Buying from a German seller ? Trying to charge me more

natalie1974

Hi ,

I have just had an offer accepted on this buggy for £99 , http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=017&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=270090771660&rd=1&rd=1

So I have just clicked the pay now button and I am taken to a checkout system of the sellers . Firstly he wants to charge me 2,94 Euros Paypal surcharge , which I thought isn't allowed and then once you get past that bit it works out at 150,00 Euros which works out to be £103 GBP and that wasn't what I offered . I have emailed the seller asking for an English invoice for £99 only and told him I thought the surcharge was wrong .

I am right about the surcharge and where do I stand when being invoiced by foreign sellers . Must add this isn't my usual Ebay account , the seller knocked back my original offer of £98 and accepted £99 !

nightswimmer

natalie1974 wrote:

I am right about the surcharge and where do I stand when being invoiced by foreign sellers . Must add this isn't my usual Ebay account , the seller knocked back my original offer of £98 and accepted £99 !

It's against the rules to surcharge for PayPal, however a lot of German sellers apparently do this because their normal method of payment, that nearly everyone there uses, is bank transfer.

So I would stick to your guns and say that you are only willing to pay the original price as a PayPal surcharge is against eBay rules.

BTW, another buggy???? :rotfl:

natalie1974

Yep , another one but in my defence it is for my sister . She already has this buggy but in a blue colour but she wanted it in this colour as it has only been released a little while . :rotfl:

No , I am going to stick to my guns and if necessary we have got his Paypal email address , I will just transfer £99 to it . I flatly refuse to pay any more that what I offered .

colin79666

natalie1974 wrote:

I will just transfer £99 to it . I flatly refuse to pay any more that what I offered .

Don't
you must follow through the Ebay checkout system to be sure to be covered by Ebay and Paypal protection

nightswimmer

natalie1974 wrote:

Yep , another one but in my defence it is for my sister . She already has this buggy but in a blue colour but she wanted it in this colour as it has only been released a little while . :rotfl:

LOL, your sister? I'll believe you.

natalie1974

So shall I just sit tight till I have an english invoice for £99 then ?

Hintza

Just hold on a minute.

She doesn't offer Paypal as a payment option, if you push her she will expect you to pay via bank transfer or other means which could cost you significantly more. Just pay it and be done with it.

EDIT:- DOH!!!!.........Cancel all that; nightswimmer is quite right ...just driven home 400 miles this evening...better go to bed before I make a bigger fool of myself!!!!

nightswimmer

Hintza wrote:

Just hold on a minute.

She doesn't offer Paypal as a payment option,

According to the auction listing they do.

digerati

It's my understanding that Germans can still pass on the cost of accepting PayPal to customers.

PayPal was free for recipients during the introductory phase in Germany, and only recently started charging a small fee to receive payments. Needless to say many that signed up for PayPal no longer bother to use it. Why? Well Germans are happy to pay and be paid using bank transfer (Überweisung) as it entails none of the risks or delays encountered when using PayPal.

There are significant differences between the eBay guidelines re: Paypal surcharges in the UK and Germany, but the banning of surcharges has never been announced on ebay.de. Although Paragraph V of the German Paypal user agreement theoretically bans surcharging, few Germans are aware of it. Since Paragraph V is clearly a pretty poor reworking of the same section in the UK agreement (even referring to UK practice within the German text), many German sellers will question its legitimacy and legality from a German standpoint.

Keine Aufschläge. Sie erklären sich damit einverstanden, dass Sie für das Akzeptieren einer PayPal-Zahlung keinen Aufschlag oder andere Gebühren erheben. Durch diese Beschränkung wird Ihnen nicht untersagt, eine Bearbeitungsgebühr in Verbindung mit dem Verkauf von Waren oder Dienstleistungen zu erheben, solange diese Bearbeitungsgebühr nicht als Aufschlag dient. (Mit anderen Worten: Die Bearbeitungsgebühr für mit PayPal geleistete Zahlungen für Transaktionen darf nicht höher sein als die Bearbeitungsgebühr für Transaktionen, die mit anderen Zahlungsmethoden geleistet wurden.) Verkäufer aus Großbritannien, die Artikel auf einer Website mit Sitz in Großbritannien zum Verkauf anbieten, dürfen einen solchen Aufschlag unter folgenden Bedingungen erheben...

nightswimmer

digerati wrote:

PayPal was free for recipients during the introductory phase in Germany, and only recently started charging a small fee to receive payments.

Wow, I didn't realise that they had started charging there now. Bet that made them even more popular.

soolin

Firstly, the link you provided shows £109.99 if you did an official second chance offer then your invoice will show £99 and you can pay that via the ebay invoice.

If however this is an off ebay transaction then you don't have much leverage as the seller needs to raise an invoice and he probably can't work out how to do that in a different currency. If this is currently 'off ebay' ask him to set up a BIN for £99 so you can pay that and explain that paypal then charge you in sterling as per the auction terms.

He should not be charging for paypal, so don't pay that bit.

Soo