I have a bike for sale on Ebay (classified) a guy has just asked if I would except a PayPal payment. Anyone know of any issues with accepting a payment like this?
Why would he need to do that instead of a transfer? Ask PayPal what the score is, they have good customer service lines to call based in Ireland. Maybe it would give him a guarantee to get his money back after thrashing it or going on holiday with it. Be careful and ask them... you can accept a small deposit via PayPal but I would be careful with anything more...
Loads of fees and the ability to reverse the payment. Avoid like the plague IMHO. Great for a buyer, terrible for a seller.
Car/bike sales and classified sales aren't covered by ebays buyer protection so he'd not be able to claim money back. Maybe worth reading the terms and conditions to know exactly where you stand. However you will get stung 4% in commission unless he pays by 'friends and family' Bank transfer is the best and safest.
So why would someone use the service? I thought PayPal acted in a similar way to a credit card: so if buying servi they offered support and guarantees (up to a certain value). They are not owned by eBay any more and that seemed an addd value reason to use them (so they collect their fees) rather than use a credit card. Never looked in detail though, so you are probably right.
It was more that he might be sending a "company" or "Friend" to pick it up for him so you would never know who the chap is. Even on sales I feel are okay, I always ask to see some I.D. and declare that before they leave. For example, if the company is a pick up company then some details of that company such as phone etc, if you are filling in a log book with the next owners address then him sending his licence down with the pick up crew shouldn't be an issue either. I personally would never accept a paypal sale as others have said, not only the paypal charge on that amount but also there is an unease about it. cash is preffered
How much money are we talking about? So this chap has never seen the bike and buys it. He doesn't want to arrange to pick it up but is more concerned about using PayPal. Hmm. Assuming that we are talking about a bike... I had a shitty experience with eBay and PayPal earlier this year when I was ripped off by a seller pretending to be in England when the were in the far east. I found PayPal pretty useless and I got my money back from eBay - I think that they were/are trying to clean up their image a bit! I am no expert on PayPal but my understanding is that the money does not go straight into you bank account. It sits in your PayPal account until they decide thay you can take it out. If they are trying to use their PayPal credit account to fund this purchase (and I don't know if you can, other than the normal cash withdrawal funds transfer that you can do on any credit card) it is not your problem. I would only accept the traditional ways of cash or money in your back account, where it is under your control. Good Luck!
Wouldnt consider paypal for reasons mentioned above, Big no no, Mind when i went to buy a superduke 990r from Craigs Motorcycles and wanted to pay by Credit card(were miles apart), They were willing to loose the sale rather than be paid by credit card, Was £7000, I nearly told them to stuff it but decided to pop into the bank to be told why they probably wouldnt except but they thought it strange been a well respected dealer, Didnt think it would be an issue as near all dealers except CC, Been a well respected dealer i done the transfer and the luvly bike turned up . I personally worry even when taken cash on a sale now, I rather see the money sitting in my account first and im sure most are the same
Most don’t seem to take anything over 2 grand or so. Lots of fees attached for them. But, they don’t like cash for the same reason either.
the norm is, you give him your email address, you then get a fake paypal email to say you have funds from the buyer, some then hand the goods/bike over without logging into your account for a balance. its easy theft. the culprits should be hung
