Purchase outside eBay using PayPal, con?

OfflerCrocGod

I'm getting an offer from a long time eBay seller with 99.3% for an iRiver H340 for £200, this one here. He wants to use PayPal but he does not want it to take place inside the eBay domain because he gets charged 6% which he'd rather save....makes sense. My only problem is that I've never used PayPal before so I'mnot certain that I'm safe from a possible con....talking to the guy he seem ok and I was certain that PayPal was safe but I just don't know Will I be OK if I do not receive anything for 3 weeks? Can I tell my CC company to cancel the payment or PayPal to cancel it? I don't think this is a con but I'd like your opinions first, am I protected if I use PayPal ( it's what he wants to use )?


£200 includes delivery and handling.

Chalk

payapl wont protect you after youve given the money.
ebay advise you not to doa nything like this and wont care after if you do.
if hes done this scam before could he get neg. rep from it?

i wouldnt go for it at all.
too much like scam bait.

OfflerCrocGod

The problem if he has done this before surely then the people would have complained to eBay? Of course if you don't buy from within eBay you can't rep him. PayPal offers no protection?

koneko

People might have complained to Ebay before, but if the transaction was outside Ebay there's nothing they can do, so you won't see anything in his feedback/profile even if they did.

Chalk

i cant check the sites atm as work blocks them during certain hours [ the ones when i shoud be working]
but afair ebay and paypal, while offering advice, will not help you too much,
thats why theres escrow services on ebay isnt it?

there s a thread around from yesterday on someone in a similar situation , except hes alraedy paid.

lomb

its all legit, powersellers usually wont compromise their status by fraud. as long as someone hasnt hijacked his account then it will b ok. hes selling it to u for less so as to avoid the fees. if u are concerned just pay him a bit more for an on ebay transaction.

OfflerCrocGod

lomb wrote:

its all legit, powersellers usually wont compromise their status by fraud. as long as someone hasnt hijacked his account then it will b ok. hes selling it to u for less so as to avoid the fees. if u are concerned just pay him a bit more for an on ebay transaction.

That's what I thought, this guy has sold thousands of things surely he would be worried of something coming back and biting him if he was to con people? Can I not cancel the charge to my credit card anyway? Has anyone here done this before?

skywalker

well his rep looks solid enough although as you say if your not buying inside ebay then you cant neg rep him, so its tough to know.

personally.

you cant cancel your credit card if you've already paid him and hes taken the money, hes not exactly a company, how would the credit card co. get their money back?

on a completely unrelated note, thats an american iriver, arent those missing several features that the european models have? google for more info as im not entirely sure.

mneylon

Powersellers make a lot of money via eBay so they are not going to want their reputation to be damaged in any way.

OfflerCrocGod

Yes it is lacking some features but the cheapest International player I can get my hands on is £270 that's £70 difference. If customs gets me I'll get hit with maybe £50 so it's still cheaper. It lacks USB On The Go, that's not a feature that I really need.

Fallschirmjager

dude now my maths is not the best but 200 in shipping and he is getting stiffed for 6%...hell i would pay him the extra 12 for the comfort blanket that is ebay. dont get me wrong ebay has its faults but there is a risk for him feedback wise and 12 euro extra id quite frankly bugger all....tell him you will pay 212 if he puts it buy it now on ebay...boom deal done...if you are concerned about the 12 notes...then its not for you...thats my bit anyways...

OfflerCrocGod

Umm yes I might do that...I'll see what he says. If he says no I may back out.

philtaylor

OfflerCrocGod has far as I know your ok with paypal . Make sure the paypal payment email address is the same as the one he uses for his ebay auction

If however after this and your left with nothing you have 30 days to start a chargeback facility . As it is a paypal payment it is separate from the ebay site so you go through this facility at paypal . I will forward the link to the help document . It costs about 10-15 dollars to start a chargeback via paypal.

However if that doesnt work or paypal are dragging their feet (which has happened to me) your other option is if you havent received it ring up your credit card company (ps..before you have paid your monthly statement bill) get them to cancel it straightaway .(I have a BarclayCard and they categorised it has a fraud and froze payment as it was in dispute)

Hope this helps



P.S Get your man to mark the product as a gift with a description : Happy Birthday . As worked for me on 15 / 17 occassions - no customs

OfflerCrocGod

Thanks Phil I was certain I could cancel my CC payment to PayPal. It seems as if eBay read the messages I sent to the seller ( I didn't realise they did this! ) and have found out about the offer and have sent both me and the seller an e-mail saying the seller could be penalised if he sold outside eBay. He says "I never made such an offer" - whatever buddy :rolleyes: I don't blame him he may get eBay hassling him over selling outside of their profit margin *I mean of their jurisdiction* So much for that then, I don't think he wants to speak with me anymore