buying from ebay

Creamy Goodness

just wondering how safe is it to buy from ebay? the seller has asked for me to pay by bank transfer? is that safe? how much does a bank transfer cost with BOI?

here is the suppiler

i'm buying 2 mice if that makes any difference with total value incl. shipping/fees 42 euros

aj3001

I have always been advised not to go for bank transfer, go PayPal at least its safe and you have assurances with it, Bank Transfer is used by scammers

ambro25

True (though I think you're thinking of Wetern Union transfers - those are well-known as preferred by scammers). Paypal is very good if the stuff never arrives. However, in this case, the seller has (apparently) good feedback on similar items & is (apparently) German, and -from experience now- Germans/Frenchs/Benelux'rs prefer direct bank transfers to Paypal (they've been using that kind of payment well before Pauypal even existed), so that may explain that... I wouldn't be so frightened in this instance (but I'd still go for Paypal if they can take it).

rubadub

He gets good ratings. I would pay the few quid more for the ease of paypal, time=money and you have to go messing around with transfers which take time and more money. Did you have a good look on normal ebay.com (not co.uk) there are many optical mice for less than that

Creamy Goodness

yeh, i had a look around, but this guy seems to be the only place that has two of these mice. it has to be that particular mouse as i'm use to it's shape.

Padraig Mor

Cremo wrote:

just wondering how safe is it to buy from ebay? the seller has asked for me to pay by bank transfer? is that safe? how much does a bank transfer cost with BOI?

here is the suppiler

i'm buying 2 mice if that makes any difference with total value incl. shipping/fees 42 euros

The seller seems fine. A LOT of Germans only take payment by wire transfer so this isn't surprising. Contact him to get his IBAN and BIC codes and you can transfer directly to his account for approx 50 cent - takes a couple of days. (BTW if the bank tell you that they can't do this - they're lying!).

Creamy Goodness

i've got his bank details

for example

Name of company: xxxxxxxxx
Bank Name: Hamburger Sparkasse
Bank Number: 123456
A/c number: 9876543210

so can i make out this IBAN code and bic code from this infomation?

do i have to have the money in my account aswell? can i put the money into my account at same time?
this is confusing as hell

-oRnein9-

I was looking at buying a few things on ebay recently also (sorry bout the hijack) could someone tell me how exactly to use paypal?

Creamy Goodness

I was just talking to my dad and he said that BOI may charge 40 euros to do the bank transfer

is this right?

also the seller emailed me and said if i use IBAN and BIC codes the bank should charge me nothing.

so is that just it with ireland charging for a service which should be free?

L5

correct, if you do not use the IBAN/SWIFT codes you will be shafted. Happened me and i had to pay 28 euro for the transfer. Its something like 50 cent if u have the SWIFT code

you will need to ask him for the codes

gre_soul

its alot cheaper to use paypal than bank transfer, anyway he is charged the 3% paypal service charge, unless he asks for that also.

paypal is your only hope too if anything goes wrong!

Creamy Goodness

L5 wrote:

correct, if you do not use the IBAN/SWIFT codes you will be shafted. Happened me and i had to pay 28 euro for the transfer. Its something like 50 cent if u have the SWIFT code

you will need to ask him for the codes

so are IBAN/BIC/SWIFT codes all the same?

Creamy Goodness

gre_soul wrote:

its alot cheaper to use paypal than bank transfer, anyway he is charged the 3% paypal service charge, unless he asks for that also.

paypal is your only hope too if anything goes wrong!

he only offers

COD - Deutschland only
Bank transfer europe

Ruu_Old

Interpay is the method they use in the bank. It does cost a lot if you are sending a small amount of money i believe, i cant remember.

gre_soul

Cremo wrote:

so are IBAN/BIC/SWIFT codes all the same?

no IBAN and Swift are not one and the same as far as i know!

Creamy Goodness

Ruu wrote:

Interpay is the method they use in the bank. It does cost a lot if you are sending a small amount of money i believe, i cant remember.

ahh crap i think this was the thing my dad was talking about, another 40 euros down i will be then.

ambro25

BOI - Direct Bank Transfer is indeed via Interpay. It costs nothing for a transfer under €12500. I use it regularly for getting € in/out between bank accounts.

SWIFT / IBAN / BIC are all separate numbers. From (imperfect) memory, BIC is 6 or 7 digits, IBAN is 13 digits. BIC & IBAN are references that uniquely identify his bank, branch, sort code, etc. SWIFT is same, but for his account.

You'd ideally obtain his BIC & IBAN or his SWIFT code (every account in the world has one, even your boggo-standardo current account with BOI or any other bank), go into your bank branch, fill in an A4 form with the details and hey presto - done.

Takes 2/3 days for €s to arrive on his account, so not as fast as Paypal.

Re. How to use Paypal
_get a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, not sure about AMEX)
_log on to Paypal.com
_create your account (email, name, address, card number etc, etc.)
_they'll charge a small fee (€1.95 or something like that) to your card to check that it exists
_on your next statement, you'll see a reference number on the line with the Paypal charge
_log back on your Paypal account, enter the reference number
_that's it, you're good to go.

IMPORTANT: if you want a verified address (which a lot of eBay sellers insist upon, e.g. me ), the snailmail address of your account MUST BE the same the address to which the credit card is registered. But you can use Paypal with an unverified address as well, though.

-oRnein9-

ambro25 wrote:

Re. How to use Paypal
_get a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, not sure about AMEX)
_log on to Paypal.com
_create your account (email, name, address, card number etc, etc.)
_they'll charge a small fee (€1.95 or something like that) to your card to check that it exists
_on your next statement, you'll see a reference number on the line with the Paypal charge
_log back on your Paypal account, enter the reference number
_that's it, you're good to go.

IMPORTANT: if you want a verified address (which a lot of eBay sellers insist upon, e.g. me ), the snailmail address of your account MUST BE the same the address to which the credit card is registered. But you can use Paypal with an unverified address as well, though.

Thanks

Creamy Goodness

ambro25 wrote:

fill in an A4 form with the details and hey presto - done.

Takes 2/3 days for €s to arrive on his account, so not as fast as Paypal.

hey thanks ambro25, one more question by any chance is the interpay form yellow?

Hobbes

Bank transfer is not safe. You are basically handing over the cash before you get anything. The bank will not give it back if it doesn't work out.

Escrow is the only way to go if you don't trust the person. Also I wouldn't put much faith in positive rep for a person. There are all manner of scams going on in ebay which make it not worth the hassle buying from there.

Padraig Mor

Hobbes wrote:

Bank transfer is not safe. You are basically handing over the cash before you get anything. The bank will not give it back if it doesn't work out.

Escrow is the only way to go if you don't trust the person. Also I wouldn't put much faith in positive rep for a person. There are all manner of scams going on in ebay which make it not worth the hassle buying from there.

2500 feedback, 99.5% positive. Fairly safe I'd say. As has been mentioned earlier, the majority of Germans prefer to be paid by bank transfer. It may not be 100% safe but whatever happened to a little bit of trust?

Hobbes

Padraig Mor wrote:

2500 feedback, 99.5% positive. Fairly safe I'd say.

Well there is a scam that allows you to spin up your feedback pretty high, as well as shills.

Another scam is to actually hack a good account (phish/trojans) and then use the good feedback customer to scam people out of money (generally large amounts).

ambro25

Cremo wrote:

hey thanks ambro25, one more question by any chance is the interpay form yellow?

Yes. Can't remember (my memory is shocking today ) if carbon underneath is pink or green, but it's one of those. I'm sure your friendly bank cashier will help - mine does (but then she's single and I'm fairly good-looking...and very modest )

ambro25

Hobbes wrote:

Bank transfer is not safe. You are basically handing over the cash before you get anything. The bank will not give it back if it doesn't work out.

Just the same as sending a cheque or cash, which is still how the vast majority of eBay's transactions are carried out.

Hobbes wrote:

Escrow is the only way to go if you don't trust the person.

There are a fair few scams doing the rounds as well in matters of escrow, if you're not knowledgeable with the how's and to's of this particular service.

Hobbes wrote:

Also I wouldn't put much faith in positive rep for a person. There are all manner of scams going on in ebay which make it not worth the hassle buying from there.

Well... I guess you don't buy anything from eBay, then . Yes, there are ways and means to 'buy oneself' some respectable-sized good rep', but those scammers don't usually bother with USB mices 'n small-beer stuff liek that. It just doesn't pay like high-demand / high-value items: Aibo's, PSP, Sony this-that-the-other (especially VAIOs), Apple Powerbooks... you getting my drift?

koneko

I only pay by Paypal on Ebay, because I know my credit card company will cover it. I would never use banktransfer, escrow, wire transfer, it's just way to risky.

Khannie

I have pushed the paypal issue with a German seller and he agreed to paypal. I have heard that most German sellers prefer bank transfer though. Personally, if I wanted the mice, I'd go for it. The transfer shouldn't cost you anything between banks in the EU.

A low risk transaction IMO (though riskier than paypal).

Creamy Goodness

hey thanks for all your help guys, i know the risks involved but the most i'm going lose is 40 euros (2mice + shipping) i'm okay with that, it would be more worried if it was a lot more money.

i picked up the form today and i'm going to fill it out tonight.

Khannie

Let us know how you get on. Good luck.

Creamy Goodness

i will indeed, god i just hate banks they are so confusing.

Creamy Goodness

ambro25, does is still cost nothing if i choose the quickest interpay option

eg.

interpay plus (normal) free of charge??
interpay express (urgent) ???? charge?
interpay econ (non-urgent) ??? charge?

ambro25

Can't say, mate - sorry (I only ever use normal). Logic suggests that anything above 'normal' would incur fees.

Creamy Goodness

okay, thanks you've been a great help already