Not sure what to do

SoozyJ22

I'm having a bit of a dilemma and am not sure quite what to do so I'm looking for some opinions from the knowledgeable people here.

I've found something I'm interested in bidding on but the seller says both that he won't accept paypal under a certain value and that he's not responsible for anything lost/damaged in the post. It's an old item of which there are no others to be found on ebay so no option to buy from someone else, and if I were to win it for the minimum bid or a few pounds more it would come under his paypal limit. The seller has feedback of about 900 so really should know better.

I've reported the auction to ebay for stating he won't take paypal, but they've not done anything about it. I was hoping they'd remove the auction and he'd relist it properly, but that looks unlikely (unless ebay are very slow at removing listings?) and it's due to end in a couple of days.

I do really want the item, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't get it. I really don't want to bid and pay by another method in case it gets lost in the post and I lose my money. What I'm tempted to do is bid with a spare ID (ie one I don't sell on) and pay by paypal even if it's under his limit. Then I'd point out whatever the bit of ebay is which says you have to accept paypal and either he might send my item if I'm lucky, or he might not in which case could I report him for item not received? Presumably he wouldn't be able to issue a NPB against me as I would have a paypal reference to give ebay to show i had paid.

Is there anything wrong with this plan? Are there any better ways of dealing with this that I could try instead? Of course, ebay could still remove the item or bidding might go over his limit in which case things would be ok.

Any thoughts or ideas gratefully received.

mikey72

Sounds good, do it, and post back what happens. Only snag could be if he does give a paypal option on his invoice, but ebay do that automatically don't they?

lisawood78

Sellers have to offer Paypal, also his terms of not being responsible for items lost in the post are utter carp.
If it were me (and more for sheer bloody mindedness) I'd bid, and if I won, pay via Paypal and see what happens.
He'll either send it, not send it, or refund it. So you'll get it, dispute it and get a refund or get a refund anyway, if that happens put in a seller non performance complaint. As you say he should know better.
Thats what i'd do, but i'm sure there are lots of sellers out there who will disagree and never want me as a buyer!
Lol

oldtoolie

Why get into a hassle with someone unless you enjoy it? Me, I would email a query to the seller saying what you want to do and if they didn't play ball I would forget about it.

lisawood78

I don't like Ebay sellers who deliberately or not break the rules, sorry if
that opinion offends.

SoozyJ22

I agree entirely with Lisa. I wouldn't be doing it for (pure) enjoyment. As I said, I did want the item quite a lot and couldn't get one elsewhere - if I were to have ASQed him pointing out the error of his ways he'd probably have blocked me from bidding so that wouldn't have been much use.

Of course, I'd not even have had to consider that approach if ebay had done their job properly and removed the item when I reported it. I'm not sure they've ever removed an item after I've reported one - I'm not sure why I bother.

Anyway, the item ended earlier and had got just over his minimum paypal payment before I made my bid so I was able to bid using my main account and got it for about half my maximum bid - so I'm happy so far. Hopefully there won't be any further issues.