Am I in the wrong????

susi

I won an item on ebay and tried to pay for it immediately with paypal as I want it early next week as a gift. Right, it wouldnt allow me to pay by paypal as it said the account wasnt taking paypal payments at the moment. I contacted the seller and asked if he had another paypal account I could use as I really needed this instantly. If not perhaps I could collect and pay cash. Anyway to cut a long story short, I cant get anyone to take me there or collect for me (its an hour and half journey) He said he cant accept paypal at the moment cos some scammers got into his paypal account and its being sorted but I could pay by money order if I didnt want to wait for the cheque to clear. Iam feeling really unsure about this as it is for quite a lot of money. I emailed and told him I would have to back out,he said he would report me to ebay as a non paying bidder.........how do I stand? It says on the auction, in fact there is a link to paypal, am I doing wrong here, I have a very good ebay rating and would hate it to be compromised.

aliasojo

If the PayPal scammers bit is true, then that's hardly the seller's fault and there's not much he can do about it.

He's offered you an alternative way to pay but you don't feel happy about it. Again hardly the seller's fault.

You need the item quickly so don't want to send a cheque. Again, not the seller's fault.

From his point of view, you've won his auction but are not willing to pay by any means other than PayPal, which you can't do. Imo, it's no wonder he's threatened to report you.

I'm not eBay expert mind you....it's just my opinion.

OllieLong

If they have stated PayPal as a method of payment in the auction and they won't accept it they are in the wrong not you as you offered to pay by a stated method.

aliasojo

Surely some common sense must apply in this situation though if the PayPal account has been scammed?

Hintza

aliasojo wrote:

Surely some common sense must apply in this situation though if the PayPal account has been scammed?

Aye but what if he is the scammer? If you are not sure don't do it. Tell him you need the protection offered by PayPal. Tell him you will report him as non performing seller.

But if I were you I would phone him and see how you feel, ask him if he can sort his PayPal account out and then you would be more than happy to proceed.

aliasojo

Hintza wrote:

Aye but what if he is the scammer?

Point taken.

Is it likely the PayPal account issues could be sorted out quick enough to help the OP out though?

masonic

aliasojo wrote:

Surely some common sense must apply in this situation though if the PayPal account has been scammed?

I would refuse to pay by any method that didn't, at least, offer the protection of a credit card payment.

Payments by cash/money order leave you with no protection at all. At least with cheques/bank transfers you are protected by ebay standard protection.
PPPay is an alternative to paypal that some use. "Setup your account in minutes and accept payments today", they claim. At least then you would be able to do a credit card chargeback if things went wrong.

Bossyboots

aliasojo wrote:

Surely some common sense must apply in this situation though if the PayPal account has been scammed?

I think I would say paypal account been scammed - not the buyer's fault.

If the rules are that they have to accept payment by the method stated in the auction then it is not for the seller to start dictating other terms of payment. The OP is rightly not prepared to send payment by a method that could lose them their money with no protection. There is nothing to say that the seller is actually genuine.

aliasojo

Nor the seller's either?

Was it stated on the auction page that payment was to be made by PayPal, or was it just an option along with other methods I wonder? Also is it known when the PayPal problem occurred? Maybe there was no time to change the auction page to remove the PayPal option.

Just playing Devil's Advocate.

Although I completely accept the points made about protection.

masonic

aliasojo wrote:

Was it stated on the auction page that payment was to be made by PayPal, or was it just an option along with other methods I wonder? Also is it known when the PayPal problem occurred? Maybe there was no time to change the auction page to remove the PayPal option.

If a seller lists a payment method, then they have to accept payments using that method. If the buyer is kind enough to make alternative arrangements, then good on them, but there is absolutely no obligation whatsoever.

skintchick

But paypal DOES play up, and it isn't the sellers fault.

Sorry OP but you have to wait or pay by other means. Such is life.