# Alternative Payment Service



## Leinad Obtrebla (Mar 11, 2016)

Hi all, it's been a while. 

I was wondering if any commission-taker have ever considered using Facebook's money transfer service to send and receive money? I have been debating this with an artist friend of mine for a while and would like a general fandom opinion. 

Paypal's  as "transaction tool" can be very scary for some artists who, sometimes, are scammed by commissioners when drawing sexy art since their accounts and funding can be taken. Some ever ask you to use the function 'send money' instead of paying for goods and services. 

As a scammed commissioner myself, with over $100 lost with uncharted artists, Paypal hasn't really helped me getting my money back. So from the artist's poing of view, I was thinking Facebook's tool might be a good tool to avoid some issues. Whaddya think?


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## Somnium (Mar 11, 2016)

What about good ol' bank wire transfer for local transactions?

Personalty I'm unaware of Facebook's service


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## Leinad Obtrebla (Mar 11, 2016)

Its like sending a private message (A picture, file) but money instead. It's supposed to be added to your debit card. I believe the trick is that FB gets your credit card details, which makes it easy to attract people to make "One-Click-Purchases" 

Wire transfer do charge commission depending on where you are though...


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## Somnium (Mar 11, 2016)

Everyone does take a cut, there's no "free" service. I don't think the bank would charge much for a domestic transfer anyway.


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## Leinad Obtrebla (Mar 11, 2016)

But not all transfers are domestic..! Facebook doesn't take a cut though, that's what surprised me. Not money at least-- just data for sure.


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## Somnium (Mar 11, 2016)

hmm I just read about facebook money transfer and yea it is indeed very surprising that there's no fees, though it has many limitation compared to paypal and makes whole payment process more cumbersome especially because many might not know or use this facebook's service. Also it's against fb's TOS to use it for business, so idk


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## Leinad Obtrebla (Mar 11, 2016)

Well, it's against PayPal's TOS to use it for 'smexy' and furry-related stuff so... yeah. The fact that not many know it makes me feel like it'd be nice to inform them! But it seems people looked over this forum post, so..!


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## Zrcalo (Mar 15, 2016)

I think square's a lot more reliable than facebook. Squarecash works well online, as well as just entering in credit card information to the app. (if you trust your artist)

to be honest... I trust paypal above all else. Why? Because you can file a dispute. If an artist takes too long or tries to scam you, you can paypal dispute it. and if the artist cannot provide any proof they did the artwork, they'll have to forfeit the money over. 

that is why you NEVER EVER send money over via "gift" when commissioning someone. on the artists end, it allows liability. on the commissioner's end it offers security. 

personally, I would much rather pay the paypal fees to be secure than to risk other payment venues.


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## Leinad Obtrebla (Mar 15, 2016)

Yeah, as a commissioner paypal is the best indeed. I was just thinking from an artist point of view where you could avoid the fees. I've heard horror tales of people who scam artists by threatening them to file a dispute on 'nsfw' art which if they try to  dispute it would end up having their account deactivated and balance frozen or taken away! All for a piece of art. Of course, artists need to evaluate the commissioners they take in as well. I'll give Squarecash a look though, thanks for the input on that n-n


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## TheKC (Mar 15, 2016)

I don't know anything about FB money transfer, But if they are not taking some kind of fee, I question how safe it is to do payments with. Like has been said. Paypal takes  a fee for the service it provides. I wonder if it is there to just send some cash to a friend that needs it.


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## Leinad Obtrebla (Mar 15, 2016)

[QUOTE="TheKC, post: 5443283, member: 41941[/QUOTE]

Well, I think if something happens which would allow you to track it down to FB I can only think of the name i'd give my newly purchased island after the suing XD 

But look, Facebook makes revenue by selling your personal information and selling adds, maybe even farmvile. Which is why they might have the ability to absorb the cost of any transfer fees! It makes sense to me because it's a step towards the future: Facebook allowing you to pull money out of digital pockets to give to a friend without 'loosing' some of it in between. 

But then again, as a commissioner I'd like to use 'pay for goods' option since it gives me something to do in case the transaction is not completed (but that is not even 100% secure, since if artist stall you long enough your ability to file a dispute and win decreases )


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## redhusky (Mar 15, 2016)

If you don't want fees and worried about payments services giving you trouble about content you can try using bitcoin for payments.


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## Leinad Obtrebla (Mar 15, 2016)

redhusky said:


> If you don't want fees and worried about payments services giving you trouble about content you can try using bitcoin for payments.



Hah~ If there are artist who really take bitcoins as payment x3 !


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## redhusky (Mar 16, 2016)

Leinad Obtrebla said:


> Hah~ If there are artist who really take bitcoins as payment x3 !


I do but it is a personal preference and you'd need to ask first even if they don't specifically list it as so. It can be a safer option for the reasons mentioned earlier.


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## AsheSkyler (Jun 1, 2016)

American Express' prepaid debit card Bluebird has a "send money" feature based on an email address, kinda like a Paypal. I have yet to find somebody willing to test out the feature with me. But so far I haven't found any restrictions in the TOS about what you can send money to somebody for.


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