How to buy off of ebay? Paypal?

S

Sean Jeong

Well-known member
I contacted someone about buying 20mm lens at a discount off of ebay. Problem is I don't know how to pay without getting scammed. Is there any method on Paypal to hold the payment till the item is received through tracking?
 
also Sean, does the seller have good feedback?(and a lot of it?)...this is ebay 101 stuff...you seem extra nervous. not sure why.
 
I've bought a number of items on ebay and, in my experience, sellers with ratings of 99.4% or higher and at least a few hundred sales are generally good. If you have the choice between a seller with 99.4% and one with 99.6% and the price of the seller with the better rating is nominally higher, go with him. And, as was mentioned, there is buyer protection and I can tell you from experience that it works.

First of all, never leave feedback until you are good and ready. Secondly, if you have a problem, write to the seller first. If you receive no response or communication reaches an impasse, leave negative feedback. Then, if the seller has not done anything in response after a couple of days, begin the resolution process. The worst case scenario is that you will have to pay for return shipping on an item. If you do send back an item, be sure to do so registered.

Of course, leave honest, positive feedback when appropriate as well.
 
yes he had 90+ 100% feedback. we ended doing the sale off of ebay, exchanging cell phone, names, address, and it ended up going well. Since he lives only an hour away, that was another plus. Expecting the lens to arrive tomorrow.
 
Glad it worked out!
FWIW and this tends to rub a lot of people the wrong way, especially folks from the UK. I won't use PayPal, period.

I have fair success getting Ebay vendors to sell offline using a money order or credit card.
 
Arranging off-line sales with ebay vendors is a violation of ebay's user policy, you know.

I'm not suggesting that it's a big moral failure or anything but taking advantage of the service to line up a sale, then cutting the service provider out of the deal is...kind of low.
 
I'd love to see some competition out there for Paypal.
I personally feel their fees are borderline theft.

Its a shame in all these years no other major players have cropped up.
 
Sad Max said:
Arranging off-line sales with ebay vendors is a violation of ebay's user policy, you know.

I'm not suggesting that it's a big moral failure or anything but taking advantage of the service to line up a sale, then cutting the service provider out of the deal is...kind of low.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that's nuts... as a SELLER it's probably safer to sell off ebay, but as a buyer it's ebay that provides the protection.

I've got a bunch of stuff to sell on ebay right now... and I'm not looking forward to it, because ebay has definitely evolved in favor of the buyer. With the already good advice in this thread I won't repeat anything, but all sellers know that these days, that feedback rating is crucial to sales... and that's the ammo you have as a buyer to be sure things go well. Paypal is an extension of that... if you buy with Paypal YOU... AGAIN... have the advantage over the seller. With Paypal, for the buyer, the price is the price... but the seller pays a fee at ebay... and since ebay owns paypal... there's a double-dipping when you collect your money from paypal. But the thing is... if you get something that isn't right... and the seller doesn't make it right... Paypal will refund your money and deduct it from the sellers account with or without his/her permission.

These days I consider ebay to be a really safe place to buy (if you have a seller with high feedback count and nearly 100% perfect scores)... but unfortunately it's more of a risky place to SELL.

Unless I was actually picking the item up myself and handing over cash... I'd WAY WAY rather do the transaction through ebay... even if it cost more. If I were selling I'd rather NOT involve ebay or paypal if possible.

Rippie said:
I'd love to see some competition out there for Paypal.
I personally feel their fees are borderline theft.

Its a shame in all these years no other major players have cropped up.
Click to expand...

Agreed. See my above points... ebay owns paypal and yet they get fees in both places. Yes, I understand it's technically two different services... but it's funny how they are connected when it benefits them to operate as one company and disconnected when it doesn't. (not gonna' derail the thread so I'll leave it at that).
 
Sad Max said:
Arranging off-line sales with ebay vendors is a violation of ebay's user policy, you know.

I'm not suggesting that it's a big moral failure or anything but taking advantage of the service to line up a sale, then cutting the service provider out of the deal is...kind of low.
Click to expand...

I understand what you're talking about but we both wanted to save a little money, me for buying a little under average price, and him for not having to pay seller fee. I guess you can consider this "low" but I believe ebay is the culprit here (for the seller that is). They charge way too much, taking big chunks out of any sale you make.


Rippie said:
I'd love to see some competition out there for Paypal.
I personally feel their fees are borderline theft.

Its a shame in all these years no other major players have cropped up.
Click to expand...

I 100% agree on this. I recently sold my GH1 kit lens on Ebay. Ended up selling it for 590. They had a $7 insertion fee and a $52 sellers fee after. $52 is a lot of money. That is hours of work to the minimum wage worker. Ebay has been ripping off people like this for a long time. But this is the only auction website where buyers are interested in looking so Ebay can get away with it.
 
Sad Max said:
Arranging off-line sales with ebay vendors is a violation of ebay's user policy, you know.

I'm not suggesting that it's a big moral failure or anything but taking advantage of the service to line up a sale, then cutting the service provider out of the deal is...kind of low.
Click to expand...

It may be a violation...I'm not sure for the few things I do buy that are advertised on Ebay.

The people I deal with have physical stores also. My preference is one that takes AMEX because they are super safe for the buyer (A nightmare for the seller as I recall from the years I took them)

And I get an extended warranty.

While Ebay didn't get a commission on that sale, they wouldn't have anyway because I simply won't buy from them.

In that respect, it's a plus for the Vendor and no loss to Ebay.
 
@sad max: greedpain is such a "kind of low" company that anybody using them as a search engine for real existing shops is doing the right thing!

I dealt with greedpain professionally in the security dept.....I know....
 
*shrug* I'm familiar with the 'but they're bad so I don't have to deal with them fairly' argument. If that's your idea of ethical behavior you're welcome to it.
 
Well I simply dont buy or sell on epain! But I do look sometimes and if I find something I need/want then I check for it in REAL stores. Very often these real stores have an epain account to be present online. they pay their fees to greedpain, why should I make them pay more? this has got nothing to do with ethics, its what all your corporations and banksters do all the time!

lastly greedpain is one of the most unethical companies I know ( and I know...I even wrote a book about them):happy:
 
So you make use of their service to do your research - which is not the purpose of their service - and then contact the sellers to conclude the transactions outside their site.

And you suggest that because you consider *their* policies unethical, that implies something about permissible ethics where your own practice is concerned.

If you take your ethical bearing from the behavior of 'your corporations and banksters,' I don't know what leads you to believe that your position is any better.

Like I said, you're welcome to it. It's not a major crime and no one is going to sic the FBI on you.
 
Also a lot of people make good money off of eBay and the profit they make versus the money lost keep them coming back. I myself have sold on eBay when I've needed extra cash or just wanted to upgrade or get rid of something but felt maybe I could make a bit of cash on it (like my old Apple Newton). My G5 came from eBay. And buying through them allowed me to get back in the swing of things. I got my computer, the seller got paid and most of the stuff I buy for my production company comes from eBay. My greenscreen is 10 x 20 and cost $35 on eBay as well as many other things I've needed and was able to buy via eBay and have been decent deals. I do use Paypal, but I don't keep money in their account, it's debited out.

-Nate
 
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what is my position ? what do you know about my position? greedpain is responsible for damages to our society because they secretly supported fraud as long as the fraudsters paid them their fees!

Using their site as a search engine is unethical if I prefer not to buy thru their scam ridden platform but check if a seller has a regular store and he offers me to buy outside greedpain?

Their powerseller system is corrupt! The protection plan is a "device" totally unsupported by any law and thus open to their employees momentary disposition...I worked for their security dept. and I know what I am talking about!

I like your approach, its a dream which you can make come true but its YOUR dream!

I wish you all the best in fulfilling that dream but I prefer to remain awake ;-)
 
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