Am I worrying over nothing?

Shimrod

I've just checked my account and I joined ebay on 28th Nov 2004 but didn't make my first purchase until July 2007. I bid on and didn't get a couple of items. There was just a very long gap before I was looking for some cheap second hand computer equipment and so came back to ebay.

cyril82

frivolous_fay wrote: »

It's considered discouraging paypal payment.

unless the catagory you sell in is one of ebay's high risk catagories, which now require paypal to be the only payment option, you can offer or request other payment methods, Including cash on collection, as long as you also offer paypal, there is no such thing as discouraging paypal payment in terms of a policy breach for these type of sales.

Obviously therefore, if the buyer wishes to collect, You can state cash on collection And if he wishes to use paypal, postal delivery only.

soolin

I don't like to disagree with you Cyril82 but if you read the community boards on ebay sellers are getting auctions pulled by even suggesting that cash is preferred on collection.

It is an interpretation of this rule:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html

Sellers who state in their listing that they accept certain payment methods must not selectively offer those payment methods to buyers or discourage buyers from using those payment methods.

This means that sellers must always accept payment from buyers through the payment methods they have selected in their Payment Details section of their listing, including PayPal, and must not act in any way to discourage buyers from paying by these methods.

So refusing to allow collection and insisting on posting items if buyer pays by paypal might just scrape through the rules, but saying that only cash is allowed on collection will not.

cyril82

I was going to just leave this because i don't want it to descend into a row. But in the interests of not misinforming people let me just post an excerpt from the link in Soolins post above that seems to show you can state cash on collection, if collected (which seems common sense to me):

“Offline payment methods generally do not offer the same level of protection or convenience as online payments. Nonetheless, they may be appropriate for certain types of transactions and sellers may use listings to offer acceptance of cash (other than by mail or courier) and most valid financial instruments, including personal cheques, bankers drafts or postal orders.
Policy
eBay requires all sellers listing on eBay.co.uk to accept PayPal in their listings with the exception of listings in the categories of cars, motorcycles, aircraft, boats, caravans, trailers, trucks (commercials), services and property categories. Sellers listing on eBay.ie are currently exempt from this requirement, but must offer PayPal in their listings if they wish them to appear in search on eBay.co.uk. In most cases, other additional payments options, which are currently permitted onsite, may also be provided.
Sellers who list in certain categories or transactions may additionally be required to offer PayPal as the only payment method offered on a listing, and this will be messaged accordingly within the listing flows.
Permitted
Sellers may offer to accept:
· PayPal (all sellers must offer PayPal in their listings)
· Credit cards (including MasterCard, Visa, Amex), debit cards, and bank electronic payments
· Bank-to-bank transfers, often known as bank wire transfers or bank cash transfers
· Cash for in-person transactions - (this is ebay's wording, so why can't you put it in your listing along with "Paypal for postal delivery"?)

i think because there are so many ebay policies that boarder on contradicting each other, that is why it causes confusion, by stating in your listing cash on collection for in person collections seems to stay in line with the ebay policy above, and rather than encouraging or discouraging any one type of payment you are merely stating terms relating to payment options to protect yourself And the buyer I.e. if the buyer pays by paypal you must deliver by traceable delivery to be protected from chargeback’s in line with paypal's own policy.
You are not saying don't use paypal, your just stating what delivery options they have if they do use it. Incidentally i think ebay want you to use paypal and send everything by courier so i doubt they'd object, as it makes their life easier.

Equally, if the buyer wants to pay cash, he must collect the goods as cash is not insured if lost in the post and you accept cash for in person collection only. I think that all stays within the ebay policy above.

soolin

As per my post and taken directly from ebay policy on the link I provided:

This means that sellers must always accept payment from buyers through the payment methods they have selected in their Payment Details section of their listing, including PayPal, and must not act in any way to discourage buyers from paying by these methods.

So refusing paypal on a collected item would appear to be discouraging paypal.

I agree though that any payment methods allowed by ebay may be offered, it is just that you MUST accept paypal when offered.

So refusing to allow collection and insisting on posting items if buyer pays by paypal might just scrape through the rules, but saying that only cash is allowed on collection will not.

cyril82

As per usual where ebay policy is concerned it's unnecessarily complicated, and you must word it correctly to stay in line with ebay rules.

If you put in your listing "you can't pay me with paypal if you want to collect" you'll probably get in trouble for directly discouraging paypal payment.

But the example i give above in my last post is how to do it within the rules, i mean, you should have the right to attach reasonable terms to your delivery and payment options, you do in the eyes of the law but i'm not even going to go there, just keeping it within ebay policy this is how it works out according to my example:

You are offering all methods of payment including cash on collection and paypal.
You state that if paypal is used you will send by traceable delivery only to stay in line with the requirements of paypal protection policy for both the buyer and seller.

You state also, buyers may pay by cash, however this must be by cash on collection in person as sending money by post is not insured and we do not accept cash by post for security reasons.

You haven't needed to say, "you cant pay me with paypal" but the buyer now knows that if he uses paypal the goods will be delivered only, so he can't pay by paypal and collect, he can pay by cash, but only if he collects, All within the rules and Although more complicated than needs be, achieves the same end.

Wkdwill

Oh dear what have I started.

Luckily whenever ive had an item for collection the buyer has always paid by cash and ive only once been asked to accept Paypal and collection but that was only for £6 and the buyer only lived down the road. When it comes to collecting items myself, I always ask to pay by cash on collection and the sellers always agree. A couple of years ago you wouldn't bat an eyelid to someone who pays by Paypal and collects but now I think we are all getting too wary of the fact there are so many scammers out there and so many ways of being scammed.

Anyway I posted the item yesterday, fingers crossed it all goes well.

cyril82

soolin wrote: »

So refusing to allow collection and insisting on posting items if buyer pays by paypal might just scrape through the rules, but saying that only cash is allowed on collection will not.

I should have read you post fully before i made my last one this is a much shorter explanation.

As agreed above, you don't have to accept collection on items paid for by paypal, mainly due to paypal protection policy and the requirement for a tracking number to be protected.

But by stating postal delivery only when paying by paypal, you have already removed the ability for the buyer to pay with paypal and collect the item, so now if he wants to collect, his only payment option is cash on collection, you have imposed "cash only if collecting" without saying it directly, and within ebay rules.

As i said, far more complicated than needs be due to this "you cant discourage paypal rule" but it achieves the same end.

cyril82

Wkdwill wrote: »

Oh dear what have I started.

.

Hopefully nothing more than a civil discussion about the correct way to ask for cash only on collection due to ebays very complex policies..

But sorry we dragged your thread off topic, keep us posted.

gem8283

After reading different posts on ebay rules and regulations i would like to thank Cyril82 you really do know what your talking about !