Ebay - Think this seller is a happy puppy?

[RichardSperry]

http://youtu.be/7eIUOUfhoJ8

[photobymike]

I had this happen to me on a laptop i shipped to Ireland 3 years ago...... i refused to ship the laptop and tried to refund the guys money......i could see it coming.... i refunded the guys money but before i did he emailed the local sheriff about me with a bunch of lies.... the sheriff detective told me he would arrest me if i did not ship right away.(he was really ignorant about how paypal worked)... i did and the credit card reversed and i am out 1500 hundred dollars.... i tried to complain to the sheriff and they just laughed at me for trusting someone overseas. An expensive lesson...

[CP Goerz]

'The only possible way to avoid this is to ship only after you have transferred the money out of paypal into your own account (where they can't get it).'


That won't help. If you read the many fine print pages that are adhered to the 'consent' button you clicked to have a paypal account you'll see that they can ,and will, draw funds from your credit card or bank account to cover the chargeback.

[photobymike]

I now only sell cheap stuff ...nothing over 3 hundred or so.....very rarely will i go over this sell limit and only if i can afford to loose it....

what am i saying ....i cant afford to loose anything... i am starving here... jeeez it is a cruel world... I would have shipped the iphone with the locator on so i could track the bastard down and ....uhm and collect on him....

[Vlad Soare]

That won't help. If you read the many fine print pages that are adhered to the 'consent' button you clicked to have a paypal account you'll see that they can ,and will, draw funds from your credit card or bank account to cover the chargeback.

One can overcome this problem by linking one's PayPal account to a dedicated debit (not credit!) card which is always empty. That's what I do.
Whenever I want to buy something on-line, whether directly or via PayPal, I first use my bank's home banking system, which is available 24/7 and works in real time, to transfer the precise transaction amount from my main account to that debit card, then make the on-line payment.

[Roger Cole]

This is the bit I have a problem with

We all started at zero. If everybody adopted this selling technique, no one would ever buy or sell anything.


Steve.

You start out by buying several small, inexpensive purchases. People are likely to trust you on that.

I don't think you can block bidders with, say, less than ten feedbacks. Buyers with minus feedback ratings can be blocked I think though. As a 'buyer only' on ebay you'll have nothing but a perfect record which is no indication of 'honesty'.

The problem with that is, sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers. So it's IMPOSSIBLE to have negative buyer feedback.

the only reason this seller got a refund is he made it visible enough to be uncomfortable to the scumbags @ preypal and eprey. Normal folks most likely won't have that option.

The only possible way to avoid this is to ship only after you have transferred the money out of paypal into your own account (where they can't get it). Looks like this seller had a 21 day (or longer?) hold on the funds so he was kind of screwed that way too. That's another scumbagish preypal tactic for things they think are 'high-risk' items.

As others explained, that won't work and if you read the linked story the seller DID transfer the money out. They may have even linked to a debit card, because note that the chargeback resulted in the PayPal account going negative and threats from PayPal to turn it over to collections.

One can overcome this problem by linking one's PayPal account to a dedicated debit (not credit!) card which is always empty. That's what I do.
Whenever I want to buy something on-line, whether directly or via PayPal, I first use my bank's home banking system, which is available 24/7 and works in real time, to transfer the precise transaction amount from my main account to that debit card, then make the on-line payment.

I opened a second account for this purpose meaning to do it, but the problem turned out to be that it takes 3-5 days for my bank to transfer money from my main account to the secondary account. That's useless unless I know well in advance I'm planning to buy something, and the approximate price.

[Steve Smith]

You start out by buying several small, inexpensive purchases. People are likely to trust you on that.

That would work. My Ebay rating is 213* and I haven't ever sold anything.

* That was a shock when I went to check it. I thought it was around 120!!

I opened a second account for this purpose meaning to do it, but the problem turned out to be that it takes 3-5 days for my bank to transfer money from my main account to the secondary account. That's useless unless I know well in advance I'm planning to buy something, and the approximate price.

That's a long time. My bank can transfer money instantly, or if I pay in cash, it's available on the account instantly. My wife can even transfer funds from one account to another on her i-phone instantly.


Steve.

[jonreid]

Buyers with minus feedback ratings can be blocked I think though.

Down here in Australia it isn't possible to leave negative feedback for a buyer no matter how much they dick you around. This, of course, makes the whole feedback system worthless with respect to the buying side.

Jon

[jonreid]

Sorry, Roger already mentioned that.
I'm bracing for my own hurt shortly.
A Leica lens failed to sell here, on APUG, and on the RFF so I reluctantly listed it on eBay. I believe my asking price was fair and set my Buy It Now price to what I had been asking on the forums and my starting price a bit lower.
It sold in about 10 minutes at the BIN price, so I assumed I could have priced it higher.
So I sent it off to Hong Kong and not long after receive a message from the buyer claiming it to be Significantly Not As Described.
He sent me pictures claiming the lens' coating to be damaged (covered in white spots).
Now, glass was not perfect but there was no fungus or scratches, perhaps some internal dust. He sent pictures showing the spots but they look weird. The black metal of the barrel and the white lettering look strange.
I'm worried he's done something to it.
So it's on it's way back to me, somewhat reluctantly but my 'options' once he'd opened a case were to issue a refund without requiring the item sent back, or to require the item back first.
PayPal has already put the funds somewhere out of the reach of both parties.
I've tried to determine what happens if I believe that he, or someone else, has damaged the lens since it left me. The best response sounds like a world of uncertainty and pain. Third party inspections and reports etc...
I'm dreading it coming back unsaleable...

Jon

[Vlad Soare]

I opened a second account for this purpose meaning to do it, but the problem turned out to be that it takes 3-5 days for my bank to transfer money from my main account to the secondary account. That's useless unless I know well in advance I'm planning to buy something, and the approximate price.

That's an awfully long time.
My bank transfers money instantly between my own accounts, on any day, at any hour, day or night. All I need is my digipass and an internet connection.