To me, as a prospective buyer, if you said: "Well, there's propay, yahoo paydirect, aol paydirect, paypal, and bidpay," I would just go: "Huh?"
What I understand is: "Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover."
I thought C2IT would be good because Citibank is a recognized name. And, sellers had to be verified by faxing in a physical copy of the Social Security card and a bank account statement from the last 30 days with a current street address. That's a requirement under the law because Citi is a bank - part of the post-9/11 anti-money laundering law that was passed.
But once you see that as a seller, you have confidence as a buyer - that they really are proofing people.
As a seller on eBay, I know that the only info they have on sellers is a bank account number and a credit card number. If someone sells 100 non-existent plasma TVs and takes a powder, that's not enough to trace someone. Under the law, "financial institutions" can't give out your "personal information" - street address, SS# - without a court order or a warrant. So, it's not like eBay can just call up Visa and ask them what info they have on file on that person. It's actually a criminal offense if a bank or credit card company releases that info to a third party without a court order or a warrant. So, it's going to delay the process of launching a chase. I also know - because I do some work with a PI - if you have the SS# and street address, you do indeed have a good shot at tracing most people. Anyone who has a merchant account to accept credit cards - the credit card companies have that info and much, much more. So, I feel more confident as a buyer if someone has a merchant account.
My TOS says that I'll accept a personal check "if you have positive feedback of 20 or more, with no negatives." About a year ago, I had a bidder with zero feedback. He sent me an email and said that he had just joined eBay 3 days before and didn't know anything about PayPal/BidPay/C2IT - please, could I just send a check? I said "sure" because I understood it from his side, and it was a low-ticket item.
So, I think for most people, it's a check or a credit card straight out. Otherwise, it's a lot of work for the buyer to figure it out - too much of an obstacle - though I think that collectors will go through more to sign up for these online payment methods because they have more of a desire to bid.
posted on June 5, 2004 02:05:29 AM
IN FAIRNESS to PAYPAL's Resolution Dept, I'm happy to report, they ruled in this seller's favor on a frivilous complaint filed recently by a winning bidder in the USA. It only took 2 days to resolve the issue and to notify me. This was not the case on an international transaction that went sour. See thread: "Is This Typical of PAYPAL's "Service"
