Kinda OT: Evilbay

[fingersg]

Maybe you guys can give me some advice.

 

I won an auction for a used PIII system at a reasonable price and intend on paying thru paypal. In the auction, Paypal was listed as the prefered method of payment, No problem, right? Well, I learned thru emails with the seller that she didn't have an account yet with Paypal but is setting one up today. How was she able to put the paypal logo and stuff on her auction without an already existing account? If I were to pay without her having an account what the hell would have happened? Does paypal really provide any kind of protection against fraudulent sellers or is it merely a third party? All of this suspicion was sparked by the fact that she doesn't have any feedback and I don't do buisiness normally with zero feedback people.

 

Any suggestions or thoughts from some of you experienced Ebay people?

[scubyfan]

Step one, of course, is never to buy from people with zero feedback. Personally, I prefer to buy from those who have at least 5, as the others could be fakes from friends and whatever, or really inexpensive items, though the same can be said for those who have significantly more than 5.

 

But I digress. In eBay, one can specify what PayPal email to use. I don't know if they verify the existence of the account, though. So if you send your payment to an email address of a member who has not yet started an account with PayPal, I would expect the payment to be received once that person registers with that email. This is the same reason you can send money to anyone with an email address, regardless of whether or not they have an account on eBay.

 

If you used your credit card through PayPal, you have a better chance of getting your money back if you get screwed. PayPal is pretty weak when it comes to preventing fraud, so sometimes your credit card people will be the most helpful in that regard.

[noonehere]

I've said it before, PayPal doesn't care what you got, just that you got something with a "delivery confirmation". I should know, a seller sent me an empty envelope. My only recourse was with eBay and that led nowhere as thier only pressure is that the seller wants to continue to sell using the name he sold to you under. If he walks away, they have nothing. Fortunately, I was still able to use the "fraud protection" from my Credit Card. PayPal won't tell you to do that and will actually fight your chargeback (no duh, they loose money).

 

I have found that I personally only use USPS money orders sent via USPS to a physical street address - no POBoxes (and I usually google the address). This way I'm pretty confident that 1) there is someone there 2)I can file "mail fraud" charges and have the feds pay the seller a visit if things go horribly wrong.

 

If I really feel skiddish, I'll do an escrow of MY choosing at my expense, as there is a seller's escrow scam out there.

 

Oh and if the seller is just now signing up for PayPal, they won't make it through the "hoops" (verify our tiny deposit, etc., etc.) for about a week. So your going to be waiting a while. Yes, PayPal will take money for someone who doesn't have an account. They just send an email to tell them how easy it is to "sign up".

[fingersg]

Thanks for the advice you guys. I actually did go on with the transaction after checking out her address that she gave me. This person actually does seem to exist and I figure my brother who lives in LA could always Go by and beat the $200 out of her if she doesn't come thru. I did however, use a credit card with buyer protection like Scuby said and I think that will be my only true recourse. Now I just hope the damn 'puter gets to me in one piece. (knocks on head).

 

thanks you guys,

 

knew I could find some good advice here.