Ebay - Help me!

[TranquilMind]

Wow, I really don't get how all this works.  I bought an expensive light fixture in December, and apparently I left feedback incorrectly and it didn't post, so the Seller didn't leave me any feedback. So I have zero feedback!

 

 I have two bids going now, months later.  I don't have or want a paypal.  Do I have to get a PayPal?  Will sellers let me pay anyway by credit card? I was blocked from an auction of a smaller item last night and asked the Seller why and she said that she is a small seller and can only do PayPal and is not set up as a merchant to do Credit card sales. 

 

Will most sellers let me pay anyway if I was able to bid?

I am the repository for a hundred years of stuff I would like to start selling because it makes sense now and it has been long enough since all those people passed that I am able to do so.  Do I need a PayPal to sell? 

 

I hope I don't get blocked from paying when current auction ends!  That never occurred to me. 

 

Can someone enlighten me on how this all works, if you have done it? 

[maize]

Why do you not want PayPal? It is easy and provides some protection against fraud.

[Tsuga]

My experience as a seller on eBay has been very negative. If you got in early and got a high reputation, maybe it was easier. Instead, I had transaction after transaction cancelled--even just using PayPal to process donations. Like a $100 donation to a 501 c 3 registered for eight years was flagged. So many were flagged that 100% of our givers had to re-submit. It was incredibly troublesome. We finally just left them. As a seller, my ex-husband didn't mind the fraud protection, but frequently payments were blocked after he'd sent the stuff, not by the buyer, but by PayPal! Why?

 

So, that's my unhelpful experience. I don't know what the heck we did wrong but I couldn't get it to work. Obviously it works for some people. Maybe you just have to go through hundreds of transactions then it gets easy.

[TranquilMind]

Why do you not want PayPal? It is easy and provides some protection against fraud.

Well, I read that it gets hacked a lot, and that sellers don't like it because it holds money for a long time, especially for new sellers. 

 

I just need fewer accounts, not more! 

[Lanny]

OP you will probably need a PayPal account, to buy or sell on eBay. That is the STANDARD method of payment for eBay transactions.  Now, a few weeks ago, I did not have enough $ in my PayPal account to pay for somethingt we wanted to buy.  I noticed that they say that Credit Card transactions are handled by PayPal.  We used my wife's credit card. I had to set up a PayPal account for her and an eBay account for her. That takes a few minutes. It is not a big deal.  As a Buyer, IMO, one is much better protected, paying with their PayPal account. Only PayPal has the details of your bank account or credit card.  

 

Usually, I purchase "Buy it Now" items, but recently I purchased two (2) Used Dell Latitude Laptops from an eBay Seller in PA.  When I bid on an auction, I DO NOT use the eBay Bidding system.  I use a "Sniping" service called Gixen. For 2 or 3 years, I used their Free service, but last September, before the auction for the first laptop that I won, I paid $6 for one year of their premium service.  I have their 2 servers submit my bids to eBay 15 seconds before the end of an auction.

 

If you use a Sniping service (like Gixen) you will end up paying less for an item you win. If you use the eBay bidding system, that's great for the Seller and for eBay, they make more $ from higher sales prices. 

 

GL

[TranquilMind]

My experience as a seller on eBay has been very negative. If you got in early and got a high reputation, maybe it was easier. Instead, I had transaction after transaction cancelled--even just using PayPal to process donations. Like a $100 donation to a 501 c 3 registered for eight years was flagged. So many were flagged that 100% of our givers had to re-submit. It was incredibly troublesome. We finally just left them. As a seller, my ex-husband didn't mind the fraud protection, but frequently payments were blocked after he'd sent the stuff, not by the buyer, but by PayPal! Why?

 

So, that's my unhelpful experience. I don't know what the heck we did wrong but I couldn't get it to work. Obviously it works for some people. Maybe you just have to go through hundreds of transactions then it gets easy.

Yeah, I have read that PayPal has been the problem for many sellers.  Still not sure why or how that worked.  Why would PayPal withhold money that some buyer obviously wants to send to the Seller?

[TranquilMind]

OP you will probably need a PayPal account, to buy or sell on eBay. That is the STANDARD method of payment for eBay transactions.  Now, a few weeks ago, I did not have enough $ in my PayPal account to pay for somethingt we wanted to buy.  I noticed that they say that Credit Card transactions are handled by PayPal.  We used my wife's credit card. I had to set up a PayPal account for her and an eBay account for her. That takes a few minutes. It is not a big deal.  As a Buyer, IMO, one is much better protected, paying with their PayPal account. Only PayPal has the details of your bank account or credit card.  

 

Usually, I purchase "Buy it Now" items, but recently I purchased two (2) Used Dell Latitude Laptops from an eBay Seller in PA.  When I bid on an auction, I DO NOT use the eBay Bidding system.  I use a "Sniping" service called Gixen. For 2 or 3 years, I used their Free service, but last September, before the auction for the first laptop that I won, I paid $6 for one year of their premium service.  I have their 2 servers submit my bids to eBay 15 seconds before the end of an auction.

 

If you use a Sniping service (like Gixen) you will end up paying less for an item you win. If you use the eBay bidding system, that's great for the Seller and for eBay, they make more $ from higher sales prices. 

 

GL

PayPal IS eBay.  Same company.

 

Why could you not just pay with your wife's card directly, or was it your desire to set up a PayPal for her, instead of a demand from eBay?   Wondering if it were possible for you to just pay, as I have a sale closing shortly and am the high bidder at the moment.  But someone else could come in, I guess. 

 

I don't understand what you said about why a sale price would be lower using a sniping service.  There is still the same amount of time? Could not some buyer come in at the last second and raise the price?  How does sniping eliminate that or lower prices, especially if the next buyer is using a sniping service too? 

 

How do I download Gixen?  It got high reviews, but I want to go to the proper place to download it? 

Edited March 13, 2016 by TranquilMind

[eternalsummer]

Sometimes paypal withholds money (that is, holds on to it) until the seller can prove delivery of the item; it's a buyer protection measure and usually only affects new accounts or ones that have had some question in the past.  

 

Most sellers need a way to process your payment.  On Ebay, there is no integrated payment processor, so unless they own a credit card processor (small sellers probably do not) they can only take paypal.

 

We've used paypal for years and years with zero problems.  They are fine.  You don't have to sign up for an account; you can normally check out through paypal with your credit card info and an email address without creating an account.  It just processes through paypal on the seller's end.

[TranquilMind]

Sometimes paypal withholds money (that is, holds on to it) until the seller can prove delivery of the item; it's a buyer protection measure and usually only affects new accounts or ones that have had some question in the past.  

 

Most sellers need a way to process your payment.  On Ebay, there is no integrated payment processor, so unless they own a credit card processor (small sellers probably do not) they can only take paypal.

 

We've used paypal for years and years with zero problems.  They are fine.  You don't have to sign up for an account; you can normally check out through paypal with your credit card info and an email address without creating an account.  It just processes through paypal on the seller's end.

Ok, thank you. I will consider doing this soon. I have a business account I can use but have to get that set up so I can see it online.  For some reason, I can't (maybe because a separate entity). 

[Lanny]

OP probably you should spend some time on the eBay forums for Sellers, to see how they resolve any issues with PayPal.  Some companies seem to have no problems with PayPal and other companies do not accept it, but on eBay, it is the norm.  GL

[eternalsummer]

As far as selling goes; if your stuff is 20+ years old you might consider Etsy.  It's not auction-style and generally photos make more of a difference (so if you really suck at photography it will be harder) but it is cheaper (20 cents to list and then 3.5% of the sale, plus 3% or so of the payment from either paypal or Etsy's credit card processor) and you don't have to use paypal.  Etsy has an integrated payment processor (they call it Direct Checkout) and you can take payments that way and it is very normal.

[TranquilMind]

As far as selling goes; if your stuff is 20+ years old you might consider Etsy.  It's not auction-style and generally photos make more of a difference (so if you really suck at photography it will be harder) but it is cheaper (20 cents to list and then 3.5% of the sale, plus 3% or so of the payment from either paypal or Etsy's credit card processor) and you don't have to use paypal.  Etsy has an integrated payment processor (they call it Direct Checkout) and you can take payments that way and it is very normal.

Thanks for the tip.  I almost bought some Formica I really wanted on etsy, but when I came back, it was gone!  I will consider this. 

[Tsuga]

Yeah, I have read that PayPal has been the problem for many sellers.  Still not sure why or how that worked.  Why would PayPal withhold money that some buyer obviously wants to send to the Seller?

 

I spent hours on the phone with tech support. They never explained this to my satisfaction. "It didn't follow the pattern." "We just opened this account and all the donations have been in the same range! How could that 'break a pattern'? Isn't that supposed to be setting the pattern?"

 

"Yes you have to establish a pattern."

 

"How can we do that?"

 

"You need to start processing payments."

 

"Okay but you blocked our first payments."

 

"Yes because they did not meet the pattern."

 

And then they had a service charge!

 

Again, it obviously works for some people. It did not work for us.

[Um_2_4]

Paypal is no longer owned by ebay, but it is the default way to pay and safer than using individual seller's CC processing services.

I occasionally sell kid's stuff on ebay and as a small seller, all I can accept is paypal.

I never had paypal withhold anything other than the fees, then I can pay my ebay fees directly from paypal, then I transfer the $ to my bank account. Just make sure you follow the shipping guidelines (like only shipping to confirmed addresses) and I would take pictures before shipping (of item in the packaging) before shipping delicate items.

I also use paypal to pay on sites like rainbowresource and toysrus.

[TranquilMind]

Paypal is no longer owned by ebay, but it is the default way to pay and safer than using individual seller's CC processing services.

I occasionally sell kid's stuff on ebay and as a small seller, all I can accept is paypal.

I never had paypal withhold anything other than the fees, then I can pay my ebay fees directly from paypal, then I transfer the $ to my bank account. Just make sure you follow the shipping guidelines (like only shipping to confirmed addresses) and I would take pictures before shipping (of item in the packaging) before shipping delicate items.

I also use paypal to pay on sites like rainbowresource and toysrus.

Oh - did not know that.  I read that it was owned by eBay. 

[TranquilMind]

I spent hours on the phone with tech support. They never explained this to my satisfaction. "It didn't follow the pattern." "We just opened this account and all the donations have been in the same range! How could that 'break a pattern'? Isn't that supposed to be setting the pattern?"

 

"Yes you have to establish a pattern."

 

"How can we do that?"

 

"You need to start processing payments."

 

"Okay but you blocked our first payments."

 

"Yes because they did not meet the pattern."

 

And then they had a service charge!

 

Again, it obviously works for some people. It did not work for us.

That sounds really frustrating. You were taking donations for something, as opposed to selling objects?  I wonder if that made a difference.

[Lanny]

PayPal IS eBay.  Same company.

 

Why could you not just pay with your wife's card directly, or was it your desire to set up a PayPal for her, instead of a demand from eBay?   Wondering if it were possible for you to just pay, as I have a sale closing shortly and am the high bidder at the moment.  But someone else could come in, I guess. 

 

I don't understand what you said about why a sale price would be lower using a sniping service.  There is still the same amount of time? Could not some buyer come in at the last second and raise the price?  How does sniping eliminate that or lower prices, especially if the next buyer is using a sniping service too? 

 

How do I download Gixen?  It got high reviews, but I want to go to the proper place to download it? 

 

eBay and PayPal were the same company until recently. They are now separate companies.

 

Why not pay with my wife's credit card, without her having a PayPal and eBay account? I do not think that would have been possible. PayPal handles the Credit Card transactions on eBay. And, I believe one must have an eBay account, to purchase on eBay.  Several minutes to set up each account. Not a big deal.

 

When you have people who are bidding openly, in this case using the Automatic Bidding service of eBay, there is a competition. That tends to build up the final selling price.  Sometimes I watch auctions for things similar to what I am going to bid on, and it is obvious, the Winning Bidder was using a Sniping service and their bid went into  eBay's servers during the last 30 to 3 seconds of the auction.  Sometimes, the people bidding automatically in the open bid the price far higher than I would consider bidding. The same happens at in person auctions.

 

So, it is *not* unusual for a Seller to think that nobody is interested in their auction and for there to be one or more Snipers, bidding during the final 30 seconds of the auction. Experienced eBay Sellers know that and they do not panic.

 

There is nothing to Download for Gixen. Although they do have something that I did download and install several years ago. Now, I just use their web interface. 

 

NOTE: WIth Gixen or any other Sniping service, one must give them their eBay User Name and Password. Without that, Gixen cannot log into your eBay account to place your bids. That requires putting your trust into Gixen or any other Sniping service. As I recall, Gixen says they delete the bid information 24 (?) hours after the end of the auctions.

 

Read ALL of the Fine Print, with any service you contemplate using.

 

NOTE: If you bid with Gixen, and later decide not to bid, or to change your bid, I believe you can do that, until 5 or 10 minutes before the end of the auction. With the eBay automatic bidding, once you tell them what your Maximum Bid Amount is, you have "skin in the game" and no way to change your mind.

[gardenmom5]

most sellers won't let you pay via cc because you have zero feedback.  most sellers only take payment via paypal.

 

if you plan on doing e-bay - just get pp.  you can link a cc to your pp account, and only pay with the cc via pp.  (except when you're not paying attention. . . . . grrr.)

 

you don't have to link to a bank account unless you want a verified paypal account.

I've had other online retailers (i.e. home depot.  order online - pick up at the desk) out there who have also done paypal - makes it more convienent in that I dont' have to input cc information everytime.

[Shellydon]

Basically, yes, you need PayPal. I don't sell or buy on Ebay or anywhere else that is used/auction (think curriculum) that doesn't use or let me use PayPal.

[TranquilMind]

eBay and PayPal were the same company until recently. They are now separate companies.

 

Why not pay with my wife's credit card, without her having a PayPal and eBay account? I do not think that would have been possible. PayPal handles the Credit Card transactions on eBay. And, I believe one must have an eBay account, to purchase on eBay.  Several minutes to set up each account. Not a big deal.

 

When you have people who are bidding openly, in this case using the Automatic Bidding service of eBay, there is a competition. That tends to build up the final selling price.  Sometimes I watch auctions for things similar to what I am going to bid on, and it is obvious, the Winning Bidder was using a Sniping service and their bid went into  eBay's servers during the last 30 to 3 seconds of the auction.  Sometimes, the people bidding automatically in the open bid the price far higher than I would consider bidding. The same happens at in person auctions.

 

So, it is *not* unusual for a Seller to think that nobody is interested in their auction and for there to be one or more Snipers, bidding during the final 30 seconds of the auction. Experienced eBay Sellers know that and they do not panic.

 

There is nothing to Download for Gixen. Although they do have something that I did download and install several years ago. Now, I just use their web interface. 

 

NOTE: WIth Gixen or any other Sniping service, one must give them their eBay User Name and Password. Without that, Gixen cannot log into your eBay account to place your bids. That requires putting your trust into Gixen or any other Sniping service. As I recall, Gixen says they delete the bid information 24 (?) hours after the end of the auctions.

 

Read ALL of the Fine Print, with any service you contemplate using.

 

NOTE: If you bid with Gixen, and later decide not to bid, or to change your bid, I believe you can do that, until 5 or 10 minutes before the end of the auction. With the eBay automatic bidding, once you tell them what your Maximum Bid Amount is, you have "skin in the game" and no way to change your mind.

Yes, Gixen sounds really good.

 

I was just sitting here, the high bidder on an item that would end bidding in less than one minute.  Still outbid at the last one hundredth of a second.  So annoying. Guess I need to do it. 

[TranquilMind]

eBay and PayPal were the same company until recently. They are now separate companies.

 

Why not pay with my wife's credit card, without her having a PayPal and eBay account? I do not think that would have been possible. PayPal handles the Credit Card transactions on eBay. And, I believe one must have an eBay account, to purchase on eBay.  Several minutes to set up each account. Not a big deal.

 

When you have people who are bidding openly, in this case using the Automatic Bidding service of eBay, there is a competition. That tends to build up the final selling price.  Sometimes I watch auctions for things similar to what I am going to bid on, and it is obvious, the Winning Bidder was using a Sniping service and their bid went into  eBay's servers during the last 30 to 3 seconds of the auction.  Sometimes, the people bidding automatically in the open bid the price far higher than I would consider bidding. The same happens at in person auctions.

 

So, it is *not* unusual for a Seller to think that nobody is interested in their auction and for there to be one or more Snipers, bidding during the final 30 seconds of the auction. Experienced eBay Sellers know that and they do not panic.

 

There is nothing to Download for Gixen. Although they do have something that I did download and install several years ago. Now, I just use their web interface. 

 

NOTE: WIth Gixen or any other Sniping service, one must give them their eBay User Name and Password. Without that, Gixen cannot log into your eBay account to place your bids. That requires putting your trust into Gixen or any other Sniping service. As I recall, Gixen says they delete the bid information 24 (?) hours after the end of the auctions.

 

Read ALL of the Fine Print, with any service you contemplate using.

 

NOTE: If you bid with Gixen, and later decide not to bid, or to change your bid, I believe you can do that, until 5 or 10 minutes before the end of the auction. With the eBay automatic bidding, once you tell them what your Maximum Bid Amount is, you have "skin in the game" and no way to change your mind.

I did buy an item around Christmas on ebay without a PayPal account.  I just paid by credit card, and it was expensive.  Glad they took it. 

[Mom2Five]

Paypal really isn't that big of a deal. You just sign up with your email address. You do not have to put your bank account info on it. I always try to pay with paypal because of the protection they offer.

I had an issue ordering something on etsy that was laughable when it arrived. It would have been more than what I paid to ship it back (the seller was in Canada). Paypal refunded me no problem and I didn't have to send it back.

[Reefgazer]

I've been a buyer and seller on eBay (thousands of transactions) for over a decade now, with virtually no problems that were unresolvable to my satisfaction.  That said, I rarely sell on eBay anymore because they do not protect sellers from dishonest customers and their fees are astronomical.  Therefore, if you are selling, you are better off going elsewhere for that.  A few things:

 

1.  I no longer leave feedback for anyone, no matter how lovely or miserable a transaction is, as protest for the fact that sellers are no longer able to leave honest negative feedback for buyers.  Several years ago, when eBay took away the right of sellers to leave honest feedback, many sellers went this route.  So you may not receive feedback for this reason and it may have nothing to do with your transaction.

 

2.  Several years ago, eBay decided to prohibit non-PayPal or non-credit card transactions.  They owned PayPal at the time and were trying to corner the market on payment systems such as PayPal and used eBay to do that.  Before that, there were many sellers who accepted money orders.  Sellers who put in their auctions that they accepted money orders had their auctions cancelled after the new policy went into effect.  That said, I found a way to hint to buyers that I accepted money orders (by not actually mentioning money orders but telling buyers to "email me if they did not wish to pay by PayPal") and had a few customers pay that way.  Emailing the seller before bidding and asking to pay by money order is your best bet; after the auction ends is to late.  It is actually advantageous if you are a *seller* to take a USPS money order and not take PayPal because once I took the payment to the post office and collected the money, it was mine, so I always took money orders when asked.  It is dangerous for you as a *buyer* to send a money order, however, because you have no fraud protection and you are better off, as a buyer, paying with PayPal.

 

3.  In over a decade of using PayPal, I have *never* been hacked or had funds stolen.  PayPal is the safest method a buyer can have against fraud.  It is, however, not the best method of payment for sellers for a variety of reasons.  If you are concerned about security, open a free checking account somewhere that is solely dedicated to PayPal and link it to a re-loadable VISA card. 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2016 by reefgazer

[MercyA]

Yes, Gixen sounds really good.

 

I was just sitting here, the high bidder on an item that would end bidding in less than one minute.  Still outbid at the last one hundredth of a second.  So annoying. Guess I need to do it. 

 

I use eSnipe and have been very happy with it.

[Lanny]

Yes, Gixen sounds really good.

 

I was just sitting here, the high bidder on an item that would end bidding in less than one minute.  Still outbid at the last one hundredth of a second.  So annoying. Guess I need to do it. 

 

You were outbid by a Sniper.  That is very common.  I do not participate in auctions involving a few dollars, I use "Buy it Now" for those items, but if I am looking at a used laptop (won one last September and this one in December) the only way I bid on an auction is via Gixen.  Usually, I wait, until 2 or 3 hours before the auction is going to end, and if the maximum bid amount eBay shows is below my maximum bid, then I set it up with Gixen.  

 

I remember on one auction, that I went into Gixen and raised my maximum bid price, about 10 or 15 minutes before the auction ended. I believe that was the laptop I wont last September. 

 

People using a Sniper service probably place their bids in the last 15 seconds before the auction ends.  People who are Sniping manually (without using a Sniper Service) probably come in during the last minute of the auction.

[tm919]

You can pay with a credit card on ebay-- I've done it many times, using those gift debit cards. However, I think it's way better to use paypal if you have any kind of volume or want to sell.

Edited March 14, 2016 by tm919

[nd293]

I also use paypal to pay on sites like rainbowresource and toysrus.

I even use Paypal to pay for my pizza order... I've used it for years and never had any problems. When an ebook I ordered wasn't delivered by the seller Paypal refunded me promptly. I much prefer only the one company having my credit card details on file.

 

I've never used it as a seller, but as a buyer on eBay and elsewhere, I'm a huge fan.

[TranquilMind]

I am now a sniper.  We shall see if this works.

Edit:  It works. I just won an item by a dollar.  And we were all under the amount listed on the ebay page. 

Thanks, Lanny!  Gixen rocks!  I appreciate you guys here.  Your collective wisdom on almost every subject is amazing!

Edited March 14, 2016 by TranquilMind