[Poboy]

I've never bought/sold anything via Ebay, and don't have a Paypal acct. What do I need to know about the risks of being ripped off? Will Paypal help me if I sell something and the buyer screws me over?
TIA

[daveyboy]

Originally Posted by Poboy

I've never bought/sold anything via Ebay, and don't have a Paypal acct. What do I need to know about the risks of being ripped off? Will Paypal help me if I sell something and the buyer screws me over?
TIA

Many sellers, not all, will only take PayPal as a form of payment. PayPal does offer some protection. Is it anywhere near perfect? Hell no!! Sometimes Paypal is only way to do business on Ebay as a buyer. As a seller you can accept whatever forms of payment you want (cc, check, cashiers check, money order). The only problem with accepting these forms of payment is that you lose some protection that PayPal may offer as a median between buyer and seller.

[JM]

Postal (USPS) money orders probably offer you the best protection as a seller. You can cash them at any post office. Other checks/money orders, even certified ones are frequently forged/faked so you would want to wait about 2 weeks for them to completely clear before you send anything. Banks will typically tell you something clears in 3 - 5 days BUT that just makes the money available to you. It doesn't mean its cleared through the originating bank. That's why you'd want to wait about 2 weeks to be certain. Of course paypal is the quickest, easiest and most convenient for both buyer and seller, but it has its caveats.

[Poboy]

Thanks. What are Paypal's protections? How do they fail?

[jamby]

If you buy on ebay and have the choice of using PayPal - do it. Then be sure to pay via credit card if it's an option. Use an AmEx card if you can do so. By far, credit cards and AmEx cards in particular afford the best protection to buyers period.

Agree with JM that as a seller, preference is USPS money order.

[JM]

Search for posts by Noelsarchs with the word paypal in it and you'll see how he got burned by their so called protection.

Jamby is right on the mark regarding using an amex card through paypal when buying. They've saved me before when paypal wouldn't.

[tomb1]

To me, Paypal is the only way to go for buying or selling on eBay. They're not perfect and there have been a small number of anecdotal problems (I know, it doesn't seem small when it happens to you!). I won't buy anything on eBay any more unless I can pay by Paypal -- both for convenience and for their semi-protection.

[Double Eagle]

Be sure to set up your PayPal account to accept payments from buyers with confirmed addresses only.

[Poboy]

Thanks. If you remember anything else I need to know, let me know.

[KingZilla]

Originally Posted by Poboy

I've never bought/sold anything via Ebay, and don't have a Paypal acct. What do I need to know about the risks of being ripped off? Will Paypal help me if I sell something and the buyer screws me over?
TIA

If the buyer screws you over? Not likely. It's more likely a seller will screw you over on ebay. As a seller, only accept paypal or US Postal money orders. When you ship, USE DELIVERY CONFIRMATION / TRACKING. That way if a buyer trys to bypass paypal and do a chargeback through their credit card company, you can provide proof the item was shipped. Unless the item is insured, you are not responsible for items lost in shipping but you must be able to show the item was shipped. As a buyer, use Paypal and only with a credit card account. If a seller tries to screw you and cannot provide a confirmation/tracking number, YOU can bypass Paypal disputes and have your credit card company do a chargeback. I try to avoid using ebay and Paypal dispute processes as they are slow and only offer partial coverage. Go the credit card route.. I've gotten satisfaction through chargebacks by my credit card company, cutting Paypal out of the loop completely and leaving them to deal with the fraudulent sellers.