Accepting Cash as Payment

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I took a 3-4 month break from eBay last year so I may well be a bit behind on new eBay rules. I thought that you could accept cash as long as you had other methods of payment as well.

I listed a few items last night and one of these items was removed within about 5 minutes of it being listed. Reason being I had mentioned that I accepted cash.

Can we no longer accept cash? When was this new rule first enforced?

Tallymanjohn

As far as I understand it, you're not allowed to say 'cash through post at own risk' or similar, but you are allowed to say 'cash on collection'. Can't find the relevant EBay link at the moment but will post it when I do.

pennylane99

Sellers may accept COD (cash on delivery) or cash for in person transactions

Sellers may not solicit buyers to mail cash

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html

nightswimmer

razorbladekisses wrote:

I listed a few items last night and one of these items was removed within about 5 minutes of it being listed. Reason being I had mentioned that I accepted cash.

Can we no longer accept cash? When was this new rule first enforced?

It was announced several months ago, but I left my listings the same as due to circumstances at the time, I didn't want the hassle of changing 200 odd auction pages. Everything has been fine and I have been relisting those pages with cash as a payment option (at your own risk, etc.) ever since. Then a couple weeks ago, they pulled some auctions I relisted and sent me a warning, so I had no choice but to change them. Not sure whether I have just been lucky all this time, or whether they are finally cracking down.

frivolous_fay

nightswimmer wrote:

Not sure whether I have just been lucky all this time, or whether they are finally cracking down.

It's all about whether someone reports you.

nightswimmer

frivolous_fay wrote:

It's all about whether someone reports you.

I wondered about that, but the only listings I got a warning about and that were pulled, were several I had just relisted (within seconds of them being listed). I never got a warning about any of the other listings I had up at the time (over 90), so I figured eBay must have introduced an 'automated search thingie' [*] rather than it being someone reporting me.


[*] The technical term for it, or so I am told.

Avoriaz

nightswimmer wrote:

.. 'automated search thingie' [*] .
[*] The technical term for it, or so I am told.

The correct technical term is

"Thingy-me-jig."

nightswimmer

Avoriaz wrote:

The correct technical term is

"Thingy-me-jig."

Ooops, sorry, I was still thinking in Imperial.

digerati

Also remember that if you do accept PayPal to never ever accept it for 'cash on collection' or 'to be collected' sales. The buyer can claim you never posted the item and will get their (actually your) money back.

eBay no longer allows sellers to offer cash as an option but buyers can still ask if it's acceptable. A better option is bank deposit or bank transfer as there's a record of the payment for both parties so no dispute on who paid what. For small value international transactions, US$ cash is prefered as it comes in small denominations and can be easily cashed in most countries. However, make sure the sender knows to conceal it between something so it isn't visible through the envelope, seal the envelope's edges with clear tape and send it regular Airmail. Sending anything registered or insured is expensive and only alerts light-fingered postal staff to it's value.

soolin

digerati wrote:

Also remember that if you do accept PayPal to never ever accept it for 'cash on collection' or 'to be collected' sales. The buyer can claim you never posted the item and will get their (actually your) money back.

eBay no longer allows sellers to offer cash as an option but buyers can still ask if it's acceptable. A better option is bank deposit or bank transfer as there's a record of the payment for both parties so no dispute on who paid what. For small value international transactions, US$ cash is prefered as it comes in small denominations and can be easily cashed in most countries. However, make sure the sender knows to conceal it between something so it isn't visible through the envelope, seal the envelope's edges with clear tape and send it regular Airmail. Sending anything registered or insured is expensive and only alerts light-fingered postal staff to it's value.

Re bank transfers...A great idea for a seller as they are completely non recoverable and most sellers will almost bite your hand off if we get someone wanting to use that payment method. However, really bad idea for buyer as once sent they cannot be recalled.

Also I would take issue with your advice not to insure cash sent in the post, I can't even get my regular mail delivered so trusting cash with no insurance and no proof of arrival is I think a little unwise.

Snooze_Control

You can offer cash as a payment method in your auction without attracting Ebay's attention - you just put the word between some html code which takes all of 5 seconds to do.

SC