eBay does not extend buyer protection to buyers who pay for their winnings in multiple PayPal payments. On numerous occasions, I've been tempted to buy a coin on eBay which exceeded the maximum they permit in a single PayPal payment for an eBay item. Does anyone here know, when faced with such a high value purchase on eBay, how does one go about paying for the merchandise while keeping buyer protection intact?
It does not work that way! To qualify for PayPal Purchase Protection: Use PayPal to complete your payment. Pay for the item with one payment. Items purchased with multiple payments aren't eligible.
If there's a $5000 limit for eBay PayPal transactions, it's a new development. I had a transaction for $5200 in early 2014 that went bad (ordered 4 gold Buffalos, got zero). As I recall (on a really bad connection right now, so having trouble double-checking), I paid for it with a standard PayPal transaction, and I received a standard no-fuss refund from eBay.
If I was buying something that expensive, I'd work mightily to do the deal outside of a system that skims 10% off the top. Most upper-end coins are floated by dealers on various auction sites to gain exposure. It's usually not too hard to get a much better deal working directly with the seller. If you get worried, have a mutually acceptable party broker the deal for a small fee.
Because they do not charge 10% and because they guarantee both sides of the transaction. Without a store, their fee for a $10,000 coin would be $750 (or $600 with a top rated discount). With a basic store, my fee would be $200 (or $250 NOT top rated).
Going back and re-reading the eBay T&C's, it looks like I could use a credit card instead of PayPal to maintain eBay Buyer Protection. Thanks to everyone for chiming in.
That makes sense. My purchase happened before the eBay-PayPal split, so I imagine things were different then, and I made payment through PayPal using my credit card (as opposed to a bank balance).
I accepted a payment of $6000 without incident in a single transaction through eBay. If there is a limit, I'm thinking that the credit card company the buyer is using is the problem, but most won't be problematic until you reach the $10k mark IIRC. If the buyer isn't using a credit card, I don't think it matters.
Thanks for your input. Whenever I've placed a bid above $5K or tried to use the Buy It Now option above that amount, I'd get an eBay warning that the bid exceeds the limits that guarantee eBay Buyer Protection, even before eBay or PayPal knew what method of payment I planned to use. I suppose I should try again to see if this has changed since my last attempt. I've just stopped trying for a long time, and then saw a tempting coin the other day, and passed on it, assuming things hadn't changed. The photos in that listing weren't great, but there was a return privilege, so I'd have given it a try, but for the possibility that the seller might renege on that privilege. That was the reason for my post.
I recently looked at the Buyer Protection (now "Money-Back Guarantee"?) policy, specifically looking for value limits, and I didn't see any. As we've seen, though, eBay doesn't always publicize policy changes. If anyone does find specific coverage limits documented anywhere, please post links. There are plenty of us here who would like to know.
