Direct Booking Payment Question - Paypal, Stripe, Zelle

[Christy Flora]

I have my short-term rental on Airbnb and also have a direct booking website. Currently, the direct booking site is very basic and does not allow for online payments (yet).  I have two upcoming direct bookings in September. I am using PayPal business to create the invoices. I've sent both my direct bookings invoices for their initial 20% non-refundable deposits (which they have both paid) and have now sent them the full invoice for the remainder of the balance + a $250 refundable damage deposit. They have both paid in full. 

Question 1 - Paypal takes a decent percentage for this service (especially for out-of-country bookings). I have now officially paid PayPal four times for the two different bookings (2 deposits and balance/damage deposit).  I like that I have the ability to invoice for tracking/tax purposes but wonder if there is a less expensive alternative. I'm sure Stripe will take their percentage too but will be looking into this later for my website. Does anyone use Zelle with customers?  If using Paypal, do you pass on the cost to the purchaser?  I typically wouldn't but I paid a vendor recently via PayPal and she made me pay the PayPal service fee. What is typical?  

Question 2 - When I hopefully give back the $250 damage deposit to both of my direct bookings, will PayPal take a percentage of that as well? I can see that as a customer I would be a bit annoyed by this as I wouldn't get my WHOLE deposit back. What is everyone doing for collecting deposits?

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Christy Flora, I don't use Zelle with customers, but I do use it to pay my cleaner. It works well for that. There is a limit on how much you can send weekly without Zelle being attached to your bank.

I have a $500 deposit. I feel that guests take better care of our place with some skin in the game. I believe that PayPal will take a percentage.

Are you listing your place on VRBO? We get many bookings from there. More than AirBNB and the guests are generally better.