Ebay - the scourge of mankind?

[dombanks]

im in the like ebay and paypal camp. only had a couple of issues and they were solved through paypal fine. the main one was with some wheels that arrived and were nowhere near what they were advertised as. tbf they were totally shagged and unrepairable.

 

i buy loads of stuff via paypay and aslo send money to people via it too. bought tea from a company in wales, a lamda sensor from ebay and a econoseal connector using it in the last 24 hrs no problem at all.

 

i dont think you can blame the sites for bad buyers who dont turn up or pay and as far as your problem goes norm i think it all comes down to you being in france with a UK card registerd to a french address. you do seem to be continually haveing these issues with this setup.

[stephenh]

You are lucky if you get your money back from Paypal in the event of a no-show of goods purchased. They don't guarantee it. or at least they used not to. They return your money if they haven't yet parted with it to the fraudulent seller, but otherwise they just offer a rather poor quality of mediation, which isn't much use if you come up against a fraudster. With my bank's charge card I am guaranteed to get my money back, hence I prefer to use my charge card, and refuse to use Paypal. If seller won't accept my charge card I offer my debit card, and if they won't accept that I give my custom to someone else.  

[Geoff101]

As a seller it's all stacked against you     

 

That's not my experience but perhaps I've been lucky. Just had one buyer fail to pay recently but followed the process and have received a credit for the final value fee, hit relist and I'm no worse off. 

 

It's not ebay's fault that people are not honourable and choose to not pay you. They can't do much about that.

 

Conversely, I've had items damaged by couriers and found that on the whole, people are quite patient and accomodating whilst the insurance claims sort themselves out.

[Geoff101]

Also, people winge about paypal fees but then are quite happy to put a couple of quid in the carpark whilst they go to pay a cheque in the bank. Doesn't make much sense.

 

I do admit that I find the final value fees a bit pricey for more expensive items but they are still less than a proper auction house will charge you.

[dombanks]

cheques! my got what an antiquated system. a pi55y bit of paper that floats around in the royal mail lottery system (now there is someone to moan about). i know they are needed for small businesses and the like but seriously come on.

 

paypal refunded me the money and that was years ago. thing is not all people use the card system and it seems like these methods for payment are increasing. as far as i can tell it seems just like using my debt card. so today i bought fancy tea for the mrs from waterloo tea. i used paypal to pay. I was on the phone to them for advice and they prefered me to order online as they said it was quicker and safer for them and me.

[Dodgey]

I trade on Ebay and have a very active Paypal account. They are both:

 

a) Great as long as you don't have problems (come on, we can, as a consumer, accept credit cards without all the merchant bank nonsense, at 3.5% which ain't bad at all)

 - If you have a problem then they are both (same company) a total nightmare. So much so I have a dormant paypal account where a contested transaction was going nowhere, so in the end I gave up and opened a second account :-)

 

b) a rip-off - Ebay's 10% is shocking. So much so that you'll notice an awful lot of ads, including mine, are plastered with links to the vendor's website where we can dodge the 10% commission.

 

You are in a tricky place Norm. If someone bought from me then asked to phone with card details (which 99.9999% of the ebay sellers can't handle) , then mentioned another country, I'd ignore it and move on. I get enough silly emails via ebay that I don't respond to any non-profit ones now. (Not that your's is silly, but you see what I mean)

[Norman Verona]

i think it all comes down to you being in france with a UK card registerd to a french address. you do seem to be continually haveing these issues with this setup.

 

 

 

 

I agree, it is. But that's not uncommon. And if PayPal forwarded the details for authorisation it would be authorised. They would have the same protection as a UK card with a UK address. It's PayPal's attitude of rejecting it on their own that's the annoying thing.

 

Dodgey, I fully accept that. But if they'd bothered to respond they could have got an authorisation number before sending the goods. It's simple if they wish to do business.

[FILFAN]

I hate eBay fees and think they are far too high at 10% plus the PayPal charge. I always try to buy and sell out if eBay now if possible.

As a seller the things to look out for are people paying by PayPal then asking if they can collect once paid. They then report the item as not received and you have no proof of postage. People buying items to replace faulty ones then reporting yours as faulty. Heard a story about someone selling a rare amplifier with expensive transistors inside. It got reported as faulty and when returned the transistors were missing.

It did come across me the other day but if someone puts their number on a listing for a buy it now item that requires imideate payment. there would be nothing stopping someone watching for the item to sell and when it does phone up and pretend to be the buyer and come collect it. Also I refuse to send stuff out of the uk

[Norman Verona]

Also I refuse to send stuff out of the uk

 

 

 

Phil, can I ask why? If you have been paid and send it recorded delivery is there anymore risk than sending it in the UK?

[Pantherman]

I get p*ssed off with ebay when items are listed with no reserve and no mention of ' advertised elsewhere ' you place your bids and are watching it and it gets pulled .

I would much rather ask someone how much they want ,make a decision and pay cash.

Perhaps I am too old school .

Dave

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

Phone numbers are issued as required with a code that only lasts 20 mins from point of issue

So a phone number without the code will not get you through sorry

Just follow the instructions it won't take long

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

I was asked if I would accept PayPal for a car ??

I rang them and they said they don't cover motor vehicles ?

As if up to 3 months after the buyer can ask for refund for not as described and by law they have to refund in full

So you have no car or money back ???

[FILFAN]

Phil, can I ask why? If you have been paid and send it recorded delivery is there anymore risk than sending it in the UK?

Impatient buyers asking where it is

Loads of people asking for postage quotes

Limited tracking

Dodgy b*******s claiming there's something wrong etc then you get the thing sent back and you end up suffering the postage.

I know its a minority spoiling it and I will sell stuff but always out of eBay paid by bank transfer and fully insured tracked postage

[Wile E. Coyote]

You are lucky if you get your money back from Paypal in the event of a no-show of goods purchased. They don't guarantee it. or at least they used not to. They return your money if they haven't yet parted with it to the fraudulent seller, but otherwise they just offer a rather poor quality of mediation, which isn't much use if you come up against a fraudster. With my bank's charge card I am guaranteed to get my money back, hence I prefer to use my charge card, and refuse to use Paypal. If seller won't accept my charge card I offer my debit card, and if they won't accept that I give my custom to someone else.  

 

Why not pay with PayPal using your credit card as the source of funds..? gives you two avenues to explore in the event of a transaction going sour.

 

Personally I like both eBay and PayPal *but* wouldn't entertain the idea of using the former for anything expensive that I couldn't inspect/collect before parting with money.

 

We've bought or sold everything from a 7.5 tonner through to clothes pegs.  The only transaction that went bad was a set of alloys bought from the other end of the country...

[tolf]

Never had a problem with Ebay, guess it is luck of the seller.

Gumtree is quite good too