Ebay and Paypal

[Rifleman]

I was planning on starting an Ebay account today. I normally do my swapping on the smaller boards but there is a scope on Ebay I would like to buy. Anyway I have heard of some deals going bad on ebay and was wondering if you guys have any tips on dealing on ebay and also is paypal a good program and what are the pitfalls, if any, in using paypal.
Thanks, Rifleman

 

[DeerNut]

Hey Rifleman,
I ran into a problem with Paypal a few times. I recieved an e-mail indicating I successfully won an item I never bid on and was going to be billed. The e-mail then went on to state, if this information is incorrect follow a link to cancel the transaction. When I went to the link, I had to "verify" my account info(the site looked like a authentic PayPal site). In reality I was giving my credit card info to a hacker. Two days later I recieved a call from Mastercard, asking me if I made a withdrawl in Hong Kong for $800. Mastercard covered the cost, but its something to be looking out for.

 

[so40]

I have been using PayPal for 3 or 4 years without any problems. PayPal sends emails out at times telling members what to look out for. PayPal will NEVER send you an email asking you for account information. I get emails from hackers wanting to verify accounts that I don't even have. Some are from major banks etc. It is a big business. I report them (forward) the emails to their security departments. If I get an email (or phone call) that does look OK about one of my accounts (credit card etc), I call there security department if I have any doubt.

If you use PayPal on ebay there is usually a direct link to a secure (https) account if you have one. I have never had a problem. I haven't sold anything using PayPal, but have used it to buy many times.

Mike

 

[DeerNut]

I guess the pitfall I was trying to highlight, wasn't that there is anything wrong with PayPal specifically, but you may be fooled by a hacker (as I was once...once) and if you aren't hacker savy it could happen to you.

Just a heads up and I'm not trying to discourage anyone from using PayPal.

 

[Rifleman]

Deernut, I am not hacker savy either and I do appreciate the headsup as I would have got slammed to on that one.
So40 thanks for your input as well, very helpful.
Rman

 

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

I've both bought and sold on E-Bay using PayPal and haven't had any problems. I have had the same hacker e-mail and I also asked PayPal if this was a legit e-mail. They replied within an hour saying NO! The only thing that I've found out is that if you sell, and someone pays via a credit card AND the card is stolen, then you are out both the merchandise AND the payment if you don't ship to a confirmed address. I'll only ship to a confirmed addy if someone is paying with PayPal.

Ex girlfriend was hit for a bit over &700.00 on PayPal for the same scam. The bank covered it, but she still lost about $30.00 to PayPal for some fees and couldn't get it resolved.......

As with anything on-line, there are many faceless crooks out there!

 

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

I've both bought and sold on E-Bay using PayPal and haven't had any problems. I have had the same hacker e-mail and I also asked PayPal if this was a legit e-mail. They replied within an hour saying NO! The only thing that I've found out is that if you sell, and someone pays via a credit card AND the card is stolen, then you are out both the merchandise AND the payment if you don't ship to a confirmed address. I'll only ship to a confirmed addy if someone is paying with PayPal.

Ex girlfriend was hit for a bit over $700.00 on PayPal for the same scam. The bank covered it, but she still lost about $30.00 to PayPal for some fees and couldn't get it resolved.......

As with anything on-line, there are many faceless crooks out there!

 

[so40]

I forgot to mention this. If I am not mistaken Ebay bought PayPal a good while ago. They do have a vested interest in fighting scammers. I have heard of some people that had problems in the past though.

Mike

 

[HighTechRedneck]

I have purchased and sold several items on Ebay using PayPal. Most were good deals. The one that was not a good deal ended out costing me $25 and my ability to use a PayPal account. That deal was on a 4 wheeler engine that I had purchased. When it arived many parts were missing, and just about every part that was there was junk. I tried going thru the Ebay, and PayPal buyers protection to get my $ back, but neither one was any help. My credit card company only required proof that I had sent what parts I got back to the seller, and the canceled the payment to PayPal. It cost me $25 to send the trash back to the guy, but at least I did not have to pay the $500 that I had bid on the engine.

 

[Rifleman]

This is turning out to be a really helpful thread. I appreciate all the feedback you guys are giving me, thanks a bunch.

BD37.5, Scott what do you mean by a confirmed address? How do you go about doing that?


thanks Rman

 

[Underclocked]

I was a PayPal participant long ago, right after they fired up the service. Their practices cost me $15 for no reason once - I didn't like that a bit and closed my account. There was a class action suit about the way the original PayPal handled accounts - I was a member of that suit without realizing it. No matter, the lawyers got most all of the settlement.

A while back I signed up for an eBay PayPal account. Things were fine for about 5 minutes then I started getting the hacker emails. Most were obvious attempts and I shrugged them off (after forwarding the first several to PayPal). THEN, I started getting emails advising me that other people had been added to my account. Those made me more than a little nervous so I contacted Paypal and closed my account.

What a person needs to feel safe is one of the CC accounts that generates a unique number for each transaction. That way, even if someone does hack into your account, the damage they could do would be minimal. It's a dern shame there are so many crooks in this world.

So far as eBay themselves, customer service is lacking if you do have a problem. I should think one way to avoid problems would be to ask for a valid phone number and address for the seller. Honest folks wouldn't have much of a problem giving you that info. The seller's info could then be verified with a phone call....

Here is something I put together long ago. http://www.pcabusers.net/advice.html It isn't particularly relevant to PayPal and eBay but there might be something of use in there.

 

[peteo]

Rifleman,
I have bought and sold on e-bay. I only pay with post office money orders and only take money orders for goods I sell. I have never had a bad transaction. It is a good idea to look at the feedback of those you are dealing with and make your decision based on their past dealings. It continues to amaze me what you can finf on that site.

 

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

Rifleman:

When a person signs up with PayPal, you either have to give them a bank account # or a Credit Card #. They will ask for a billing address, then they will verify that the account has that address listed as the address on the account (while it isn't required for you to give it to them), it is a way for the seller to know that PayPal has verified that the address of the buyer. When I am selling something to someone, I will not accept a payment from someone that doesn't have a confirmed address (that is the only addy that I would send the merchandise to) if they want to pay via PayPal. A Postal Money Order/Cashiers Check is different. But, I wait until the check clears the bank before I ship. As a seller, if I accept a payment from a PayPal account, and shihp to an unconfirmed address, then the transaction isn't covered by PayPal's "insurance".

I have my PayPal account linked to a bank account - and I don't keep more than $50.00 in the account other than when I know that I'm using PayPal to make a purchase. That way if a hacker does get the account #, then I'm only trying to recoup $50.oo rather than a much larger sum. I also dont' keep much of a balance in my PayPal account. If someone pays me via PayPal, I electronically transfer the $ to my bank account, then after it's deposited there, I move it to another account electronically. With my schedule during the week, it's easier for me to do it that way rather than have to run to the back and deal with paper checks/money orders.

A friend of mine does quite a bit on E-bay/PayPal and he won't accept a payment from PayPal that is linked to a Credit Card unless it is shipped to a confirmed address. A friend of his got burned by shipping to an unconfirmed address (the account was paid via a stolen credit card which was used to open a PayPal account). He was out the merchandise, and PayPal went and withdrew the funds from his bank account to cover the fraudlent transaction to pay back the credit card company. That was roughly 4 years ago and I don't know if it was ever resolved. So he's out the merchandise AND the $$ to cover the transaction!

 

[jcchartboy]

When using paypal, there is a time limit on resolving disputes. Be aware of it, or they can not help......

 

[dwhunter]

Rifleman, I have bought and sold Ebay for several years now and haven't had alot of problems. The thing about Paypal that I hate is if you have their Premier account every time someone buys from you and uses Paypal they charge you a fee so I pretty much take cashiers check or money order only. You also have to watch Ebay cause they will nickle and dime you to death. Keep everything simple. I have a program where I can post as many pictures as I want free so don't get caught up in all their crap. Remember they charge you a listing fee and a selling fee so keep your cost down. Watch peoples feedback and read it. If very much negative stay away. But do understand that if you fool with Ebay long enough your going to get a freakin nut case that will drop some negative on you so just use common sense when reading feedback. If you have questions I'd be happy to answer them.

 

[toytruck]

I have gotten some good deals on Ebay on muzzleloading barrels and other related items. I have only paid for them with a cashiers check and not paypal. My credit union gives me one free cashiers check per account per day.

I will not put any credit card information on the internet!!! I don't care how secure paypal or any site for that matter says it is, if you put any type of information on the internet it is accessable. In these days especially you just can't trust some people. (I am retired LE and this info comes from our computer crimes investigator.)

I haven't had a problem with any sellers on Ebay other than being shortened twice on a pack of shotgun cups and roundballs, but the sellers either gave me credit on another item or made up the difference.

 

[toytruck]

Forgot to add. Don't answer any Ebay emails either, especially if they ask to verify your password for security purposes. I fell into that trap and asked Ebay if this was legit after I did it. Ebay said they don't send out these type of emails, if they needed this info it would come through your Ebay account. I had to change my password immediately. Lesson learned.