Also, the recipient of the gift is under no obligation to reciprocate in any way per the terms of service. That last bit is important if you make a habit of paying strangers over the internet by gifting them funds. You can not file a claim against a gift payment, no buyer protections.

This idea does seem like you are probably violating the terms of somebody's service agreement. You probably won't catch any heat for it, but you might be waving some flags in a fraud detection system somewhwere.

had a duh moment. won't have to figure out if it works or not.