Making a payment via PayPal; on the page before the checkout page, PayPal shows you a page that coerces you to make a donation before you can proceed to the final checkout page. Trying to get out or bypass this page is impossible as far as I am concerned. If anyone can show me how to bypass this page, let me know. This is just greed and unethical behaviour on the part of PayPal. Shoppers who are desperate to buy the item/s are playing into the hands of PayPal and will just part with their money. For me; I just cancel the order rather than be blackmailed. Is it paying off for PayPal? because it seems counterproductive to me when PayPal and their cohorts engage in this type of sub-standard behaviour.
I have seen the âoptionâ and do not have a problem since it is to a âcauseâ and it is defaulted to ânoâ. If it were defaulted to âyes, donateâ I would have a serious problem with it.
Even grocery checkouts and others ask if one wants to donate to this and that, and it has become common. I also find it irritating yet charities and causes often struggle for donations and try what they can to get them. I donate to charities not so in my face, so we have something in common.
As for the âmaking moneyâ part, I cannot cast an educated opinion on if or how much of a cut paypal takes, but many charities use âcollection service platformsâ that charge them and takes a cut, probably more than paypal charges.
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Has this inability to avoid donating happened once, or has it happened repeatedly? Have you tired using different browsers? Did you try paying by credit card rather than Pay Pal?
Even Wikipedia periodically asks for donations, but I have not had the same experience with being âcoercedâ to contribute, and have easily bypassed all requests for donations including on eBay paying by Pay Pal.
I am not sure why your experience is different to mine. Perhaps if you try purchasing something different to see if the same thing happens?
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I have not seen this, ever, and I make a fair few payments online in the course of a year.
Is this a) using PayPal to process a credit card payment or b) actually paying via PayPal?
All of my payments that relate to PayPal fall into the former category. The latter category implies that you actually have an account with PayPal. (I cancelled my PayPal account many years ago as a result of other dubious behaviour on the part of PayPal.) Never mind about: Search results for 'in:title paypal' - Community
Do you have a PayPal account?
I would complain to the online store. Does the store offer payment options other than via PayPal?
Are you prepared to name the online store?
I donât donate to charities who solicit me.
I know that charities struggled in 2020, with many of their fund-raising events unable to be held at all, due to COVID.
Yes. It is only a matter of time before a checkout chick gets a serve from me about this. I mean I know they are just doing their job and they donât determine the policy etc. but the business needs the feedback and the front line staff will be the conduit for that feedback. 
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Better not go to Woollies.
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Fair enough. âGetting a serveâ from me didnât mean crossing the line into âabuseâ or âaggressive behaviourâ, anything that is likely to be a problem if captured on a body camera. I just meant (and wrote) âfeedbackâ.
But perhaps we could get back to PayPal. 
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PayPal supplies a line that allows a user to pay a $1 contribution to a selected Charity, this box is never pre ticked and does not require any input if the default unticked box is ignored. That is not coercion, it is a user selectable choice if they wish to use it. The Charity that is available changes at times once recently being Red Cross but it varies.
There are no fees charged for donations as per PayPalâs info
100% of donations made here go to charity â no deductions, no fees
See PayPal Giving Fund donating details
You can also choose which fund you want to see from a list. See the following for more info and their FAQs on the program
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Is this a) using PayPal to process a credit card payment or b) actually paying via PayPal from a PayPal account?
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Depends on your selected payment options in the PayPal account. You donât see the option until you are logged in at PayPal to authorise a payment via PayPal.
You can while in your account also choose to make a separate donation to a self selected charity. This is usually a higher amount and may be made a ongoing payment if you wish. Eg Red Cross
âChoose an amount or enter your own
Australian Red Cross
Society and Communities, Disaster Relief, International
More details
Set as favourite charity
$25
$50
$75
$100
Other (AUD)
Share my name and email with the charity. If you tick this box, your recommended charity may contact you.
Donate Now
Your donation will be made to PayPal Giving Fund (ABN 65 106 950 945), a Public Ancillary Fund and registered charity.
PayPal Giving Fund doesnât charge you or the charity you selected a fee for this donation.
The charity you recommend will usually receive the funds within 15-45 days of your donation.
If for some reason weâre unable to deliver the funds to the charity you recommend, weâll ask you to recommend another charity before reassigning the funds. (This doesnât happen often.)â
The donation until processed is held in a non interest bearing account so PayPal do not receive an income from holding the funds.
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I think thatâs why I am never seeing this âsuggestionâ to donate to charity. I am only ever using PayPal via web sites that just happen to use PayPal as a credit card processor.
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Unlike @baldie1949 Iâve always found that itâs easy to avoid donating via this route. However hereâs the rub. You might innocently donate a couple of dollars, but the point which everyone seems to have overlooked is that the charity in question now has your name and contact details.
I discovered that the hard way, so now I never ever donate via PayPal.
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That is hard to do innocently/accidentally (not impossible to do so but it is hard to miss the option) in that the donation selection is not ticked by default, you have to tick the box to make the donation and you can request not to pass your details on and again this is a selection.
It is an obvious part of the payment option as it clearly outlines that it is a request for a donation and is not easily confused with the payment option you choose.
If you receive contact from an organisation after donating by mistake you have the right to request no further contact by that organisation and this right is upheld by law as your right to opt out of marketing.
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You arenât being coerced. The default selection is NO to donate. You just ignore it and carry on with your purchase.
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PayPal is my preferred donation method. They have a huge range of charitable organisations that can be selected for a more sizeable donation and that/those will be the options that pop with a purchase. They are unchecked so I just ignore them.
One of my pet hates is phone calls / emails /letters requesting donations from anybody.
So the very best thing about the PayPal option for donations is that the organisation does not get your name and contact details, but I do receive a usable tax receipt emailed by PayPal.
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As others have written above, the box is unchecked by default, so the âdo nothingâ method results on no donation, so it is not coercion, rather something you have to opt into. I have a Paypal account and use it frequently for online purchases.
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I use PayPal regularly and often. My default PayPal option is a direct debit to my bank account. I donât recall ever seeing this request (coercion seems far too strong a word to me), which depending on the amount I would quite possibly accept.
As to Woolworths - as far as Iâm concerned there is no coercion there either. Itâs a simple yes/no question and âyesâ (which i select most of the time) costs me no more than 99 cents. I am happy to give little and often to those less fortunate.
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So nice to hear from somebody kind. Thank you. What has happened to our society? I think itâs wonderful that woollies/PayPal/catch offer these donation conduits
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I donate a heap. I just donât do it 99c at a time or via Woollies or via a PayPal account (not applicable to me, it would seem) or to organisations that solicit me.
Seems so. Looks like the OP is âhit and runâ.
1 Like
I pay thru paypal quite often thru a storeâs checkout process. I have seen the donation option at the bottom, it is set to off by default and I just press pay now. This only ever charges me for what Iâve bought and doesnât add the donation. So my experience is that you have to actively select the donation option before choosing to pay. So I wouldnât call it coercion.
As someone that is frontline staff in a major supermarket can say that unless it is something specific to that store or a specific store employee, providing feedback to front line staff is useless. Either weâve forgotten by the time we get to speak to a line manager, or if we do they are too busy to pass it on or know there is no use in doing so. The best way to provide feedback about policies etc is by writing emails to head office, phoning the corporate number, providing feedback in any survey emails you may receive (if in their rewards program), or the best option Iâve found is leaving feedback on their social media.
Front line staff are constantly being squeezed by the demands of both customers and upper management. As someone who has been with the same employer for almost a decade and a half Iâve noticed a big increase in abuse toward front line staff, especially since the pandemic started. Weâve even had one customer threatening violence to a front line staff member as they were literally being dragged away by the police.
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Good advice, thank you
