Supposedly Cashapp is a good one. There's very minimal "taxing" on it (Cashapp taking it's share of the money sent), but I don't know about buyer/seller protections on it

CashApp has no form of buyer protection what so ever.

Aw shit... Yea I didn'tknow if it did or not XD

I can't help with alternatives, but I do know that taking payments as 'gifts' is a sure way to get your account banned the instant Paypal realizes what you've been doing.

If you are in the US or Canada, Square is a good alternative with lower fees, but trying to get around the tax thing is only going to end badly. Paypal "gifts" aren't really a thing I'd be willing to do mostly because of the lack of any sort of buyer protection and the bit where it can get you in trouble.

I thought it was always as low as $600/year that had to be reported. At least as far as a small business goes.

No, it used to be $20,000

Oh, I KNOW it wasn't that high. The IRS got all snippy with me one year when I only made a little over $1.2k
(Joke was on them, they owed me 90 bucks when it was all said and done)

I remember when it was $400, but that was 15-20 years ago.

Depending on how much you make off comms you may want to set up your own simple site with a credit card processing plug in . Paypal has a virtual credit card so people who use it can still pay you without having to sign up for a new service.

Sadly I fear there are no real alternatives.

Stuff like Venmo and Cashapp seems to be US only and Paypal being the only thing I know that works in most countries.

Sending as gift is something I wouldn't do. First off, it can get accounts banned quickly, and for customers it also takes away the buyer's protection many might value.

So, honestly?
Payment processing fees have to be part of your final price making process, so the only, in my eyes, valid and professional method is increasing your prices and, if you want to be transparent about it, mention in a journal how much the raise is and why.

It's a tough situation, but as a customer, I can understand if artists have to increase prices because of it.

Best wishes to you, I hope things will work out for you!

Yeah, I have no interest in doing the gifts route.

maybe try kofi, though i cant be certain. paypal has gotten more scummy with how much they take. I cant rely on using gifts because of a few bad people I commissioned that never did the commission and refused/not answer any and all requests sent for money back. So I try not to use gifts just in case.

I agree, paypal has been really scummy these past few years. Using their services has been gradually less and less helpful.

I have no idea, but I do wanna see some... specially if paypal's going down the drain anyway. I should totally commission you sometime... :3c

One artist I commissioned used Payoneer, it went through fine

Payoneer? I never heard of that before, I'll have to look into it.

Be careful about the gifts thing. It is against the TOS to use those for selling things. Even when there were no messages alongside any transaction, PP has banned some artists when they got suspicion from getting gifts by too many different accounts (as it's logical with commissions) :/
They call it a feature for "family and friends" after all.

Yeah, convenience is pricey :(
Sadly am not aware of any service that will also be comfortably usable by everyone outside the US.
Cashapp is almost US exclusive and Square has UK and France, but not most other EU countries.
Paypal has got pricier but it's still way from a point where other services can really take over.

As for the Tax thing, would you actually pay any taxes starting at 600USD or do you mean just that you gotta file a tax report or some sort (which will show that you are below the allowance)?

Yeah, I have no interest in trying to do the gifts thing. As for the tax, if I understand correctly, its both pay and report for over 600 USD annually

Far as I know that reporting thing hasn't passed yet? Double, triple check because I hear both things and its maddening. Regardless shennanigans like that need to be voted out.

I thought it went into effect beginning January 1, 2022. But I am hearing lots of mixed news reports about it. I do agree, this shit is dumb as hell and needs to be kicked back.

One can only hope, so far I keep hearing nos and nos to it passing.

I stand corrected it did go through. Ugh so I have to report blood donos wooo.. this shit is annoying

Venmo can work for people within the US I believe

Some people set up a gumrod account instead and use that to invoice. That is payable by people with existing paypal accounts.

The alternative is to increase prices to roll the paypal fees to the consumor

Interesting, I'll need to look into Gumrod then. I never used that before.

I think it’s “Gumroad”, not “Gumrod”, if that’s what Snowfyre meant.

ya oops. typo

Ya it's gumroad. sorry typo :D

I'd bought stuff from there before and once an artist who didn't use paypal used that to get payment from my paypal via a invoice link from that page.

I'd seen a few artists use it to sell stuff of theirs and one advantage in that is that customers don't actually need an account there to purchase things from it.

but you best go look a bit more into it. i haven't got an account there. just bought stuff from it before as a guest

so they finally did it, what does as low as $600 mean?

If you have more than $600 USD enter your account in a year, regardless of what reasons, you will have to report it in your taxes and that income will get taxed.

I, too, am dealing with a situation in which I am trying to avoid taxable income, and have been heavily impacted by the 2022 tax law change.

My biggest recommendation is, if there's anything where you would be looking to buy something (food, groceries, electronics, ANYTHING) where the amount of what you need to buy is roughly around the cost of a commission you're taking, and you trust the commissioner, get them to buy that item and send it to you. Amazon wishlists could be useful here.

This way you got something sent to you rather than a cash payment, and thus that doesn't appear as taxable income.

The thing is...this isn't just PayPal. This applies to -ANY- third-party payment processor. Venmo, Cashapp, if you sell stuff through OfferUp, eBay, ANYTHING where someone else is handling a payment for you and then distributing the money to you, this is getting counted against you.

One thing you might want to look at is "gifts past the first" - in other words, you took a payment from someone that is not a known commissioner of you previously and you let them pay as goods/services, and once you have dealt with them previously, and there's a level of trust there, they are legitimately your friend at that point and a friends/family payment would not be unreasonable at that point.

Yeah, I'm beginning to see there isn't really any payment platform that will help deal with the new annoying tax rules. But either way I'm still looking for a better alternative to paypal because of their increasingly greedy cuts into every payment I receive.

Two things that are inevitable in life;
Death and Taxes.

Jokes aside, I do not recommend trying to "get around" tax rules in any form. But I can understand looking for lower fees, at least, but unfortunately, most alternatives to PayPal are 1) less widely used and 2) generally considered inferior for some reason or another.

Another user suggested trying out Gumroad, it allows people with paypal to still send money.

You could also look into crypto currency but the question would be here how and how easy you could convert it into USD. I can only speak for germany and here it's still complex but some banks are going for the crypto exchange with your normal bank account this year so it may be easier in the future.
Also not all currencies have high transaction fees. The newer ones have extreme low and sometimes zero transaction fees.

The other side would be the commissioners. Not everyone wants or can send cryptocurrency to others. So this would limit the amount of commissions you'll get.

I champion money transfers with Western Union directly into the artists card or bank account, using card to card costs 2 bucks if amount is under 500, but with certain direct bank payment methods there's not even a small fee, it's straight up zero for both sides. Of course, you have to give the buyer the card/bank details to deposit into, so it's not as easy as dropping an email address.

PayPal is just destroying it's use in each country slowly but surely. At the end of January, Thailand artists will be completely blocked from using PayPal as now you have to be a small registered business to use PayPal the same way before (And these free artists are no where near registered businesses)

Basically, if had a Patreon you now have no way of being paid.

Things like Substar just getting stronger.

yikes! I knew things were getting worse with Paypal but I had no idea it was that bad.

To be honest, ever since the Tax Regulations on Third party cash apps (not to mention the over regulation against using those services for NSFW stuff), the ability to just send money to (lets be blunt), "Avoid Taxes" has been a pain the in neck.

There was a time I would have suggested Zelle but even they require reports over 600$ for business transactions, and tbh, I dont even understand how they differentiate the difference between business and non-business. I mean I once got 1000$ from Zelle over the course of a year just in gifts from family, but I sure did not have to report it. (Or at least when I was audited, they never made it an issue - so hell if I know).

I am by no mean an expert, so take anything I say with some salt, but outside of just having someone mail you money (and I mean that literally, like sending an xmas card with cash), I cannot think of any "Safe" way to use a digital service to get money without the scrutiny of the IRS or risking getting undercut by service charges.

If it's any consolation (though I dont blame you if it's not) you're not the only one who has been struggling with this whole taxation, and app reporting stuff lately. TBH I am the type of person who would honestly just add the extra hurdle of requiring my commissioners to send cash through the mail. Outdated and certainly lengthier in terms of process no doubt, but if you REALLY want to avoid "Big Brother" it's about the only way to get it done legally anymore.

But hey, thats just me. Its something to ponder if nothing else. I mean to me whats the harm of me (the buyer) spending a few on an Envelope with a stamp, that has your cash, the username and info of the commissioner, (which arguably costs less than most fees on PAypal or otherwise by todays standards), which in turn saves you money, gets you a higher cut, and at worst you get a message in your inbox of someone letting you know to expect a letter in the mail. Worst thing you have to add to the equation is time, and frankly thats a lot more palatable than tax fraud.

yeah, but I'd rather not do cash through mail since I don't really want to be publicly showing off my physical address to the world.

A fair point for certain.