Paypal v Bank Transfers

Grumpy_Old_Duffer

Many sellers on eBay accept Paypal but won't accept a Bank Transfer. I cannot understand the reason for this as there are some real horror stories concerning Paypal, AND they charge you for the privilege of being paid this way, AND, if I understand correctly, they are a non regulated body i.e. they answer to no one!!!

Yes, I can understand people being wary about given a Bank Sort code and their Bank Account No. over the internet but is it justified. These details are on cheques anyway!! Could someone actually gain access to a Bank Account with these details, if so, why are they printed on cheques???

I've asked some sellers if they would accept Bank Transfer ... most won't, but some do!!

Can someone explain the for/against arguments???

Jonni2bad

I love bank transfers and do my best to promote them...

For sellers it is great, almost instant payment (3 days max) and no chance of having it returned to sender! Plus, no associated costs

For buyers, there can be negatives - if something is wrong with the item then how do they get their money back? But on the plus you should get your goods quicker than sending a cheque and you don't have to leave the house to do it.

As far as safety is concerned, I have not been able to work out how this info could ever be used to remove money from an account, and HSBC (my bank) responded that it is perfectly safe to give out your Sort Code and Account Number.

I use it to buy and to sell and I too wish more people would make use of it

Outtathaway

I had a seller the other day who listed paypal in his payment options, then when I won the auction said that he doesn't accept it as they charge him and I should make sure my cheque reaches him within 4 days or he would neg me.

So I emailed him and asked if he would accept a bank transfer. And the email reply I got said 'No.' That was all the email contained. So I went ahead then and paid him via paypal as he can't list it as an option unless he is willing to accept it.

I just didn't see the point of sending a cheque for £2.99

soolin

I always try to push bank transfers as my favoured option but it is rarely taken up by my buyers. Problem is that I ship as soon as I receive payment, so for instance all my auctions that finished last night and were paid using paypal were shipped first class this morning and should be received tomorrow, post allowing.

Bank transfers can take as long as 4 working days so a person making a transfer this morning wouldn't get funds to my account before Thursday which means I would post out Friday on my way to work, a lot of people don't like that sort of delay.

Soo

Hintza

I always agree with Soo and here I am no different....:)

As a seller bank transfers save me a lot of money they are however a lot slower than they should be (banks ripping us off...again!!) unless you are both with the same bank.

As a buyer however unless you know the seller or its a low value item you have no come back if seller fails to deliver, so I wouldn't say its in your interests to push it to hard.

On saying that I have even tried offering a discount to encourage payment by transfer....no takers.:(

1jim

I love bank transfers, about 1/3 of my ebay customers use this method and i am very pleased with it, never had any problems, just wish more customers would give it a go

MAYFLOWERS

I love bank transfers too but unfortunately don/t get too many takers for this method of payment.

I don/t accept paypal mainly because of the charges and also the worry of chargebacks, so bank transfers are great for me and I can ship the item as soon as I get payment wheras with a chq I sometimes take a chance and ship before the chq has cleared!

A lot of people seem very wary of this option but all the info you are giving them is on a cheque!

Grumpy_Old_Duffer

I wrote to my Bank yesterday to ask them about the security issues around the giving of Sort Code & Account No. to third parties. Their reply is :

"In most cases, the possibility of fraudulent activity would be highly
unlikely; although this would very much depend on how much confidential
information you give to an unknown third party about yourself.

Provided you only give the payee your sort code and account number and don't
divulge any other personal details, this should not pose a particular threat
to the security of your account."

About answers the original question. The question now is 'Why do we need Paypal???'. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it's handy for Non UK transactions, but how many of these do the regular users of eBay actually have??

Hintza

We all know PayPal is expensive, possible chargebacks (but recorded delivery should stop that), and fraudulent use (same for cheques). But at the end of the day if you give it up (as a seller) you will lose sales suffer reduced prices etc


There is a certain mind set that buyers get into with PayPal ...many do not see it as real money and tend to be a little more likely to bid up. It also allows buyers to spend money on the never never (credit card) again if they have to write a cheque or bank transfer money it does require more though thus reducing impulse buying.

If you were in business you would really have to accept credit cards anyway and their charges are much the same.

Paypal at the end of the day though not perfect is a good tool to increase sales and profits for sellers and is the cost of doing business.

Whew.........:)

soolin

Hintza, can I agree with you this time please <smile>.

When I started to accept paypal on all my auctions a few years back my end prices increased considerably. People expect shopping on the internet to be almost instant and will often only bid on an auction if they can pay straight away and expect their goods a few days after that.

When I use Amazon or CD Wow or whatever I often buy things on a whim because I can just pay and forget about it. I hoenstly wouldn't bother if i had to print out an order form and send a cheque, it is the same with an auction.

I recently came across a site selling lovely T shirts , I got all excited and filled my shopping basket only to get to the payment page where it told me I had to print off an order form and send it in with a cheque or postal order. So I didn't bother in the end.

Soo