How Safe Is Paypal For Private Purchase?

JONESAD

I'm a regular paypal user through ebay but I'm trying to get hold of some Ashes tickets and have been offered a pair by an Australian as a private sale. Was wondering if I pay by paypal, can get my money back through paypal if the tickets don't materialise?

I've read the stuff on the paypal website and it seems to suggest they will help me get my money back, any feedback would be welcome.

soolin

Using paypal off ebay should be as safe as using it through ebay. Do back your purchase by a credit card though as a full back should something go wrong. Also for tickets make sure you know who you are dealing with as there have been reports of scammers sending blank envelopes signed for, which means the victim is unlikely to win a paypal chargeback.

Soo

bleugh

in theory, paypal is safe for all transactions,

the reality is different however

in ANY transaction (private or ebay), if the seller 'clears out' the funds from the paypal account and doesn't deliver, then paypal will NOT refund you by default in most circumstances, they won't do much chasing


what will happen is that paypal say that they'll refund you when sufficient funds become cleared in the sellers account (which never happens as the scammer moves on.....)


the ONLY way you can cover yourself fully is to pay by credit card through paypal, this way if the tickets don't show, you can do a chargeback through your credit card company,

however, this will put paypal out of pocket, so, they will try to chase you for the cash, blight your credit history, and possibly call in debt collectors (if debt collectors call you, DONT confirm your details, simple, really)

also, paypal will freeze your account and prevent you from accessing it untill more funds are paid back



paypal is too easy for scammers to take advantage of because paypal tends to protect paypal, not the buyer or seller



read up on https://www.bleugh.co.uk/paypal for plenty of links

soolin

The problem is bleugh whilst paypal has its faults there is no safer way as things stand at the moment for a buyer to pay. We can hardly recommend cheques or bank transfers when the chance of getting anything back is almost zero.

Soo

asot

I agree with bleugh PayPal are scum which is hardly suprising considering eBay own them.

soolin

asot wrote:

I agree with bleugh PayPal are scum which is hardly suprising considering eBay own them.

I ask again then what other payment method would you suggest that is safer for buyers in private sales? If you can figure that one out then paypal will automatically be dumped by many a buyer which would have the result of sellers being able to offer more choice.

bleugh himself reluctantly uses it for smaller transactions as although bleugh and I often disagree about it we do accept that from a buying point of view buyers prefer it so sellers quite often are forced to take it.

Soo

soolin

I should edit my post above really to underline the phrase sellers quite often are forced to take it. as I'm sure that is the bit that bleugh will agree with

I like paypal but would agree entirely that it makes a two tier system for buyers and whilst that is the case it means some sellers being forced to take it even though they don't like it.

Soo

asot

soolin wrote:

I ask again then what other payment method would you suggest that is safer for buyers in private sales? If you can figure that one out then paypal will automatically be dumped by many a buyer which would have the result of sellers being able to offer more choice.

bleugh himself reluctantly uses it for smaller transactions as although bleugh and I often disagree about it we do accept that from a buying point of view buyers prefer it so sellers quite often are forced to take it.

Soo

I can't say that I have personally used it, but surely escrow would be a safer method in this particular case as it would only give payment to the seller after the tickets had been received.

Even if I were to use a standard payment system I would prefer to use one like Nochex which although they don't provide any protection at least they are honest in letting you know this. Paypal try to make out they will protect you but in actual fact are useless.

jenniferpa

The problem with buying tickets, any tickets, from a private seller is that it's not uncommon for forgeries to be floating around. Personally, I would have no idea if a ticket was a forgery until I turned up at the event. Escrow sounds like it would be a good idea, but I have no idea what position your credit card company would take should the tickets turn out to be forgeries - does anyone else?

I have purchase items privately using paypal, and in one case, failed to get the item. I instituted a credit card chargeback and also opened a paypal dispute. Paypal did whine about it, but they didn't go any further than that. I'm sure they do hound some people, it just didn't happen to me.

bleugh

can I clarify,

paypal is no safer, or no worse than other methods for SELLERS

for buyers, it is quite a lot safer :-)

again, both statements apply ONLY if you read the T &C of paypal and follow 'em, if you don't (and post 1st class for example, instead of recorded / special), then you'll be far worse off as a seller


i've been stung in the past, thats why i'm still not pro paypal,
however, i still use them for low value items, its too convinient for everyone not to