May 20th, 2008 by VPA
From Les Scammell an excellent source of information
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I am sorry to say that it looks like eBay Australia may win its claim to use PayPal as the only means of payment for all sales on its site. For sellers, this could be the worst situation possible.
As a former seller through eBay and having used PayPal as a payment option, I have found that sellers have little in the way of rights and no protection at all from unscrupulous buyers.
As a seller you can offer products for sale. Part of the sale process includes delivery of the item. In Australia, there are several delivery options available that range from standard surface mail through to signature delivery. Each options has a range of costs. Signature delivery requiring the payment of an additional three dollars - not a lot.
In the past, I have sold through eBay and always insisted that if PayPal was used, then the extra $3 had to be paid for signature delivery. Following a complaint from a buyer, eBay insisted that I remove that requirement from my listings. This meant that a buyer could pay $200 for an item, $20 for postage with no proof of delivery and pay via PayPal.
That is all fine. However, as a seller you are at a huge disadvantage now. The buyer pays, you post the item off and the deal is complete. Not quite. The buyer then complains that the item has not arrived. As a seller, what can you do? You have posted the item in good faith. The buyer has refused to pay for the extra proof of delivery or signature delivery so you have no proof of postage.
At this stage it is your word against theirs. You say you posted the item, they claim not to have received it. They now lodge a claim with PayPal and guess what - if you cannot prove the item was sent, they refund the money to the buyer and take it out of your account. Now you are left with no product, no money and both PayPal and eBay have had their pound of flesh.
To add insult to injury, the buyer has the product and their money back. Yes - it is a big con (I prefer the term fraud) that is known and exploited quite cleverly by a small group.
This has happened to me twice now. The first time I actually tricked the buyer into believing that a relative worked at his local post office and remembered handing him the parcel. He admitted he had received and would send it back to me - of course he didn’t.
The second time the person in question waited about six weeks after the refund had been issued to then send me an email stating there was a problem with the product and wanted a replacement - the cheek - I reminded them of the ‘non receipt’ complaint and of course heard no more from them.
Both times I forwarded these emails to both eBay and PayPal to investigate possible fraud. On both occasions nothing was done. This is a serious flaw in the eBay - PayPal arrangement and if Australia goes down the path of allowing eBay to use PayPal as its only means of payment, many more sellers will be stung.
If you’re a seller - insist on receipted delivery. Don’t make it an option, just include it in the cost of delivery. If you don’t - watch out you don’t get ripped off. If you have a non receipt claim made - fight it. In the mean time - I am using a rival online auction house that has far lower fees, looks after both the seller and the buyer and has proven profitable - checkout oztion.com if you ever get a chance.
Tags: eBay, paypal
Filed under: web feng shui
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