safe to accept bank transfer for ebay sale?

alx2010

Hi - sold a couple of items to someone a few days ago, £56 worth. She has 9 positive ratings to date.
Just got an email saying she has had to verify her paypal account by sending paypal some paperwork and can she pay via bank transfer instead.
Is it safe to send her my details? sort code, account number and name...

bris

Yes it is safe, best way to get paid too, no paypal fees.

Crowqueen

Yes, it's safe for you. As long as she doesn't have your PIN she can't withdraw anything, just pay in.

Don't forget to send the item Special Delivery though, at that price you will need the extra insurance, and it's still your responsibility if the buyer doesn't receive their item, despite not being able to claim back through Paypal or eBay.

tryingtogetsolvent

safe??? you are dreaming....with those details you can be signed up for direct debits, donations,hire purchase etc etc by anyone who fancies having a bit of fun at your expense...remember Jeremy Clarkson, bet he doesn't give his bank details to anyone anymore.

alx2010

Crowqueen wrote: »

Yes, it's safe for you. As long as she doesn't have your PIN she can't withdraw anything, just pay in.

Don't forget to send the item Special Delivery though, at that price you will need the extra insurance, and it's still your responsibility if the buyer doesn't receive their item, despite not being able to claim back through Paypal or eBay.

If the buyer does not receive the items I am covered for what I paid for them I assume, up to £41 with RM, which is more than my outlay...

Crowqueen

tryingtogetsolvent wrote: »

safe??? you are dreaming....with those details you can be signed up for direct debits, donations,hire purchase etc etc by anyone who fancies having a bit of fun at your expense...remember Jeremy Clarkson, bet he doesn't give his bank details to anyone anymore.

You are only giving out what you give out when you write a cheque. And we managed with those for a long time before people became blinded by electronic payments. Any time you give out your credit card details online you run a similar risk that encrypted data can be hacked or your passwords stolen by keyloggers. There is no 100% safe method of payment - just a varying amount of risk.

If you're that paranoid you shouldn't be selling on eBay where you have to trust people every time you sell an item. Just because Jeremy Clarkson says so doesn't mean it's right to scaremonger like this.

Crowqueen

alx2010 wrote: »

If the buyer does not receive the items I am covered for what I paid for them I assume, up to £41 with RM, which is more than my outlay...

No, with Special Delivery, you are covered for the whole amount of the item's value, assuming you are not a business (as then you would only be awarded the item cost rather than the sale price if you had to claim).

It costs £5-ish, but it will give you and your buyer better protection than if you only send by standard or recorded post. It's not absolutely certain that RM would award you anything in a claim situation if you sent an item worth £56 by a service only insured up to £41. They may award you the £41 only, but they might well say that since you should have sent it special delivery, they won't pay you anything.

You also owe your buyer an item, not just a lottery as to whether it turns up or not.

tryingtogetsolvent

it was Jeremy Clarkson who made the statement that it was safe and to prove it he gave out his bank account number and sort code. Someone set up a direct debit to a charity in his name and £500 was taken from his account before he even noticed.

If you are so certain its safe send me your name and bank details and i'll empty your account for you.:):):)

MichaelCR

alx2010 wrote: »

Hi - sold a couple of items to someone a few days ago, £56 worth. She has 9 positive ratings to date.
Just got an email saying she has had to verify her paypal account by sending paypal some paperwork and can she pay via bank transfer instead.
Is it safe to send her my details? sort code, account number and name...

I've done it a few times, Theres nothing they can really do with just your Account Number and Sort code (Most of my debit cards have the account number and sort code on the front, So if it was a problem why would this info be on my card)?, They cant make purchases with those details, Or access your account, I've set up a basic current account for this, So when i give those details theres usually nothing in that account, So even if they did try something fraudulent they wouldn't get anything out of it, As soon as i get paid into that account i immediately transfer it to my main current account or another bank account, Meaning nothings in that basic account most of the time.

Pembroke

tryingtogetsolvent wrote: »

it was Jeremy Clarkson who made the statement that it was safe and to prove it he gave out his bank account number and sort code. Someone set up a direct debit to a charity in his name and £500 was taken from his account before he even noticed.

If you are so certain its safe send me your name and bank details and i'll empty your account for you.:):):)

Yes but Jeremy broadcast his details to all his anonymous viewers where as the OP is sending them to one person who he knows by name and address. So for the OP if something fraudulent happened he would know where to send the police whereas Jeremy has no idea of who of all his views committed the fraud.

soolin

tryingtogetsolvent wrote: »

it was Jeremy Clarkson who made the statement that it was safe and to prove it he gave out his bank account number and sort code. Someone set up a direct debit to a charity in his name and £500 was taken from his account before he even noticed.

If you are so certain its safe send me your name and bank details and i'll empty your account for you.:):):)

Why do people persist in this idea that this info leads to us all having all our money taken out?

Firstly I suggest you read the Jeremy Clarkson story properly, you will note , no doubt, the fact that a direct debit was set up in his name and money paid by direct debit to the charity.

Then go check what a direct debit is and also check the direct debit guarantee.

Note also that JC was quite rightly told his money would all be returned (and in fact it would also be possible for the person who set up the fraudulent DD to be proecuted) but that JC allowed the charity to retian the money.

If someone sets up a fraudulent DD then it relies on A) the letter that the bank sends to the owner of the bank account being ignored. and the owner of the bank account not noticing that the DD is set up.

OP I would grab the bank transfer before buyer changes their mind.