Prepaid cards for registering an Ebay/Paypal account

toffeecoated

Another problem with Ebay/Paypal is you pay to list an item, pay again when it sells, pay a commission to paypal and pay them again to transfer the money to you're bank account if it is less than £40. So you pay four times to sell one item. Someone like Watchdog or a major newspaper should do a proper investigation into these companies. A few years ago there was a rumour that Yahoo and Google were planning to set up rival auction sites. I don't know why it never happened, they could have closed Ebay down overnight.

soolin

toffeecoated wrote: »

Another problem with Ebay/Paypal is you pay to list an item, pay again when it sells, pay a commission to paypal and pay them again to transfer the money to you're bank account if it is less than £40. So you pay four times to sell one item. Someone like Watchdog or a major newspaper should do a proper investigation into these companies. A few years ago there was a rumour that Yahoo and Google were planning to set up rival auction sites. I don't know why it never happened, they could have closed Ebay down overnight.

Firstly transfers to your bank account from paypal are free if you transfer over £6.

secondly Yahoo did run an auction site in the uK for many years, unfortunately it closed a few years back and all the users were directed to ebay instead.

toffeecoated

I don't know what went wrong with Yahoo. They were the biggest search engine and probably the best site on the internet but they just seemed to self destruct.

mobile48

toffeecoated wrote: »

I don't know what went wrong with Yahoo. They were the biggest search engine and probably the best site on the internet but they just seemed to self destruct.

Google came along and the same can happen to ebay.

toffeecoated

mobile48 wrote: »

Google came along and the same can happen to ebay.

I hope it does. Ebay have had a virtual monopoly for far too long and totally abused it. I would love to see them die.

soolin

toffeecoated wrote: »

I hope it does. Ebay have had a virtual monopoly for far too long and totally abused it. I would love to see them die.

Monopoly just because they can out perform their rivals? They have seen off well established businesses, I didn't even start on ebay I started on Freeserve before ebay even had a presence in the uK. Then ebay UK set up and Freeserve went in a matetr of months.

mobile48

soolin wrote: »

Monopoly just because they can out perform their rivals? They have seen off well established businesses...

That does sound like the definition of a Monopoly to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

toffeecoated

mobile48 wrote: »

That does sound like the definition of a Monopoly to me.

Me too. I think we need a big name company to take them on. I'm surprised Tesco haven't tried it, they seem to be involved in everything else. People could use clubcards to verify their ID and earn points on the fees.

Alik

toffeecoated wrote: »

Ebay and paypal should be closed down. They are the worst companies i have ever dealt with. Some of the excuses they have used for banning me are

1. I was earning too much, £130 in three weeks
2. They thought my account was associated with a suspended member
3. They froze my account and demanded that i faxed them my passport, bank statement and proof that i owned the goods i was selling. Apart from the fact that nobody has used a fax for the last twenty years i would never consider giving information like this to anyone.
4. They insisted that i offer paypal as a payment option and banned me for charging a 10% surcharge
5. They noticed suspicious activity on my account
6. My phone number did not contain the correct area code (it did)
7. I used a copyrighted photo (i took the photo myself)
8. A buyer said he never received a £2 fridge magnet which i posted the day he paid
9. Too many people bid on one of my items

This is all absolute nonsense. My solicitor read the paypal terms of use and said any seller would be crazy to do business with them. But buyers are too lazy to do a BACS transfer, they all want to use paypal because Ebay keep promoting them. I don't think people realise Ebay own paypal. I have tried all the other auction sites and even made my own website but nothing sold. I hate using them but Ebay is not optional, i simply have to be there.

I find it hard to believe they banned you for all those reasons. Asked you to verify details or given you a warning sure. But not a ban.

They ask to verify your details if you earn over a certain amount, within a certain time period. Something to do with money laundering.

They would put your account on hold and ask for details to verify you are who you say you are. Its to protect themselves, and others against fraud.
I've had to verify my details quite a few times, and everytime I ring them, say I do not have a fax machine and then they send me an email in whcih to respond to with the needed pictures attached.
Its a pain in the butt, but you will get the same everywhere.
My father has been using the same bank in Newport for the last 30 years, and he still randomly gets ID checked, even though everyone in there knows it is him.

Charging a 10% surcharge isn't allowed, you can offer free local pick up if you don't want to use PayPal.

If they notice suspcious activity, it might actually of been suspcious activity. Surely having a hold on your account, while they verify who you are is better than having someone go in and withdraw everything.

If you took the photo yourself, then show them proof that you took it yourself. Someone might of pinched your picture and then reported your advert, if you relisted yours while theirs was still active then they would believe it was theirs. Just put a watermark on your images.

Buyers claiming INR sucks, but to avoid it you can just use recorded delivery. Items still go missing, but it allows you to have protection. PayPal offers protection to sellers, but you need to fullfill your side of the deal to get it.You can also get a Royal Mail claims form, to get your money back from RM.
Also chances are the buyer did not receive it, and imagine if you were in their position. You wouldn't be happy to be £2 out of pocket and without the fridge magnet.

If you believe that someone is doing a fraud INR, then you can report them. If they get enough reports of it, then PayPal and eBay will investigate it. You might also leave them feedback, which says something like "Sorry you did not receive your item. Refund/replacement given".

Maybe you should try reading eBays terms and conditions, and their rules before you start selling on there again.

I've had problems with them, but if you learn what the do's and dont's are, and learn how to deal with customers it can be a decent enough living.

soolin

mobile48 wrote: »

That does sound like the definition of a Monopoly to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

In economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos / μονος (alone or single) + polein / πωλειν (to sell)) exists when a specific individual or an enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it.

I was not aware that ebay controlled the internet and had enough control about who or what set up in competition to the extent that they could cause others not to trade. Also how do they control access to items to prevent others from using a similar idea?

A monopoly would exist if they somehow prohibited ebid from allowing me an account if i held one with ebay, or if they forbade me to list items on ebid if I already listed them on ebay.

They do not have a monopoly as there is free competition on the internet. They may be the only big player nowadays but only because they have consistently suceeded where others have given up.