posted on January 27, 2001 08:15:10 PM
Hi all. Now my daughter (who has moved away and is working)decided to enjoy buying on ebay. Well, to make a long story short - she won a recent auction - the seller said he would ONLY take Paypal(she is not registered with them), not even a money order!! Now what does she do? Is this fair? thanks for any help
posted on January 29, 2001 05:41:51 AM
Hi again, nice and chilly in the mtns of Az. The auction was just straight up..no advice on payment at all. My daughter e-mailed back and forth with this guy saying she would be glad to send a m.o. - but no go, he wanted Paypal or nothing. being new with auctions she was not sure she wanted to sign up with Paypal. I can see why. I sold on ebay for sometime under ID leota, now I just buy - may start in again selling since the new meds for arthritis have worked out wonderful but still must buy my old photos of Nebraska and postcards. This one is a new one on me! and i do not think it good or business-like of a seller after the auction ends to then demand a certain payment type, although I can understand being shy of personal checks maybe. thanks for your help!
posted on January 29, 2001 05:49:57 AM
Hind sight is 20-20. Whenever an auction leaves out forms of payment ect, I always email and ask before I bid. I can pay several ways but I've found if they don't state what they want in the TOS, it's usually weird. Only Postal MO or only Paypal. Our PO has a line a mile long all the time and if that's how I have to pay I think long and hard before I bid.
posted on January 29, 2001 05:53:06 AM
If this item is something that your daughter really wants (or got a good deal on?). If she's going to keep bidding on things, she ought to at least check out Paypal, since it is generally regarded as being a good tool for buyers. I agree the seller appears to be unreasonable, but perhaps the easiest solution to all this is to spend 10 minutes and maybe she wants to do paypal after all, and can finesse the situation that way.
If she truly doesn't want to do paypal, she should offer to send a MO, and if the seller doesn't want it, they should agree to a "no sale, no feedback" kind of resolution. There is enough "blame" on both sides to warrant a "back to square zero" solution IMO.
posted on January 29, 2001 08:16:51 AM
This seller is completely out of line. If he accepts PayPal only, he has an obligation to clearly state that in the auction.
Your daughter did NOTHING wrong by assuming that a money order is acceptable as payment. Money orders are a standard method of payment in the mail order business (which is all that ebaY really is). It is very rare that a seller will not accept them and when they don't they state as much in the auction listing.
If the seller refuses her money order, she should:
1) Immediately leave scathing negative feedback for the seller (being careful about her wording so as to remain within SafeHarbor's guidelines lest the feedback be removed)
2) Open a new ebaY account and start fresh after she receives the sure retaliation
As a complete newbie, this won't hurt your daughter a bit but it will be painful for the seller. And the jerk deserves it.
posted on January 29, 2001 09:49:19 AM
Wow, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today. Must be a Giant's fan...or a GWB fan who read the Sunday Doonesbury Cartoon!
"Scathing negative feedback", running and hiding behind a new ID...interesting way to help transform ebay into a combative, un-fun place to be. How's about she sues the "jerk"? Might as well go hog-wild about this terrible situation.
Like it or not, unclear descriptions, lack of terms are often the case here at ebay. If you don't see terms written, that should be a clear warning sign that you are dealing with an amateur, and should expect amateur-ish responses. I wouldn't recommend your daughter engage in such immature behavior as dubya recommends.
posted on January 29, 2001 01:23:15 PM
Sorry Captain, but it's sellers like this that sour new bidders on ebaY before they even complete their first transaction. We need more happy bidders on ebaY, not less. A few unreasonable sellers are ruining it for the rest.
A seller's terms are a seller's terms and they should be respected by a bidder. But bidders have a right to know what those terms are before the auction ends. And bidders new to on-line auctions have no clue about asking for clarification. If a seller chooses to set terms that are completely different from the norm (not accepting money orders, etc.) he needs to state that upfront in the TOS.
And no, I didn't get up on the wrong side of the bed. I don't read Duncebury, er Doonesbury either. It makes a great lining for the cat litter box however.
To this bidder I say: Nuke'em and move on. Don't let the few bad apples ruin your ebaY experience. And do leave the neg to warn others (the seller included).
posted on January 29, 2001 08:23:52 PM
Hi all! how nice of you to take the time to answer *smiles*..I just hate to see my gal get hurt by this rude fellow and he is! She holds down two jobs, works as/for a tailor most of the day then waitress at night...saving a bit for a car. She figured how high she should go for the item and got it for a reasonable cost, or i should say did not get it - won the auction but lost the seller. ha I will tell her to check out Paypal but some like it and others do not, so it is up to her. She just recently got a Visa but I warned her off giving those numbers out - not that this fellow would take a Visa either..paypal or nothin. hmm. He has a very low fb, so maybe it is better in the long run - although i am curious since he owns(or says he does) an antique shop.
posted on January 30, 2001 07:37:45 AM
PayPal is convenient for buyers. It can be a headache for sellers though which makes me wonder why this seller makes it his exclusive means of payment.
Do as you would in a brick-and-mortar business--if you want it bad enough, do as the seller requests, if not, back out on the deal. Be polite about it and copy any e-mail so that you can forward it to eBay should things get rough. Chances are it won't.
What I WOULDN'T do is neg the seller and then change identities. This would be equivalent of you writing a letter to the editor regarding K-Mart's business practices and is only asking for trouble. Take the high road on this and then take appropriate measures only if the seller turns nasty. I'd bet he won't.
I really have to wonder about Dubya's advice--where's that "compassionate conservatism" that his namesake advocates?
posted on January 30, 2001 08:07:04 AMWhat I WOULDN'T do is neg the seller and then change identities. This would be equivalent of you writing a letter to the editor regarding K-Mart's business practices and is only asking for trouble. Take the high road on this and then take appropriate measures only if the seller turns nasty. I'd bet he won't.
I really have to wonder about Dubya's advice--where's that "compassionate conservatism" that his namesake advocates?
Let's see, don't neg the seller as a warning to him (giving him a chance to clean up his act) and other potential bidders. Just leave him alone and let the next poor sap he does this to deal with it and go through the same mess. The high road? Yeah, right...
Compassionate Conservatism means just that. Help those truly in need but at the same time expect a certain level of personal responsibility from those being helped. By negging this seller you will actually be doing everyone a favor, including the seller. Just maybe it will serve as a wake-up call prodding him to re-examine his onerous and completely unreasonable business practices. Then again maybe it won't, in which case the ebaY community as a whole will benefit when he finally drops off the face the the ebaY earth.
posted on January 30, 2001 10:05:27 AM
I would email the seller again and say the seller errored and that I don't have a paypal account, nor will be getting one. I wouldn't have bid on your auction if you would have listed those payment terms in your listing. But I can send a money order right away.
If the seller really wants the money, he'll realize he did error, and make an exception.
Doesn't sound like he's going to budge though, so if he emails you saying no go again, send him another email saying, "It's unfortunate that we couldn't reach an optional payment method because I really did want the item. Since I have no paypal account how can I pay you? Please state 'paypal only' in your auctions in the future to avoid this dilemma with other buyers. Thanks."
Don't give up easily, and keep the option of sending some form of payment open. Allow the seller to back out and cancel the sale.
posted on January 30, 2001 12:10:22 PMDubyasdaman -- your point is well taken--the seller is apparently not very helpful thus far and should be informed that his actions will cost him a sale. And yes, sometimes a kick in the pants helps wake people up.
However, to just leave negative feedback, and then changing to a new buyer ID will do no good. Reason? Savvy buyers check a seller's feedback, especially the negative. When they discover that the negative was posted by a invalid ID, they'll assume that the complaint was bogus. The seller remains unscathed.
My reference to taking the high ground is only to do it by the book, utlilizing eBay as necessary (and yes, I realize that may be a dead-end as well), and then, and only then, leaving negative feedback after all reasonable efforts to resolve the matter have been made. As you stated it, your approach leaves no room for a resolution of the matter that would be agreeable to both parties.
posted on January 31, 2001 05:41:28 AM
The truly fundamental flaw in dubya's advice, which he still doesn't realize, is that if you leave a "scathing negative" for this offense..what do you do when the seller truly does something awful? Like not deliver the product, poor packing so it breaks, bad description, etc? His advice is exactly like applying capital punishment to jaywalking. In any case, its responses like this that help to weaken the feedback system at ebay. Feeback should be appropriate to the offense committed, not to how much it irritates dubya.
posted on January 31, 2001 10:53:49 AM
Quickdraw99 has the right ideas. Your daughter should let the seller know that she does not have a Paypal account, does not want to give personal information to Paypal, and that she would not have bid had the seller listed the payment terms in the TOS. Make sure the seller understands that she is more than willing to pay for the item, but it's going to have to be something other than PayPal (maybe your daughter and the seller could compromise on something like BidPay and/or Achex).
If the seller continues to maintain that he will only take PayPal, just walk away. Keep the EMails so she can defend herself in case the seller attempts to file an NPB or enter a neg, but other than that just forget about it, it's not worth ruining your day.
On the other hand, if your daughter really wants the item and/or it's a really good price, she should bite the bullet, sign up for the PayPal account, wait until the dust has cleared, and then close her PayPal account. Hey - at least the seller isn't attempting to add a surcharge to cover his PayPal costs!
