eBay tips and tricks

[StanleyB]

I got the inspiration to start this thread after a recent eBay buying incident. Hopefully others can add additional info to aid the buyers and sellers on AoS who use eBay.

It all started when I bought an item off an ebayer in France. He wanted me to send a cheque together with a photocopy of the listing. There is just one massive problem: ebay does not cover you on the purchase if you pay the seller by cheque. The seller filed a complaint with ebay for non-payment and they were on my case right away. So I asked them what cover I would get from ebay if the seller ran away with my cashed cheque. And I wanted to know how come the seller can list that he can accept payment by cheque so he can cash it at his bank, but he has no Paypal account linked to his bank account. He even has an ebay shop! So I told ebay that I am only going to settle the payment if the seller emails me a Paypal invoice. I want to be covered in case I have a claim to submit for undelivered or not as described goods.
In the end the seller had to give me his Paypal account details after ebay had a word with him. He had one all along, but was trying to avoid the Paypal fees. Fine with me, but under ebay own rules payment with cheques are not protected. So be aware of this.

[walpurgis]

Stan, I thought it was mandatory now under eBay rules, that PayPal had to be included as a payment option. Or is that just UK sellers?

[StanleyB]

Looking at the payment options on other ebay sites it does appear that we in the UK are being forced to accept new ebay rules, whilst our friends on the continent are protected by Brussels.

[killie99]

You are correct. In the UK ebay sellers are forced into having to accept Paypal whilst in other countries it is not possible to do this due to local laws. As a buyer and seller on ebay I can see it from both sides but I think it is very unfair to force the seller to have to pay the paypal fees. The buyer should be repsonsible for the paypal fees if they want the protection that paypal payments provide when using ebay, if you don't want to pay for using paypal then either bank transfer or send a cheque. Don't you think it's a bit perverse for the seller to be paying for the purchasers requirement for 'insurance'? Let's face it, sellers have virtually NO rights when it comes to paypal.

[sq225917]

I include any fees in my advertised price, though to be honest i tend to end most sales early these days and pull the listing ;-)

[nat8808]

The flip side of this is that the buyer can make the PayPal payment and later claim the purchase was made fraudulently on his/her card and instigate a chargeback.

So equally a buyer can reverse the PayPal payment and run off in the opposite direction to the seller who's running off with the cashed cheque..

There is no one way which solves things for either party. Trust needs to be made between the parties just like it used to be before PayPal (and the FALSE security it provides).