Free is gradually giving way to fees at PayPal.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based online payment company, which in September filed for an initial public offering, will soon charge all of its members for receiving credit-card payments. Previously, PayPal exempted some small-transaction customers from paying to accept credit cards.
Personal users accepting payments using money from PayPal accounts or debited from bank accounts will still be able to use the service for free, PayPal spokesman Vince Sollitto said.
"The change is simply designed to reserve services that cost us money to people that pay us money," Sollitto said. "Obviously, credit card processing is a service that costs us money."
But the change could go over poorly with PayPal members, many of whom balked when the company instituted other fees or when it increased them. Although PayPal has seen its greatest success with auction sellers, the company has touted its services as a way for anyone to pay anybody with a credit card. Along those lines, customers have used PayPal to split group registration fees or dinner bills.