E bay question regarding payment

Am I wrong to believe that there are other means of payment on e bay other than Pay Pal? I understood that e bay made it manatory to make payments using Pay Pal only with no Money orders and checks allowed. If you offer a credit card service for payment is that allowed? I have found a dealer who does not accept Pay Pal how can this be? I'm sure if I did in e bay I can find the answer however I'm too tired to go throught e bays rules and regs to find the answer......anyone? Thanks

 

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PayPal is not mandatory, but electronic payment is (in most cases). That way there is a record and they can enforce their refund policy.

 

Thanks for your speedy reply I thought you could only use Pay Pal.....Again thanks

 

So do a lot of other people, but they are wrong. PayPal is the easiest and most generally accepted, however.

 

I've never used Paypal yet. When I'm buying, I always ask the seller if they will accept a US Postal Money Order. They say yes probably 90% of the time and that's how I pay. I do have a Paypal account, just having some issues trying to get it funded, so it's still MOs for now.

 

The seller can ACCEPT any payment form he wishes, but I believe the only one he is allowed to LIST in the auction is Paypal.

 

You are wrong. He can list and accept any one listed in their rules. I do not believe they can accept any other payment method under eBay's rule and I know they are not allowed to list them.

 

eBay's insistence that sellers use PayPal has nothing to do with enforcing refund policy, though they will claim otherwise.

Forcing sellers to use PayPal is actually all about clipping sellers for an additional 3.5% on each transaction, even if the seller would prefer to not accept electronic payments.

The feedback system is more than adaquate for enforcing refunds, --the vast majority of sellers try to insure the transaction is acceptable to the buyer in order to keep his feedback profile at or near 100%.

There once were plenty of us, --myself included-- who sold on eBay without accepting PayPal or any other electronic payment. The margins on many items, especially bullion related items, is so small to begin with, that the extra 3.5% commission makes it pointless to sell on eBay.

On the more exotic and truely rare items, the absence of an electronic payment option was hardly a deterent to most serious collectors. If they really wanted the coin, they were going to bid on it regardless of payment option provided the seller feedback profile looked good.

While I understand there have been plenty of abuses of buyers on eBay (most notably the complete absence of any concern on eBay's part to ban counterfeit items) --the truth is eBay has only one real concern, and that is the bottom-line of their profit and loss statement. They don't care a hoot about the sellers even though they are the source of all --ALL-- of their income.

The last straw for me came last summer when a buyer left me negative feedback, then demanded a partial refund before removing the feedback. I complained to eBay that the buyer was using feedback extortion. eBays reply? It's only extortion if the demand for a partial refund is made before the feedback is left. Upon closer inspection of the feedback this buyer had left to other sellers, there were DOZENS of negative feedback left for other sellers, no doubt under similar circumstances, and eBay chose to do nothing about it. When 20% of feedback left by a buyer is negative, clearly there is abuse of the feedback system, yet eBay ignores it as if their amended feedback system is flawless.

What might be a nice solution to the problem, would be a clearing house (perhaps here on this site) where other sellers on eBay can share their blocked bidder lists. I am convinced that 99.9% of the negative feedback left for sellers on eBay is the result of neurotic buyers who have buyers remorse. If anyone else is interested in trading blocked bidder lists, please let me know.

eBay used to be a very friendly way to do business with other collectors, a place for vest coin dealers to sell, or for collectors to sell duplicates from their collection. Not any more, --it appears to me that eBay is determined to continue raising fees and auction rates and otherwise alienating their sellers until an alternative venue is spawned that levels them like a hovel in an 8.8 earthquake. I for one cheerfully look forward to that day!
Bruce in KC

 

E-bays a big joke forcing sellers to use only pay-pal, Oh by the way
Did i happen to mention e-bay own,s pay pal, If that isnt a conflict
Of interest i dont know what is!!

 

The seller can't ask for a form of payment that is not on the list.
The buyer can offer any form of payment and the seller can say yes.
Goats, pigs, checks and money orders all work but the seller can't ask for it.
The problem is that the seller and buyer have no Ebay protection on the deal.

 

Last time I checked it is ok under Ebay rules to accept check or money order but I believe it is mandatory to accept paypal and/or credit card through a merchant system.

 

Forcing the seller to accept pay-pal is another way to undermine a
All ready broken system!!

 

For those on Ebay long enough, we remember a time when PayPal wasn't around, and EVERYONE paid via personal check or money order.

Non-PayPal payments had their own set of challenges, but they worked just fine.


The current cramming of PayPal down everyone's throat is nothing more than a cash-grab move by a foolish executive team. Ebay works based on trust, and they have irrevocably shattered that trust.

 

This is the second time you have said that and it is not correct. Here are the eBay rules from http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html;

Now, please show me where it is "Forcing the seller to accept pay-pal".

 

Checks and money orders are generally not OK. From http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html

 

Just to save the PayPal fees I always add under payment instructions, "Please email me if you plan to snailmail your payment." I think it plants the seed of possibility w/o asking for it. (No one ever has though! Perhaps I'll change it to "if you plan to pay with a check or money order!")

 

I have to admit I was wrong about Paypal being required or being the only one you could list in the auction (although I still believe at one time they DID have that requirement.) But the seller can still accept any form of payment, he just can't list it in the auction or request it from the buyers, the buyers have to make the request to pay by the other methods and then the seller can agree or not.

 

I cannot site any references, however PayPal has never been the only payment method permitted. Credit cards have ALWAYS been permitted. However, you misconception has been rampant throughout most people. If you go back to the introduction of the new payment method thread(s?) here, you will find that it was discussed at that time.

 

That's the way I understand it as well. The funny thing is trying to find something about the buyer making a request in the rules. I can't find it but know it happens all the time. I'm sure they want as few as possible knowing about the option. I'm thinking Ebay did or were going to require Paypal at one time but there were legal issues.

 

Lets get realistic here!!! I was on e-bay as a seller for over 10
Years and not one time was i ever offered any of the obscure
Payments you mentioned, Keeping it simple i always accepted
Checks or money orders and never had a problem!!

Until E-bay decided that there " EVIL SISTER PAY-PAL " wasent
Getting there share, So they decided to make it a requirement
That,s when i packed up my bags and left e-bay, The best
Decision i ever made!!

After all the bottom line is money!!