DEALING OUTSIDE OF EBAY: Dealing outside of ebay means the ebay seller and you are emailing each other about a buyer-seller transaction that is not listed with ebay. Basically, you're buying something from a ebay seller without going through ebay. Ebay forum sellers will tell you not to deal outside of ebay and the excuse they give is because "ebay will not provide you with any protection if the deal is outside of ebay."
Well, you know what, you don't receive any or virtually no protection if you get ripped off by many scammers if you deal WITHIN ebay. (Look at "Laughable ebay security" section). I have dealt with sellers outside of ebay and found it satisfactory AS LONG AS I HAVE DEALT WITH A GREAT SELLER THAT I'VE DEALT WITH IN THE PAST 2 MONTHS OR MORE AGO WITH SAME PAST EMAIL ADDRESS & PHONE NUMBER to contact them and verify the deal. As long as I can verify this is the same great seller i've dealt with in the past 2 months or more ago at the SAME EMAIL ADDRESS & PHONE NUMBER AS IN THE PAST, then i'll go right ahead without any fear.
But doesn't ebay lose its fees?
I could care less if ebay loses fees. It's not like ebay does anything to easily & readily teach buyers to avoid scammers & ebay hardly does more to stop scammers from entering repeatedly as "ebay members." True, you can't leave FB, but who cares? It's the item you want, not the FB!!
A few good things about dealing outside of ebay?
- No obligations. Since you're not "placing a bid" on ebay's site, you're not obligated to complete a deal. If you change your mind, you can just email the seller back you don't want it. The seller doesn't lose any ebay fees since he didn't list it on ebay.
- Cheaper. Sometimes, you can get a better deal since ebay doesn't get a cut.
- More/Better Choices & Options You like that nice puffy sweater the seller has listed but you want cats on it instead of dogs? Just email him and he usually has one or more with the right size and color and everything else. He just doeesn't have the time and/or can't afford to list everything. He'll even send you a catalog or direct you to his website.
- Satisfaction guaranteed. As long as you're dealing with a great seller you've dealt with in the past, FB doesn't really matter since he'll want you as a repeat buyer and so will try to settle with you easier. If you're not satisfied, dealing with the seller is a lot easier to clear things up like refunds, replacements, returns, etc. (Note this doesn't work if you become a pain in the butt to the seller and/or don't buy that much from him.)
- More convenient for high-buy volume. If you have a lot to buy from this particular great seller you've dealt with in the past, it's a lot more convenient & cheaper to cut ebay out and deal directly with the seller who may even give you a big break on s/h.
- No competition from other bidders. Not that this is the most important or honorable reason, at least not for me, but let's face it, it wipes out your competition. :-) If you deal outside ebay, you don't have to try & snipe the item from the other bidders and then realizing at the end that you forgot to set your automated snipe OR your rival outsniped you.
But remember, ebay DOES MONITOR YOUR EMAILS when you use the email feature "Ask a seller a question" so be careful of what you email at first to the seller. If ebay finds out while monitoring, Ebay will yell and scold you just 'cause they can't get their ebay cut of the action!! Yeah, like the Gestapo or the Mafia!! hehehehe ------Ebay has no scruples about wiping its hands of any involvement in any bad buyer-seller transactions with their slogans "ebay is just a venue" and "sellers are independent vendors with their own independent policies" yet when it comes to getting their GREEDBAY hands on any "ebay fees," ebay treats the buyer and seller as virtual INDENTURED SERVANTS THEY OWN.. If sellers were so "independent," why can't they list their website emails as part of their ebay user name or have it listed on any of their auction ad pages? Because ebay is AFRAID they won't get their measly $2 cut of the action??!! For a multi-million dollar online IPO company that treats its sellers as "independent vendors," that's a REAL BIG LAUGH!!
Anyway, otherwise, if you already know the seller's direct email because he was a great seller in the past and it hasn't changed, go right ahead and email the seller without fear from "big bad ebay."
However, DO NOT DEAL WITH SELLERS WHO EMAIL YOU who you've NEVER DEALT WITH BEFORE not unless you want to go thru FB researching/analysis & all of the tedious steps under "Contact Info" section. The "sellers" emailing you are usually scammers who target bidders of expensive items.
Also, beware of any deals by email if you CAN'T VERIFY this GREAT SELLER YOU'VE DEALT WITH IN THE PAST-- if you can't verify the person or business who uses lots of "professional words & professional-looking logos & signature" is the person or business they say they are. The scammer could have "hijacked" an honest ebay seller's account(Look under "hijacked accounts").
Both these type of sellers will lead to various scams to take your money away:
One very common scam with Fake Second Chance Offers (Look under "Fake SCO's") and other deals you get by email and can also happen by phone where they'll even pretend they work for or are backed by ebay, paypal,, square trade insurance, etc.
These deals usually come with the scam seller asking for payment to be in an UNSAFE form like a fake escrow site they suggest, money wire transfer, bank deposit transfer, "intermediary" paypal agent. Knowing most people won't send payment this way because of the huge number of scammers that get "paid" this way, they may get desperate and finally ask for payment by cashier's checks, personal checks, & money orders. After you send the dough, the scammer disappears when you try to email him afterwards.
In addition, you can get phished/hacked/spammed if you respond to these scammers emailing you a link to click on so that they can send you a keylog virus to steal your personal info/CC#/ebay password/financial info.(Look at "Phishing Websites" and "Phishing emails.")
Next Page
abbreviations for many ebay terms
Index page
Updates page-contains any major updates after 6/8/04