i'm very much "fuck the way we have to do all this shit" wrt filing taxes and bending to paypros but you *CANNOT* make it easy for them to ding you for any reason. not filing taxes/skipping out on fees is just an easy thing for them to point to if they ban you because they think you're yucky.

(cont) you'll have to see if this matters for filing taxes in your country, though. i only know it works in canada lol

and also i'm sorry in advance if you do this and then get angry because you could've been doing it for years 😔

if you're receiving payments in foreign currency (eg USD which you then convert to local) then KEEP TRACK OF CONVERSION FEES AS WELL. last year i was looking at almost $5000 in taxes before i took paypal and conversion fees off and then it collapsed to the much more affordable number of $2000.

i agree with you, but i feel maybe you're maybe hung up on where i said "i believe that post was made by someone doing this thing" which by the wording i'd hoped would imply an "i could be wrong" vibe lol. my point was The Word Commission Isn't Bad not "we should kill the guy that started all this"

it does none of us any good to be afraid of a false bogeyman while setting ourselves up to let our real enemy kill us for free. we can be afraid of the word "commission" and use F&F all we want, and then when we're banned for selling porn (a legal activity!!) they can say "actually it was this."

what you're saying is fair, but what i'm saying is still correct. whether it comes across poorly or not doesn't matter to me; i'm still pointing out that people are freaking out about the wrong things.

as far as i'm aware. my invoices have been titled "Freelance Commission" and subtitled "digital goods" for at least 10 years (predating the option to say you weren't shipping anything lol).

i am by no means "kinda giving it to paypal" here. i'm saying there's a common misconception going around right now that is just adding fake, unnecessary fuel to an already very real fear. i myself am no stranger to having to do sketchy shit to make ends meet; that is simply a different conversation

i don't normally care to weigh in on things like this but the constant fearmongering i'm seeing is really not doing anyone any favors. people are scared enough for their livelihoods without adopting more self-destructive habits. don't act so obviously like you have something to hide!

if you're ever given the option to leave any sort of comment on an invoice or payment, JUST DON'T. communicate with each other via your usual means. don't have even a shred of a conversation in front of people who don't need to hear it, especially payment processors.

THAT SAID: paypal fees are TAX DEDUCTIBLE (at least here in canada). you can keep track of/determine later while doing your taxes how much paypal scraped from you over the fiscal year and WRITE THAT OFF.

paypal's fees (exorbitant though they may be) are required to be paid by you as your end of the agreement you made when you signed up to use paypal. if it's revealed you're dodging their fees by misusing their service, then yes, they can terminate your account all they want.

i believe the post that started this nonsense was by someone who was instructing people to send them their payments for commissions-- which, by the word itself, is implying a service rendered-- under the "friends and family" option, because this avoids paying paypal's fees.

does this to u mlemlemlmelmlemlemlmelmlemlm

thank you for the kind words! 😊

interesting. i did use tweetdeck with the old tweetdeck modifier, so maybe that's it. oh well, i was only barely using twitter to keep tabs on a couple friends. i'll just message them.