PAYMENT OPTIONS

AS FAR AS PAYPAL AND CC'S ARE CONCERNED: --EBAY/PAYPAL SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE: Since paypal has now been bought by ebay, you have no protection from your CC company. Since you signed the agreement with paypal, one of those clauses in the agreement is that you must let paypal solve any complaints. What if you don't like how paypal ruled on your dispute? File with your CC company? Recently, people have filed for returns from their CC companies. They get their refunds but ebay/paypal will send a collection letter demanding the same amount from them. What they will do is file with a collection agent and mess up your credit record. This is all a hassle which is another good reason to keep your bidding in a LOW $ amount.

-PAYPAL RECENT SEEDY PRACTICES: Lately, if ebayers are in dispute at paypal, paypal will refund the money to one side, but take the same amount of money from the other side's CC and bank account as well as the paypal account. So, it's better to do your RESEARCH VERY WELL to know who to trust when dealing with them on ebay or on the internet while paying with paypal and also to keep your paypal buying amounts in $'s low and not to just give paypal too much financial info.

-PAYPAL SCAMMED VICTIM LINKS: Here's links to ebayers' paypal experiences:

--CC COMPANY POLICIES re: Paypal: Some CC companies will not refund you back your money for Paypal so look at your CC's policies. Discover and Amex won't pursue a chargeback request since Paypal did exactly as they were requested to do.

an epinion.com ebay user posts:
totally dishonest.
Oct 15 '04
I purchased a $3300 stereo receiver. Wrong receiver was delivered. They admitted this and claimed they didn't have the one I wanted. I was charged on my Am Exp. for receiver. When I returned the receiver they charged a $595 restocking fee even though the item was not the one I ordered. Am Exp. tried to help but said they "are not in position to dictate a merchant's policy". This was a TOTAL SCAM, and I'm out $595.

--CC + MONEY WIRING TRANSFERS or BIDPAY: All CCs look at a money wiring transfer like WU, Egold, Moneygram, etc. as well as Bidpay as CASH ADVANCE and so once you send your money off with these places, there is NO WAY YOUR CC COMPANY WILL GIVE YOU BACK YOUR MONEY. AGAIN, NEVER PAY BY THIS METHOD. IT IS A SCAM!! Again, if the TOS says he accepts other forms of payment and yet in his email he only can accept a money wire transfer, you can file a report that the seller changed the auction TOS after the auction was completed and that can be used as a defense for any Non Performing Buyer report that is filed against you.

MONEY ORDERS, CASHIER'S CHECKS, PERSONAL CHECKS, BIDPAY, ETC. --These forms of payment are what many sellers on ebay prefer (personal checks less so) because they are fast and secure for the seller to cash. But are they safe for the buyer? Would you be easily able to get your money back if the item didn't arrive or was misrepresented? Not on your life. Check this article.

U.S. POST OFFICE MONEY ORDERS: As a buyer dealing with non-credit card purchases, postal money orders (and i'm not including company or other non-postal money orders) are not the best but good enough since if you're defrauded, the Post Office is strict about going after the scammer since they're using a Postal Money order as well as scamming through the U.S. mail system.


>I've recently heard that the Post Office won't go after mail orders that are less than MANY THOUSANDS of $$$ so my advice has now changed. Buyers should only use escrow.com or CC(do deep research to check it's a LEGITIMATE HONEST business) or CC by paypal. However, again, this involves hassle and/or time and the scammer can just mail you a rock with delivery confirmation to delay.

CASHIER'S CHECK: As a buyer, cashier's check will also get the post office involved if you sent it by mail but again, the scammer can just mail you a rock with delivery confirmation to delay and THERE'S NO WAY TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM THE BANK AND THE BANK WON'T STOP THE CASHIER'S CHECK IF YOU ASK THEM.

C.O.D. -or Cash on Delivery-- This type of payment seems ideal since seller sends item and buyer must pay when item is delivered. This seems great until you realize that you can't open the package. You HAVE TO PAY THE DELIVERY GUY ON THE SPOT BEFORE YOU'RE ACTUALLY ABLE TO OPEN THE PACKAGE AND INSPECT THE ITEM. Again, a seller can just send a rock.

ESCROW: The best form of payment for a buyer as long as you use a reliable Escrow like Escrow.com since the payment in terms are in the buyer's favor. Buyer inspects item before paying.

Most sellers on ebay don't use Escrow because it's in the buyer's favor. So if you're buying a high priced item on ebay, you really have to do A LOT of research, including contacting the seller by phone about the item, and doing research on the seller's identity and address, and be 100 times sure you're dealing with an honest person before you send off your bucks with the other methods. Again, MONEY WIRING TRANSFER SERVICES ARE A SCAM SO NEVER PAY THIS WAY!!

Nothing is 100% on the buyer's side on ebay or on the web.

My advice of the best forms of payment (rating 1 as 1st choice and 2 as next highest choice, etc.):

1) Escrow.com -it's the safest way, especially for high priced $$ but few legitimate sellers use escrow

2) Paypal payment by Visa or Mastercard(ONLY FOR UNDER $20 or higher cheap price you can afford to lose forever)---It's a hassle dealing with paypal's problems, but it's fast & convenient.

3)VISA or MASTERCARD and before just handing out the number, DO DEEP RESEARCH TO DETERMINE IT'S A LEGITIMATE, HONEST BUSINESS.

THE EVIDENCE--PRINT THE ENTIRE AUCTION AD+EMAILS AND KEEP COPIES OF PAYMENT BY MONEY ORDER/CHECKS:

Why print the auction out and collect/gather evidence? Won't the auction ad stay there forever? NO!! The picture can be changed or deleted ANYTIME by the seller. The auction itself only lasts for a few months. Also, if there's a problem with your seller and he gets NARU'd by ebay, ebay will delete all auction details and you will have NO records as to the auction details except your emails from the seller & ebay. If you're in a dispute with the seller, you will need these informations with the USPS (and/or other carrier if involves insurance), the police and in Court. You have to be organized as possible. It will make it easier for you also instead of running all over the place to gather the info and realizing some of it has been deleted.

  1. Print out all emails between you and the seller with FULL HEADERS.
  2. Once you place your bid, print out the ENTIRE auction ad with pictures.
  3. Once the auction shows you as the winner, print out the ENTIRE auction ad with pictures
  4. Make copies of all forms of payment especially Money Orders, Cashier's Checks, Personal Checks, etc.
  5. MAKE SURE YOU'VE MADE NOTE OF THE EXACT ADDRESS WHERE YOU SENT PAYMENT. It doesn't matter where the seller says he's at. What matters is WHERE YOU SENT PAYMENT. If the seller says he's in Ohio and tells you to send the payment to Florida. The address you have to pay attention to is the place where you sent the payment. In this case, it's Florida with full name "John Doe" and full address "777 John Doe Way" with zip code "XXXXX." AGAIN, BE CAREFUL. IF THE SELLER IS DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS, THEY MAY HAVE JUST HIJACKED AN ACCOUNT.
  6. If you called the seller by phone, make a note of day and time and what was said with a witness on another extension to hear what's going on. If no one's there or there's only an answering machine, you still must make note of this in your notes.
  7. Store all above evidence in a manila envelope in a safe place when you need to look for them later after the auction.
  8. Keep these evidence even if you're getting nowhere with the authorities. You may or may not want to form a posse with the scammer's other ripped off buyers to get your money back. Maybe later, the scammer will offend so many other buyers that the police will go after him and they will call you up later about your evidence & restitution. There have been cases of this happening with police jailing scammers and calling up the victims years later to notify them the court has ruled the scammer has to pay all the victims back.
  9. If at any time, the seller's FB starts to go negative or neutral, QUICKLY collect the emails of all his winning bidders so you can get POLICE ACTION going against this scammer BEFORE THEY MAKE THEIR FB PRIVATE.

YOUR FEAR OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FROM SELLER: Also, in regards to you being scared the seller will leave you negative feedback, remember WHILE YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EBAY DEAL, IT'S YOUR MONEY YOU'LL LOSE, WORSE THAN NEG FEEDBACK and neg feedback hurts a seller worse than a buyer. if you're able to sniff out that the seller is a scammer, report it immediately to ebay for offenses ranging from False Contact Info, only using WU, Account Hijacking, trying to cut a deal outside of ebay, etc. and see if ebay can NARU them before they can leave you feedback. The sooner you can sniff them out as a scammer, the better will you be able to protect your feedback as well as protect yourself and other buyers from being scammed.

SUMMARY:

  • NEVER PAY BY CASH OR MONEY WIRE TRANSFERS LIKE WU, MONEYGRAM, EGOLD, ETC.
  • NEVER PAY BY ACCOUNT TRANSFERS
  • NEVER PAY BY ANY ESCROW AGENCY SUGGESTED BY THE SELLER
  • MOST LEGITIMATE SELLERS DON'T USE ESCROW ANYWAY SO JUST FORGET ABOUT PAYING THAT WAY
  • NEVER PAY BY MONEY ORDER OR CHECKS IF YOU WANT YOUR MONEY BACK RIGHT AWAY IN CASE THE SELLER TURNS OUT TO BE A SCAMMER OR BAD SELLER. THE MONEY CAN BE TRACKED, BUT GETTING IT BACK WILL BE HARDER.
  • Your last and only secure way to pay and get your money back 99% of the time if something goes wrong is to pay via your buyer favorable CC or debit card. HOWEVER, it is not 100% guaranteed. All that has to happen is the scam seller mailing you a big rock or piece of junk with delivery/signature confirmation and this will be hard to dispute. Also, if you pay an online service or offline service for a money order (which is what happened with Western Union and other wire transfer services and bidpay), they don't have to trace or give you back your money since they performed their service of sending the payment to the address YOU gave them, even if it's to a scammer. REMEMBER, SCAM SELLERS EXIST EVERYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE AND WILL USE THE LAWS, ONLINE SERVICES, AND YOUR OWN NAIVETY TO THEIR BENEFIT, NOT YOURS!!
  • Print out the auction including the pictures once you place your bid, and the 2nd when you win the auction as your EVIDENCE later. The originals stay with you FOR SECURE PERMANENT SAFEKEEPING or can be SHOWN to local authorities and to the Court, but copies should be made to any authorities, Court, and anyone else.
  • Make copies of any other auction items like checks, etc.
  • Start collecting winning bidders' emails and contact them when the seller's FB starts going neg/neutral BEFORE the scam seller can make their FB private so you and they can form a POSSE to press action with the POLICE IN the scam seller's area.

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