Paypal and Skype

Hi friends,

I have two questions about the folio society:

first I'd like to know if you can pay via paypal and how this is done.

second I'd like to know if you can communicate with them using skype or another similar program. I'd like to talk to someone from the folio to ask a few things but rater thru voice than email and a long distance call is not a good option I think.

Thanks

Paypal - no.

Skype - no, unless if you want to use it to call their phone number.

Where are you based? They do have local numbers (the US folks are pretty good)

Do they actually have people physically located in the US answering phones? I just assumed the US number forwarded the call to London.

>3 recurringdream:

You pay for it as a USA-to-USA call so I never really cared where they are physically. For all I know, they might be in India (just joking):)

1>. If you have a PayPal account with a Visa debit card, im sure they would take that.

>5 brother_salvatore:

They did not a couple of years ago - their system can accept only a card number...

When I call the US number, I always get someone with a distinct British accent - so I assume the call is being forwarding to Britain.

Thank you all!
I'm currently living in Argentina (my job), so I guess I'll have to write to them. And no I don't have myPaypal with a visa d. c., so, guess we'll go the usual credit card way. Thanks again!

I wish they accepted Paypal, as far as I have ever noticed, they do not have foreign transaction fees. I just noticed this on my Visa bill, 7 dollars extra for just purchasing the Narnia set.

>9 eatanygoodbooks:

The extra charge comes from your bank, not from Folio though...

The one thing I found from my cards is that my Debit VISA has the international fee; the credit one does not. So you might want to check your cards agreement or talk to your bank.

> 10

I know it's a fee from my credit card company, it's 3% of the purchase price. Sorry if I wasn't clear. :) I was just suggesting they adopt PayPal, because I've never noticed international fees when I've used my Visa credit card through PayPal.

I actually emailed Folio regarding this and the response I got back was really positive. She said I wasn't the only member to experience this fee and she will suggest this on my behalf at the next planning meeting.

I was considering getting a second credit card, but I really enjoy only having one. I can't imagine how crazy I'd go if I had a Folio-specific credit card. Oh gosh! Haha. If they don't adopt PayPal, I'll just deal with the fee, I am buying high end books after all.

Thanks so much for replying :)

I'd say to check with the bank anyway - some cards don't have international fees (as I know I am buying a lot of books from UK, I made sure mine does not). :)

I just chatted with a Bank of America rep online, she said both my debit and credit cards both come with a 3% international fee. No worries, in the end, the alternative would be no Folio, which just won't do.

She actually suggested I check out bookdepository.com for books, and asked what the Folio Society was. Pretty funny.

I guess I'll just have to cut back on stickers for my niece to offset the fee. Just kidding, she'd never forgive her auntie.

Check with the card issuer. Once I started seeing foreign transaction fees I changed cards and found one without the obnoxious extra fee.

>13 eatanygoodbooks:

Time to change banks, or add a bank:)
It is actually worth having a card with no fees - it just makes no sense to pay the fee when there are enough cards that don't have them...

Don't forget that paypal also has an additional margin factored in through using their own exchange rates plus a bunch of additional (cumulative) fees as well (currency conversion fees (4%), cross-border transfer fees, etc). Some of these are paid by the purchaser, some by the seller. But they all end up in the final price one way or another.

(Not that I am defending credit card fees, just mentioning the paypal fees because they are not so well known because they are not clearly indicated in your receipts - you have to trawl through the user agreement and find the annexed fee schedule to see them).

From the US, the FS charges in US Dollars so there should never be a currency conversion fee for this case. Thus using PayPal from the US is cheaper than using a credit card that charges foreign transaction fees. It doesn't "all come out in the wash", some payment systems will cost the end user more. Paying higher fees does not get us our books any cheaper. It may cost the FS more but that doesn't really matter to me, they already charge a substantial premium to US customers. I'd love to pay UK prices in British pounds and pay the currency conversion fee plus even with slanted conversion rates.

Thanks for all the input everyone! Very interesting information. We'll see how this works out.

Also, when I look at my order, I see the cost includes US Tax...what tax is this? Should it not be tax free because they don't have an actual store in my state, a la Amazon? Just curious if anyone knows.

That's interesting. I don't pay any tax on my books and I live in New York. Maybe they have a distribution center or some such similar place in your state?

They are registered in the States I believe so if you are in the same sState, you owe taxes... Their PO Box is in Aston, PA so I suspect that this is where they are considered local business and need to add taxes.

That makes sense. I can't really complain, the dist center is 30 minutes from my home. I probably get things same or next day because of that. Hmm maybe I should drive by.

I will hijack this thread with a news alert for PayPal users..

Starting November 27, 2022, PayPal will no longer provide return shipping labels or accept refund requests for return shipping costs. Make sure to submit any eligible claims before the above date to help ensure they get received and reviewed as usual.

Source: https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/free-returns-frequently-asked-questi...

RIP, Skype.

Paypal do charge fees on different currencies, they're just hidden in the amount they charge. The cheapest way of paying internationally is a credit card without such fees. It takes a bit of searching online to see what's on offer in one's country. I've got a German one and have saved a lot of money that way.