Is a 100 hour inspection required for an aircraft to be used in a checkride? Is a 100 hour inspection required when renting an aircraft for a practical test with a DPE, to whom you are paying a fee?

Lots of money is being exchanged, yet the DPE told me that it is not "For Hire" because the money is going to him (i.e. he's not paying me, I'm paying him). How can the direction that the funds are traveling in affect the meaning of the term "for hire"?
The rule is that the pilot may not be "for hire".

He is for hire, but as a DFE, not the PIC (the one flying the plane), so he is not breaking the rule.

You are the one flying the plane (the PIC), but you aren't getting paid (in fact, you are paying someone else), so you aren't "for hire" either.