How best to protect oneself on preloved.co.uk purchases?? - paypal?

nublue

Hi,

Not sure if this is the best board, so sorry if not!

I am considering buying my wedding dress on the preloved classifieds site. The person selling the dress lives about 4 hours drive from me, but is willing to courier it if required. Obviously if this happens I cannot view the dress to ensure it is OK before I receive it, and also cannot be sure whether it will actually arrive.

At £500 it is a lot of money to lose, complicated by the fact that the dress itself is being discontinued, so if it does turn out to be an issue, I may never be able to get this dress elsewhere.

However it is half price and the £500 saving would be much welcomed!! So I am trying to investigate exactly how I can minimise the risk, and wondered if paypal might be the way to go??

Does anyone have any insight on this?? I have heard paypal buyer protection can be a bit hit and miss, but I wondered if using my credit card to fund it may give me more protection??

Thanks for your help,

pcombo

Why not just meet half way so 2 hour drive each and exchange that way. Save on paypal fees and delivery.

nublue

Actually that is a great idea!! I hadn't thought of that, assumed burden is on me as buyer, but asking couldn't hurt could it?? In case they are not willing to do so, I would still be interested in people's thoughts on how to protect myself...

Thanks

cyberbob

pcombo wrote: »

Why not just meet half way so 2 hour drive each and exchange that way. Save on paypal fees and delivery.

The buyer won't pay paypal fees as the seller does.

You now have the same buyer protection off ebay as on ebay for all purchases with paypal. For buyer protection make sure it's a proper payment and not sent as a gift.

preloved

Hi nublue,

Just thought I would add to this as there have been some changes recently on the protection PayPal provides on purchases bought outside of eBay.

Generally, Preloved tries to bring together buyers and sellers locally so items can be bought in the flesh. This removes all the hassles of payment and delivery and lets you examine the item before paying for it. Just be careful if holding lots of cash when meeting a stranger.

However, if you do need to buy from a distance, PayPal is a good choice. Currently PayPal do offer a certain level of protection if buying something on Preloved - if the item doesn't arrive or if it is significantly not as described you can raise a claim and if it is successful, PayPal will attempt to recover the funds from the sellers account. The problem is that if there are no longer funds in the seller's account you are out of luck.

However, PayPal are changing the rules effective 1st November 2010 and from that date, even if there are no funds in the sellers account you are still protected under PayPal's purchase protection scheme.

As cyberbob mentioned, make sure you make the payment as a purchase, not as a gift.

I hope that helps.

Ian
Preloved Classifieds

nublue

Thanks very much for all of the useful replies. I have in the end decided to go and collect it (I am waiting to hear if the seller is willing to meet partway) as I decided £500 is too much to risk, but the potential savings make it worth a day off work for the trip!!

Thanks again,