Selling without an Paypal account

Mistral001

I have a friend who has never bought or sold anything on ebay and wants to start selling a few items like old things she no longer uses.

I have told her she will need to set up a Paypal account. But does she need to?

I have used ebay for years to mostly buy but also sometimes sell old things I no longer need and have used paypal without any problems, but I was wondering if times have moved on since I started using ebay.

I know the commercial ebay sellers who sell using "Buy Now" rather than auctions complain about Paypal fees, but as far as I can see, in auctions on ebay if you do not offer Paypal when selling, you are likely to get fewer bids and thus less money for your item and lose out in the long run.

custardy

you wont be selling anything with no paypal account

Mistral001

custardy wrote: »

you wont be selling anything with no paypal account

That's what I thought, but I have read so much about Paypal accounts being allegedly hijacked that I am a bit worried about advising my friend to start a paypal account.

adonis

I have bought a few things on ebay without paypal , using cash on collection and postal orders, but i am reluctant to link a paypal account to my main bank account in case of problems.

Perhaps the answer is a separate bank A/C just for paypal.

alien1234

I am sure it will sell although hit rate will be lower. However, I am sure there is people will to take risks, they will be able to leave feedback at the end of day so why not pay with other payment methods?

custardy

Mistral001 wrote: »

That's what I thought, but I have read so much about Paypal accounts being allegedly hijacked that I am a bit worried about advising my friend to start a paypal account.

you cannot sell on eBay without a Paypal account
its been that way for some time

soolin

I'm going to just restate what custardy has already said. For about the past 3 years it has not been possible to sell on ebay unless you have a paypal account unless you are selling in the motor vehicle category.

Therefore if OPs friend wishes to sell she/he needs a paypal account.

However if OPs friend is unsure about how to stay safe using the internet generally then she may well be wise to maybe stick to car boot sales or personal ads. I would certainly not force anyone to use ebay if they are new to being online. I would go further and even say it might not be an idea to even buy on ebay, as without a paypal account the buyer will be forced to use unsafe payment methods.

Mistral001

Custardy and soolin and all others who have replied

Thanks for your input. I started to sell on ebay about five or six years ago, so looks like I am behind the times. It is clear now to me that it is compulsary now to offer Paypal when selling except in certain circumstances. Before starting this thread I googled my query about selling and Paypal and there were lots on conflicting answers coming up, but I think they were out of date.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

terra_ferma

I'd like to add that you shouldn't believe everything you read about ebay and paypal.
When I was a new seller I became really worried because I thought you could very easily have your ebay / paypal accounts suspended, or highjacked, etc.
In most cases there are good reasons when accounts are suspended or closed. There are small number of cases when the reason is not apparent, and the seller has done nothing wrong, but I would say they are not as frequent as you'd think.
On the ebay forum often people post with their selling ID, and in most cases when they do, you can see straight away that they are crap sellers, and it's a good thing that they've been given the boot. Not always, but nearly.

PP operate almost outside UK laws, and have very odd practices, so cannot fully trusted, but anything you do has a level of risk.

in_the_Cotswolds

adonis wrote: »

Perhaps the answer is a separate bank A/C just for paypal.

This is what I have done. It has no overdraft or cards linked to it so if it gets "hacked" they can't get anything out of it.

Mistral001

mechanic wrote: »

This is what I have done. It has no overdraft or cards linked to it so if it gets "hacked" they can't get anything out of it.

Yes I also use a separate bank account for paypal. Good idea if you can do it.