eBay Question

[HonestTea]

I was looking into purchasing an item off eBay, however I had a few questions, so I PM'd the seller via eBay and he told me, if I want, I could just send him a Paypal payment for the amount hes listing for(the item still has 2 more days left and 0 bids) and he can ship it right away. The item is about $350 CAD.

I guess that way, I can avoid getting sniped or out-bidded and he can avoid eBay fees?

Is this a bit dangerous and risky on my end? Should I wait until the last minute to bid and do it through eBay or should I send him the money via Paypal and take his word for it and ship?

Seller has 101 feedback and 99%.

Thanks.

[CRS]

Leave a paypal note!

In it, include the ebay ad and what was discussed. Take a screen shot of the entire ad and since you have all the messages back and forth, you're covered.

[GLOW]

it is risky in the sense that if you get scammed or have problems, and you ask eBay for help, they'll tell you to go pound sand b/c it has nothing to do with them. unless they've changed their policies in recent years, their buyer protection has been pretty shitty to begin with anyway IMO.

if there is any problem you would have to take it up through paypal, and/or your credit card (the latter is the more probable approach).

i've done what you've done in the past, but it was with sellers i've bought from before, or where the item did not cost a lot.

Like CRS said, put a note in the payment (if you choose to go through with it) as to what it is for. IMO you can quote the item # etc but it won't help you on eBay's end. the seller would have to prove he shipped the item to you if you dispute it, afaik

[bluejays]

Tell him to cancel that auction and put it up as a buy it now one and purchase it from there. At least it will be going through eBay

[Dragon-88]

Done it many times but with large quantity purchases.. Just make sure the guy is reputable..
If its just for 1 item with 1 stock then I would be careful.

[GrapeDrink]

check whether his feedback is actually for legit items sold though, don't just assume because he has 100 positive feedback that he is legit, it could be from him buying things and has nothing to do with his selling rep, I seen people buy 100's of ebooks for like a penny to inflate their positive feedback so beware. I personally would wait it out because if you send him paypal without the ebay transaction and he doesn't live up to his word, you basically have nothing to reference when you want to dispute him for your payment.

[$_$]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Tell him to cancel that auction and put it up as a buy it now one and purchase it from there. At least it will be going through eBay

This. This is the easiest way to avoid any troubles and to make sure that you are FULLY covered

[InvisibleSoul]

In this particular case, I would probably not take the risk. Rather go through the proper eBay channel to purchase.

[Autorice]

as long as your paypal is connected to a credit card you're safe (within 30 days after your credit card is charged) unless you have extended coverage where some cards are protected up to 60 days after charge has gone through.

even if your paypal is connected to a bank account that is covered (mine is only covered up to 30 days).

If you paypal him with paypal funds then you're not covered if paypal cannot 'recover' anything from his side.

[Gerbs]

yeah it should be safe, i do that all the time and get discounts because they don't have to pay all the ebay fees after a sale.
as long as he has a lot of good feedback

[1exotic]

I've done it many times. As long as the seller has a legit feedback I wouldn't be too worried.

[spideyv2]

Done it once, the guy was also from BC though. I asked for local pick up but he said shipping was cheaper than gas (Langley)

[Sky_High]

Try to ask if he can give you an additional discount, since he's saving the eBay fees etc

[jtanner_]

If the seller has eBay I would assume he also uses paypal.

Give him your paypal email address and request him to send you an invoice with the proper amount.

This is how I usually deal with any online transactions outside of eBay (and a few cases on eBay) and it provides the same protection that paypal normally offers.

Just make sure it's for an invoice (for the correct item/value) and not noted as a gift.

[dyan]

don't mean to threadjack but why is it that when i got my delivery notice, there's an amount due on the back of it.. my item was only $46 + shipping. and the amount is 14.20.. why is that?

[dinosaur]

possibly a duty charge.

[too_slow]

Can't you just bid on the item, and have the seller "End Auction Early to Top Bidder"

Else, have the seller send you a sales contract via Paypal (email).. stating what you are buying, what the condition is, where the product will be sent to, sales final-no refunds, etc with the requested price$.. You then follow the link to Paypal and pay the seller.

I have done this a few times with "GREAT SUCCESS"

[dyan]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

possibly a duty charge.

30%? wtf i thought duties was only 12%

[shenmecar]

Originally Posted by Bigbaddie

30%? wtf i thought duties was only 12%

Depending on your courier, some (like fucking DHL), has a "Processing Fee".

And this fee's occurance is completely random, I've bought loads of shit off eBay in the last year, I got charged twice for this fee + duty. Other times, there is no fee at all.

[syee]

Originally Posted by Bigbaddie

30%? wtf i thought duties was only 12%

HST is 12%. Duties can vary from 0 to 20% (or even higher on things like liquor and cigarettes) and that goes on top of HST.

Like shenmecar mentioned, there's also the processing fee or brokerage fee that the courier might charge.