Paypal 'gift'?

neilwoods

Bollotom wrote: »

You sure you're doing it for someone or is it really you asking for the gift payment? If you can't see this is a possible scam then you really are naive. Sorry to be blunt but when you posted first you didn't mention you were a previous buyer from the other party, but chose to ignore subsequent advice. If this guy has such good feedback, why should he try to crook the system Ebay and Pay Pal have in place. Do it the proper way and keep your protection in place. :cool:

Surely the answer is simple, avoid costly fees from ebay and paypal. It could be an item worth a few hundred, so wants to avoid high fees.

If OP is happy to proceed then fine.

cookie365

Bollotom wrote: »

If this guy has such good feedback, why should he try to crook the system Ebay and Pay Pal have in place. Do it the proper way and keep your protection in place. :cool:

I love how 'choosing not to use ebay to sell stuff' becomes 'crooking ebays system'.

To the OP - if this is a genuine off-ebay sale - you know the seller from some other source which can hold him accountable or exert social pressure if something goes wrong - then there's nothing wrong in using the 'friends and family' option.

I've used this when I've bought stuff from people advertising on a specialist forum, where they're well established with a good reputation and a history of making good on their promises to others. It's still a risk, but no more than we seemed to manage to live with before ebay came along.

But if it really is an ebay sale, make the purchase through ebay, and make the paypal payment through ebay, or stay away.

senileturtle

Bollotom wrote: »

You sure you're doing it for someone or is it really you asking for the gift payment? If you can't see this is a possible scam then you really are naive. Sorry to be blunt but when you posted first you didn't mention you were a previous buyer from the other party, but chose to ignore subsequent advice. If this guy has such good feedback, why should he try to crook the system Ebay and Pay Pal have in place. Do it the proper way and keep your protection in place. :cool:

I am not naive. I just did not know why the 'gift' option is not there any more so was confused how to proceed when he asked me to do it via 'gift' on paypal.

For the record, the guy listed it on ebay and linked to it via a forum we both go on. I asked if he would sell via the forum (as it is a forum with a buy/trade/sell section and feedback system in place) to a) save ebay fees, and b) so I wouldn't have to try and beat bidders for what is actually a rare item (albeit not pricey).

I was asking initially where the gift option was, wasn't expecting people to assume I was stupid enough to fall for what they assumed was a scam when the 'gift' option (or family and friends option as it now is) does not incur fees if the paypal account has funds or it is done through a bank account (I only figured that out today).

So in the end I just put the extra needed in paypal and avoided the 51p paypal charge.

People buy and sell via forums all the time, and the majority have no problems. It's nothing to do with 'crooking' the system.

Horlock

If you trust them (and only if you trust them). Offer to send them what you can as a gift and pay the final pound as a purchase - they'll be saving more than £1 anyway so they might not even make you pay the final pound. That way they save some money and you don't lose out.

But this is only if you trust them. Basically if they do a runner then you've got nothing - a bit like if you paid the money direct into their bank account by walking into a branch - it is your tough and you'd have to go to court etc.

If its something you bought of ebay - they'll have a hissy fit if they find out!!! You could both get your accounts suspended - probably wont but ...