Power Sellers Unite

elgato · Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 17240 Location: Texas

David Brackin is an occasional guest writer on Tamebay and is a Director of Stuff U Sell, the UK’s leading eBay Trading Assistant. He has sold over £5m of goods on eBay for other people.

The Guardian today reports on the potential pitfalls of allowing collection of items paid for with Paypal, highlighting the gap in seller protection compared with – say – items sent by recorded delivery. Happily for the two people whose cases were brought up in the article, Paypal have made a goodwill gesture to cover their losses. But what can the rest of us do to protect ourselves from this kind of fraud?

The first thing to note is that this sort of thing is extremely rare, and isn’t something to panic about. In the past eight years of trading, I can count on one hand the number of instances where we have experienced this sort of fraud on collection items, and in most cases it has been with payments made by cheque. Paypal seems to be more secure than traditional payment methods in this regard – on the whole, the benefit it offers in reassuring buyers far outweighs the risk of fraud.

Moreover, the news that Paypal are going to work closely with law enforcement is most welcome: being able to trace online fraudsters through their digital footprints one thing that keeps this channel more secure.

For our sellers, they were protected by our guarantee and so they got paid in any case: this peace of mind is all part of our service. But what can you do if you are trading directly and have some large one-off transactions like the sellers in the article?

http://tamebay.com/2012/01/how-safe-is-paypal.html

slythorne · Joined: 31 Dec 2008 Posts: 220

Postal Money Orders are the most secure of all - if I can't cash it at the Post Office, I don't ship the item.

I have no faith in Paypal - it is a bank that feels it is above the law. All is good when it is good, but when someone complains you might as well just pay the claim instead of fighting it. And since you can't leave neg's for the buyers there is a huge opening for con artists and scammers to have a heyday.

luckyalive · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 590

"Postal Money Orders are the most secure of all - if I can't cash it at the Post Office, I don't ship the item. "

Unfortunately this is a myth.

The post office regularly publishes a list of stolen and missing money orders on its site.

Postal money orders are regularly faked.

The fact that you can cash it does not make it safe. The post office is often very slow at updating its list of bad money orders - it may take several months for a bad money order to make the list so several months after you cash it they can demand their money back. Under certain circumstances, such as s tolen money order, they can legally demand a return of their funds up to 2 years after it was originally issued.

Please google usps money order safety.

luckyalive · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 590

"Moreover, the news that Paypal are going to work closely with law enforcement is most welcome: being able to trace online fraudsters through their digital footprints one thing that keeps this channel more secure."

LOL! This is outright propaganda! what eBay means by this is that if they are legally forced to provide informaiton by a court order they will provide information to those authorities they were legally forced to. They are not going to investigate, file a report with local police, and so forth. I already know this is false form personal expereince - I had a seller leave feedback stating that he had returned an to me because I had somehow stolen some items form it YET at the same time he was relisitng the item on ebay and using another account on ebay to shill the relisting. I caught him red handed - do you think ebay did anything? NO THEY DIDN'T - they harassed me instead for reporting their actions to government agencies.

For our sellers, they were protected by our guarantee and so they got paid in any case: this peace of mind is all part of our service. But what can you do if you are trading directly and have some large one-off transactions like the sellers in the article?

"For our sellers, they were protected by our guarantee and so they got paid in any case: this peace of mind is all part of our service. But what can you do if you are trading directly and have some large one-off transactions like the sellers in the article?"

Sellers ARE NOT PROTECTED AT ALL! There is no seller protection when the buyer claims the item was not as described. You mean to tell me that buyers are not smart enough to make a false claim regarding the condition or substitute a copy? A google search will quickly reveal that seller and buyer protection are not worth the web pages they are written on.

things4u · Joined: 21 Jan 2007 Posts: 1332

OH come now you mean just because E bay requires you to post your PP user id on your e bay sale page isn't safe just because it gives anyone that bit of info so if they want to hack your account they don't have to guess what your user id is with pay pal because they see your sales are going well and your feed back is also climbing by several a day or week and they go on a hunt to get your pass word either with a polk and hope or trick you in to giving it to them with a false login page. and when they are ssuccessful pp says oops if you catch it in time and takes for ever to restore the stolen funds but not all the time.
It is like carring a bag with a big dollar sign on it saying cash money in side when you go to a brick and mortor store not everyone notices it but the thives don't miss it.
PP secure ahhh ok to the extent of leaving the door open on the bank after hours they play the odds and hope they are all in their favor, and if you hace a complaint against you why do you think they 99.99% of the time just rolover and issue a refund to the claiment they still got their money .

slythorne · Joined: 31 Dec 2008 Posts: 220

Paypal is like the mafia in the way they bully sellers. If a buyer files a claim, Paypal says "Pay the guy or we will take it from you and $20 more for the honor of doing so"

seewhatimsellingnow · Joined: 29 Feb 2008 Posts: 1255 Location: Ohio

Actually, I've never had a real problem with Paypal- I don't relish the idea that they always take the buyer's side in a claim- or that they are holding my funds... but you have to realize- that Paypal is owned by Ebay, so it's what I expect.

BUT- as far as being safe and trustworthy- I trust Paypal 100%0 I have never had a problem with them- Customer service is great- they are easy to reach and very helpful. I LOVE being able to pay for Ebay (and other shopping site items) with Paypal.

Just be CAREFUL of crooks sending phishing emails, informing you that you've purchased an expensive item- and to 'click here' if you did not make this transaction! THESE emails are from those scammers trying to get your Paypal account information- ALWAYS check your Paypal account should you get one of these 'Spoof' emails. Paypal will NEVER send you a notification like this. It's hard to believe- but people STILL fall for this and get their accounts hacked. (especially NEW Ebayers)

I trust Paypal 100% :lol:
Betty Lou

luckyalive · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 590

Just a couple years ago PayPal buyers were running a scam whereas they simply cancelled their payment after you emailed them their tracking number. These criminals were dumb as they did not realize packages could be pulled from UPS and USPS's sytem before they arrived and sent back to the shipper. Back then this was free, but now USPS cahrges for a return. Got to keep my items, but I was out the shipping, insurance, and the price I would have obtained from the second bidder. What was PayPal's and eBay's response - to LIE - to tell me they had technology in place to prevent this. We are not even talking about a chargeback here.

eBay and PayPal customer service LIE, LIE, LIE!

I still like the one about categories not being that important on ebay after they swtiched nearly 400 of my auctions into a new "other" category where they did not sell. Strange how they then sell a second category listing for $ and pull auctions for being in the wrong category.

merryscanlan · Joined: 24 Feb 2012 Posts: 7 Location: United Kingdom

Yes PayPal is totally safe. PayPal just ask for your bank account and create free transfer your money to your account. However your information about bank link remains secret. PayPal is completely legal and people using it from years without any problems. Having your bank account listed on PayPal also will also allow you to pay others using PayPal while securing your account information. The survey site will never see your account info. They pay you through PayPal using your email address you register with PayPal.

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