Can anybody enlighten me as to the source of this new-found generosity? Did the ghost of Christmas future arrive late this year?

I'm guessing it's UK (perhaps Europe) only, and was probably forced by an ombudsman somewhere.

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We would like to let you know of an important announcement affecting all PayPal account holders in the UK.

Effective from 9 July 2008, PayPal will change its fee structure to make it more attractive for our UK customers to send personal payments. We are pleased to announce that:

PayPal will not charge a recipient (regardless of their account type) of a PayPal payment if that payment was funded by the sender's bank account or PayPal balance and it is designated a Personal Payment

PayPal will apply a fee for payments received for Personal Payments or Commercial Payments if such a payment is funded by a credit or debit card, however for Personal Payments funded by a card, the sender will have the option of paying the fees for that payment

Also, PayPal will no longer require its customers to upgrade from a Personal Account to a Premier or Business Account once it has received a total of �250

Consequently the following amendments to the PayPal User Agreement will be applicable for UK customers:
Clause 8 will be amended (where relevant) to provide that:

Receiving Personal Payments which are also Balance/Bank Funded Payments will be free

Receiving Personal Payments and/or Commercial Payments which are also Card Funded Payments will be charged at these standard rates:

Blah blah......

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