Thread: Ebay newb help

hey guys, sorry if this is off topic for the forum but i was wondering if some of you ebay vets could give me some info. I won an item (a brush and mug soap) and when i went to pay, it says this seller does not take PayPal!? It says personal check or money order only and ebay is not responsible for the deal. I just feel weird about it and part of the reason i started to use ebay was the PayPal thing...anyway can i get out of this deal because i really dont want to go get a money order.....send it out.....wait for him to get it......pray he is ligit......just seems to defeat the purpose,. Thanks!

straightblazer, is your sellers feedback rating okay??
If he had bad comments about items not being posted etc then that would be a concern.
A lot of sellers don't like/use Paypal as it is an added expense.
I do not put Paypal on 95% of my listings but I will accept from International buyers.
Ebay is using this "not responsible for the deal" as scare tactics on any listing that doesn't accept Paypal.
In fact Ebay want Paypal to become the sole payment method for every Ebay transaction.
This is happening in Australia at the moment & Ebay & Paypal stand to gain millions of dollars as a result.
Check your sellers feedback & if it seems good ~ have some faith!!
You could also post the auction here so that other members could advise you.
Paypal is not the "golden child" that ebay promote it as either IMO
.......momma

thanks for the reply, knowing its "ok" to not use pay-pal makes me feel a little better about it...his feedback is good its just mostly all from him being a buyer. not a big risk ill just suck it up.

It would cost your seller an extra 2.4% (at least) for you to pay via Paypal.
On cheaper items it hardly makes a sale worthwhile.
.....momma

when you look at an item on ebay there are payment options listed. i believe once the seller chooses to accept certain payment options he can't remove them if there are placed bids, or at least not easily and w/o penalty.
so, if you didn't notice that paypal wasn't listed as a payment option you're still obliged to follow through with your transaction and use one of the acceptable options.
so yeah, you have to pay attention to all terms and conditions in a listing.
paying by check/money order indeed doesn't give you much protection. if the seller takes the money and doesn't ship the item all you get to do is leave negative feedback. if that happens and you've paid via paypal you can open a dispute and when the seller cannot provide delivery confirmation you'll get back your money.

as to how much you want to trust a given seller it's really up to you. the only time i've had a bad transaction was when i paid with paypal and was nice to the seller and didn't open a dispute, rather gave him the benefit of the doubt and waited for months as they claimed they've had such slow shipments in the past (it was international shipment).

yeah i just had the wrong idea about ebay and for some reason thought all sellers used pay-pal and did not even know it was an option, i have no problem sending him his money order now, just sucks for the extra time it will take.

Originally Posted by straightblazer

yeah i just had the wrong idea about ebay and for some reason thought all sellers used pay-pal and did not even know it was an option, i have no problem sending him his money order now, just sucks for the extra time it will take.

I bought a razor recently from a seller in Maine who didn't take paypal. I'm in Arizona and it took five days to get the money order to him and the razor to me. Some of the paypal vendors aren't that quick. As momma said if the seller has good feedback you should be ok. Make sure you send the seller a message when you send the money order. That way he knows the payment is en route and doesn't start thinking your going to stiff him.

Bob