hey guys just a question i have with regards to ebay, been searching for ages and can't quite get a definate, concrete answer. When auctioning products on ebay, i'm aware that you basically have to accept paypal as a method of payment. Due to the large amount of scammers out there, i don't really want to use PayPal, but say for example; I sold an item, and on the listing I put other methods of payment (i.e: cheque) and they see the paypal (which Ebay forced me to use) and they decide that they have PayPal and want to use that. The question is can I get the payment via paypal, transfer it to my account and then proceed to send the item? Reason I've said it like that is because I've heard this lots of times and have had friends who it has happened to; where the seller sends the item and as soon as the item is recevied they raise a dispute essentially 'freezing' the money in the PayPal account an an investigation is launched. Now, in this scenario, I'd of course have the receipt etc so im guessing that it would eventually unfold... however I dont exactly want to go through the hassle of doing so. So, does anyone have any comments/suggestions on what could/can/can't be done? . Hoping someone can help, I've tried to research but want something concrete! Thanks
Yea, as soon as you receive the payment to your paypal, you can shunt it onto a bank account, takes a few days to clear though. And yea, I've had that dispute thing happen to me, its lame.
You don't have to accept PayPal, but most buyers like it because it gives them some (well, at least more than sending a cheque or doing a bank transfer) protection from scammers. Basically, choose your buyer well. You can exclude people from bidding who have too few positive ratings, and those from outside the UK only. Even then you can reject individual bids made by people you don't like the look of.
Happened to me actually. Someone did as you say, raised a dispute claiming they'd not received the item. Seemed suspect due to the fact they never actually got in touch with me to complain, just went straight to a dispute. Now I send absolutely everything worth more than a fiver via recorded delivery. TBH despite this, I would always go for Paypal simply due to the fact it's way more secure and hassle free - fees are a bugger, but bearable.
Are you allowed to mention so in your auction? Or would you reccomend to not mention this and transfer it and once cleared then proceed to send the item? Don't want to appear as a scammer to legit buyers, but i'm sure you guys can see my point - I just want to sell the item, receive the money, post the item, leave feedback and receive feedback and thats it. Don't want any hassle! I don't really know eBay.. and I can't really find their website particularly useful for this type of information - how does one go about applying these filters and rejecting bids? Further replies appricaited! Thanks so far.
i can't stand using paypal, but do so just because it's what the vast majority of people on ebay use. i can't stand using ebay either really -- i find it quite disgusting that i have to pay money to list an item and then pay a final value fee when the item sells to ebay AND THEN pay to recieve the money into my paypal account and pay again to withdraw it into my bank account if it's under £50. terrible. and then after all that they shaft the seller with stuff like withholding payment for items until the buyer has left feedback (happened to me recently when i sold a hd-dvd drive + a load of films on there recently -- even though i have 100% positive feedback and getting close to 200 total i had to wait two weeks for the money to clear. i can see why they do it, but it didn't feel too nice being accused of being a thief even though i'd done nothing wrong) and not letting sellers leave negative feedback -- which i suppose i can see their logic for: people would be scared to leave negative feedback incase they got it back in spite. there's probably more but... yeah. but like i said, i use them both anyway. it's not like they have worthwhile competitors now is it? :/ (and i'm sorry this contributed nothing to the thread, but RARRRRRGH. i rage so badly when i think of how ebay and paypal constantly bum me for cash)
No you do have to accept it. There are very very few exceptions (one or two catagories). If you mention not taking it in your ad it will be removed. You can't de-select it as a payment option either.
I would highly recommend Paypal. It's simply one of the safest ways to buy/sell on ebay. I got scammed, bought something on Ebay, couple days later the person's whole ebay store was gone, they took everything down. I tried contacting them by calling, emailing, and got no response back. I did a dispute claim thing and ended up getting all my money back.
I don't really agree there. Its safe if its used how its supposed to be used, but its a nightmare for people like me who want to sell their item and they have scammers deciding they want to raise a dispute after having recieved the item. In your case it turned out all good and well, I suppose that is because everything was removed so there wasn't really anyone to 'argue' with on the dispute so there really wasn't much hassle for you. I'm trying to avoid selling an item, posting it and then receiving a dispute where I have to waste my time explaining the situation and having to wait the duration that PayPal takes to investigate etc. Why should I have to waste my time explaining a situation where I have done nothing but the correct and legit thing of selling my item and posting it to its buyer?
I can understand that, but why not tag your package with tracking and require that the package has to be signed for? I think that's a pretty safe way to cover your tail if a scammer wants to escalate to a dispute. Sure it's going to be hassle regardless, but at least you're going to win the dispute providing that information.
Oh course, no doubt the item would be insured and signed for i was just trying to see if it would be possible to... receive money > transfer to bank acc > once cleared then send item by insured & tracked postage.
Hmmm... thats what I was thinking - which is why I wanted to see if it was okay to transfer to bank account before dispatch? Don't want to appear as a scammer, but ofc want to prevent myself from being scammed - even if the parcel is tracked and signed for. Any thoughts?
well, you could get it into your paypal and then put it into your bank account, but you'd be waiting around a week for it to clear. i don't think many people would be willing to wait that long before you were willing to post it out. tbh, i'm just speaking for myself (maybe it's impatient but if i bought something on monday for example, i'd expect it to be here on friday by the latest) but i'm sure there are others who feel the same. the other problem is that doing it that way you're not really protected. if you took the money out and someone still claimed it hadn't gotten there and you ended up losing the dispute, you'd still have to give the money back regardless, so your best plan of action is probably to just send whatever you're planning to sell via recorded post of some kind and then draw the money out once you've been given feedback. sadly, the only way you can protect yourself is to have proof of postage and the suchlike. drawing the money out into your bank account before posting will solve nothing and only make you look like you're slow to post out items.
probably what i said in my second paragraph -- i've done it whenever i've sold something for the last five or so years (money into paypal, send out item, wait for feedback, spend/withdraw money) and i've only ever had a problem with one buyer and even then it was because the item somehow arrived cracked on one side (it was a japanese gamecube) even though i had wrapped it up in god knows how much bubble wrap. so... yeah. just send it recorded delivery of some type with enough postage insurance to cover costs if anything goes wrong, keep all proof of postage and go from there.
I've heard The Dark Lord was not to be trusted and is a pretty bad guy. I could see why PayPal didn't go in your favor, Nice Prince from Nigeria > The Devil Hmm. lol
I wouldnt use anything other than PayPal. When using eBay just say in your auction you will not accept users with 0 feedback or feedback rating of less than 100% and that you reserve the right to refuse a a bid. I see many auctions like that. It just protects yourself. When someone puts a bid on your item then look over their feedback to see if there is anything suspicious. The people who get scammed usually (not always) aren't too careful.
That's what I did. You're under no obligation to ship it immediately unless you say you are going to in the listing. Just make sure to keep the buyer updated and in the loop. The guy was from Russia actually. Unfortunately for him, his scam didn't work, I'd pulled the money out wayyy before.
PayPal + eBay are evil. I started selling some busted laptops etc this summer and have been going up until a couple of weeks ago. I've had people create new accounts, bid on my item then put in disputes saying they weren't shipped. Other people don't pay or read the auctions. And of course, they love to freeze your account for all of these disputes. No wonder why everyone hates them now.
