Seller wants me to pay directly to their bank account, not through eBay?

Ben84

Ok, this is a situation I've not been in before and I'm curious to hear what others think of it?

In summary, I bought an item from a fairly new eBay seller and paid for it through eBay and paypal. The money left my account, but I noticed it was saying it was being held pending. Anyway, the item turned up and as far as I'm concerned it's exactly the item I expected so that's all fine. Now, the seller messaged me through eBay some days later saying their paypal account was being difficult, something to do with registering and being unable to claim the payment, so could I cancel the payment and make it again. I cancelled the payment, it returned to my account and I tried again. Money left my account and it then appeared to be pending again. I also emailed at the time mentioning I had tried again. I heard nothing back for some time, but now I have a new message from the seller saying they had messaged before about this (correct) and they're not sure if I had tried again (incorrect, I messaged about that) and could I instead make a direct payment to their bank account? I thought it odd they hadn't noticed my reply.

Unfortunately, I have had a couple of bad experiences on eBay over the years so I tend to try not to go off the usual series of events when buying things. So, I'm a little unsure about this and wanted to ask what others think of it?

Elle7

I wouldn't do it.

The seller could then open an item not paid case in Ebay, and you'd get a non-paying strike.

If they have restricted Paypal access, its most often for a reason...

There's also no protection if it goes wrong if you pay by bank transfer, and no way to recall the payment.

Obviously_the_best

As far as you're concerned it's their problem not yours

forgotmyname

Tell them the money has left your account and they need to sort it with paypal. The money may not be refunded to your bank
account this side of xmas.

NeverEnough

If its a new seller, Paypal sometimes seems to restrict access to the funds for a week or two - I've had new sellers send me a message after I bought something asking if I could leave FB asap so that Paypal would release their money.......

Tell the seller you'll leave FB and confirm the item has arrived and that Paypal may then release the funds, but I agree about not depositing funds directly . I've done a direct deposit on one or two ocassions in the past 10 years of ebaying, luckily all's been well, but there is no comeback via ebay or paypal if you do that.

scottish_stresshead

I agree i wouldn't be transferring funds straight into the bank account!!

New seller or not, the problem is with their paypal and its them that should be contacting paypal! I would put it through again if you haven't already, take a screen shot of your account (blur out any personal info) and at least you will have evidence that you sent money and its pending!! Its all too easy for sellers or buyers to open up cases and say item not recieved/payment not recieved etc!!

Ben84

Thank you to everyone for the comments and a specific thank you to NeverEnough:

NeverEnough wrote: »

If its a new seller, Paypal sometimes seems to restrict access to the funds for a week or two - I've had new sellers send me a message after I bought something asking if I could leave FB asap so that Paypal would release their money.......

Tell the seller you'll leave FB and confirm the item has arrived and that Paypal may then release the funds, but I agree about not depositing funds directly . I've done a direct deposit on one or two ocassions in the past 10 years of ebaying, luckily all's been well, but there is no comeback via ebay or paypal if you do that.

This does seem a good option to go for as it's something I can do to help without making a direct bank transfer, which I'm basically ruling out as it has hazards.

Sazzarella

If the message your getting in Paypal is that the transaction is pending then I don't think that's the 21 day wait for new sellers. It usually means they have put the wrong address into ebay when setting up and the address your sending the payment to doesn't exist.

an9i77

I just had similar issue, paid with paypal but is showing as 'unclaimed', the seller has now raised an unpaid item claim against me, I have spoken to ebay who've said they cannot resolve the claim whilst it is still open but once it has closed they will remove any non paying bidder strikes against me. so don't worry too much about that side of things, it seems that if ebay can see you've tried to pay you will get npb strike removed.

Rashboots

I had this issue as a seller... The seller needs to link their paypal account with their ebay ID... easy to do It's their problem though. As soon as they link the two accounts (paypal and ebay) the money will show up in their account.

soolin

Rashboots wrote: »

I had this issue as a seller... The seller needs to link their paypal account with their ebay ID... easy to do It's their problem though. As soon as they link the two accounts (paypal and ebay) the money will show up in their account.

Payal accounts don't have to be linked- although it does make ebay happy when they are.

I agree with earlier statement that this suggests seller has typed wrong email id in completely.