Paypal buyer protection (without ebay)?

ashatron · 25 Apr 2011 at 02:11

Hi,

I wanting to know what protection is offered for buyers not buying through ebay or an online retailer.

I'm purchasing some tech from a paypal user who simply wants me to transfer the money into his account.

What protection do I have?
What information do I have to obtain to maximise my protection?
What can I do if I transfer the money but receive no goods?
Am I more protected if I buy on a credit card?

Hope you can help, I've emailed paypal too but they might be a while.

Thanks

DarkBahamut · 25 Apr 2011 at 02:16

If you send it as 'goods' then you have up to 90 days to be able to claim it back if something goes wrong i believe, but the seller gets charged fees on the transaction so sometimes they don't like it or will ask you to cover them.

If you pay as a 'gift' then you have no comeback at all.

EDIT: Not sure if there is a limit to what you can claim back though..it should say on the paypal website though.

Pestilence · 25 Apr 2011 at 02:19

Pretty much nothing, as far as I'm aware. It's a common scammer tactic on eBay for people to contact sellers separately and convince them not to complete the transaction on the eBay side of things, so they're left high and dry when it goes south.

Actually, just thought about that and it's always sided with the buyer in those situations. So you might be okay with opening a Paypal dispute should something untoward occur.

Breeze · 25 Apr 2011 at 10:28

You will only be covered fully if you pay through credit card. The credit card company takes the money back from Paypal in the event of a scam leaving paypal to chase the money from the seller. This applies to eBay transactions as well unless money is held in the seller account until feedback etc.

ashatron · 25 Apr 2011 at 22:59

Thanks all.

I've got a seller wanting me to transfer the funds as gift not goods. Does that sound dodgy?

d_brennen · 25 Apr 2011 at 23:02

Yes. Goods or not at all imo.

It's ok to gift people on these forums mm for example, as we have some sort of community morals, as long as you use some common sense

ashatron · 25 Apr 2011 at 23:17

d_brennen said:
Yes. Goods or not at all imo.

It's ok to gift people on these forums mm for example, as we have some sort of community morals, as long as you use some common sense

Excellent, thanks so much for your help mate.
yeh, MM has the ace feedback system, do you can kinda rely on it.

Thanks again.