I'm worried I might be walking into a scam of some sort, please advice: I saw a last minute item that was good value so bid on it and won it. The reason for low bids were because seller has 0 feedback and account was created on the same day item was put up for auction. So I contacted the seller asking for a photo of the actual item's box (listed as new). Before I make the payment. The reply was: "What? You give me order? Why you buy if you don`t want to pay I don`t understand. I don`t ask you to pay anything. You can collect directly from me." I replied, and a day later replied again firmly along lines of no picture no sale. It is listed as 2 days to dispatch, 3 days to post, so soonest I can rise a ticket is 5 working days after payment. Could the seller have withdrawn the money from paypal, closed the account and walked away before then? Where do I stand on this? eBay help seems to suggest I have to pay, which I understand and prepared to do via Paypal. How good is the Buyer protection? (I've never sold on ebay, so not sure what's it like on the other side)
Buyer protection is pretty flawless (sadly for sellers!), raise a case you will get your money back. That said it used to be if as a seller you didn't have decent feedback the transaction would be "held" until you got decent feedback for it, not sure if that is still the case as my feedback as been 100% for about a decade
If you pay via Paypal you're pretty safe as they will refund you even if the seller withdraws the money from their account. A Paypal balance can/will go negative and then Paypal will hound the seller for the money they owe Paypal.
I'm hoping this is still the case, if so, I'll pay immediately with confidence. Thanks all, I shall pay now.
Forgot the update, sorry. The guy obviously don't understand ebay. I paid via Paypal, the guy replied and asked for banker's draft or to meet in person. The advert does say accept Paypal. He (could be a she) couldn't work out how to claim the money, and after a few days, I raised a claim with ebay of item not received, noting the money hasn't been claimed, and ask for the sale to be closed. Next day ebay closed the sale and closed his account. I then used the money to buy a new lens instead.
