trouble buyer on the bay

sunama · 20 Sep 2009 at 09:30

Tute said:
Well there aren't any.

Lets assume you empty your PP, then the buyer initiates a reverse charge. PP go to your account, see the funds aren't there, and push you into the negative.

At this point, they try and recover the funds from you - but guess what? You're under no legal obligation to put anything in there. In fact, Paypal can't do anything to make you.

Lets assume the seller, does a runner and is blacklisted by Paypal. This would surely mean that he can no longer use Paypal (his name and address is blacklisted) and can therefore never use ebay again, given that most sellers only accept paypal (cheques and bank xfers are risky for the buyer)?

If the buyer can no longer use Paypal, then I would much rather take the financial hit, to avoid the blacklisting.

Tute · 20 Sep 2009 at 10:42

I wouldn't. Not being able to use Paypal is actually a blessing.

sunama · 20 Sep 2009 at 10:59

Tute said:
I wouldn't. Not being able to use Paypal is actually a blessing.

So, if you don't use paypal, how do you buy off of ebay?

Tute · 20 Sep 2009 at 11:07

sunama said:
So, if you don't use paypal, how do you buy off of ebay?

Bank Transfer has always worked for me.

sunama · 20 Sep 2009 at 11:15

Isn't bank transfer on ebay a less secure than paypal? With paypal, if a seller messes you about, you stand a good chance of getting your money back. With bank transfer, the process of getting your money back is less likely.

Richdog · 20 Sep 2009 at 11:16

I would only ever buy with PP on Ebay, id never risk BT.

Edinho · 20 Sep 2009 at 11:18

Looks like you have suffered from lack of experience. My take on that buyer would be;

He has zero feedback with a new account - Alarm bells

You are the seller so should be in a better position than buying from someone with no feedback.

The item you are sending is expensive and you need to be able to track it or be compensated if Royal Mail want to play football with it.

I would have sent it Special Delivery without fail.

My advise would be to close the Paypal account and tell the credit card company you think there might be fraud on the card and get a new card with a new number.

You need to be savy and use common sense. Ebay is as safe as any other place on the internet. I have had more problems buying and selling on the ocuk MM tbh.

Also there is the possibilty he could be telling the truth?!

Burned_Alive · 20 Sep 2009 at 11:19

Just for reference, first class is actually insured up to £39, 100 times the value of the stamp (39p).

sunama · 20 Sep 2009 at 11:57

Edinho said:
My advise would be to close the Paypal account and tell the credit card company you think there might be fraud on the card and get a new card with a new number.

After closing the Paypal account, how would he go about opening a new account, given that his name/address would've been black listed?

sunama · 20 Sep 2009 at 11:58

Richdog said:
I would only ever buy with PP on Ebay, id never risk BT.

Agreed.

V-Spec · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:02

I bought something off somebody in London, and they were foolish enough to send it via standard, and not recorded or special.... (despite me paying extra!) to cut a long story short it took 10 days to arrive from the date of postage, due to the strikes..

ALWAYS send anything of any value by special delivery it only costs a few extra quid, its not worth the hassle.

Dark_Angel · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:14

This is not going to be helpful at all to the OP - but I have to say stories like this put me off ebay completely and utterly.

lee32uk · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:22

I always use Royal Mail standard parcel delivery for expensive items. It means I can charge less on postage for the item (Better for the buyer), and you can also insure the parcel up to £500. I have never had any problems this way.

Tute · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:25

sunama said:
Isn't bank transfer on ebay a less secure than paypal? With paypal, if a seller messes you about, you stand a good chance of getting your money back. With bank transfer, the process of getting your money back is less likely.

It's no less secure. With Paypal playing at being a bank (when they're actually anything but) it's a complete lottery at to what stance they'll take with a dispute.

It's a LOT LOT LOT easier to scam with Paypal than with BT.

Richdog said:
I would only ever buy with PP on Ebay, id never risk BT.

I'd only ever buy with BT on Ebay, i'd never risk PP.

Edinho · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:26

sunama said:
After closing the Paypal account, how would he go about opening a new account, given that his name/address would've been black listed?

He couldn't. Or use another address of a relative. Plus it may also go on credit record. Depends if he thinks his Paypal account is worth £250 or not.

Tute said:
It's a LOT LOT LOT easier to scam with Paypal than with BT.

Can't agree with that. One of the problems I have had buying was via bank transfer. Had to write off £150. Banks are not interested unless it's a lot of money with a suspicion of money laundering or serious fraud.

Tute · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:34

Edinho said:
Plus it may also go on credit record.

A common misconception. Paypal have no legal right to affect your credit record.

Can't agree with that. One of the problems I have had buying was via bank transfer. Had to write off £150.

I'm not saying scamming via BT doesn't happen, i'm saying it's a lot harder to do than through PP.

sunama · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:44

Edinho said:
He couldn't. Or use another address of a relative.

If he uses a relative's address, it would create an extra hassle as all future ebay purchases would be sent to the relative's address. I'm suspecting that cancelling the Paypal account wouldnt be worth the hassle and would much rather just take the hit and write off the money.

Edinho · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:51

sunama said:
If he uses a relative's address, it would create an extra hassle as all future ebay purchases would be sent to the relative's address. I'm suspecting that cancelling the Paypal account wouldnt be worth the hassle and would much rather just take the hit and write off the money.

I think you can change or have multiple address not sure though.

stoofa · 20 Sep 2009 at 12:58

I haven't read the whole thread, although I'm sure there is the usual mix of "Ebay Sux" and "Paypal Sux" posts.
Anyway, as somebody who has only been "scammed" once in the whole EBay/Paypal thing (and learn't my lesson) I feel that I should pass on my three golden rules.

1. Don't get involved with the mobile phone section of EBay either as a buyer or seller, it's just not worth it.

2. Same really goes for computer software, major majority of it is illegal pirated.

3. Choose a limit as a seller you're prepared to "lose".
At this point offer only one kind of postage - Royal Mail Special Delivery, and then charge £4.99 for delivery.

RM SD will cost you somewhere between £4.50 - £4.70 is fully trackable and has a high compensation level.
I have NEVER lost a single Paypal dispute where I've used that postage service.

Cuchulain · 20 Sep 2009 at 13:11

As people have already stated, the worst that'll happen is that you won't be able to get another paypal account (wouldn't be advisable anyway as they'd probably take their money from you as soon as you linked a card/bank account).

As it's not a credit agreement you'd have very little to worry about other than incompetent CCA's ringing you and threatening a load of rubbish they have no power to follow through on.