Originally Posted by
0ctavias0fferings
Surely that applies to sellers not buyers.
Helen and graham makes some very fair points in their looooong post on this page. Paypal is a secure system to use, no-matter how brainwashed some folks are about it. If you don't check that it really is a Paypal page you are on and you input your details then, more fool you.
The Paypal phishing scams are not as common as they once were, scammers seem to be concentrating much more on the phishing of bank details these days so, frankly, it's merely another distraction fro the real issue and I can see absolutely no reason to refuse to accept paymant through Paypal at any time.
Of course, I always send items by signed for mail so I have the proof that the item arrived at the address it was sent to and I can even access the signature that was given when the item was signed for. Sure, I suppose all of that could be false.
If an item arrives and the buyer is not happy with it then they must send it back to me and I give them a refund. Paypal will ask the buyer for proof they have returned the item but, actually, this doesn't happen because on the very very rare occasion when it happens (and I think it only has been once) the item was returned and the money refunded to the buyer BY ME with no need to resort to a Paypal chargeback. If an item arrives broken (again a very rare occurrence) all the buyer has to do to satisfy me is send a photo of the breakage and I will refund their payment in full (they also get to keep the item).
I know I'm not the only seller who operates that system because, just occasionally, something I have bought arrives broken and in every case I have had no problem with the seller refunding me.
Point being, I am very happy indeed in my dealings with online sellers and buyers using Paypal (also in the Real World where I've used Paypal to purchase from a store I was actually standing in).
To bring Paypal into a discussion about whether it's clever to strike through newbie BUYERS is totally irrelevant. If you don't like Paypal then don't use it and don't accept sales through it, simple.
It doesn't actually have anything to do with the issue being discussed.
But what I will restate here is something that Helen and Graham said pages back, how about eBid allowing sellers to put a buy now Paypal button on their listings?
With a buy now Paypal button I could put a little bit of text stating that if you're not a member of eBid you can still buy this item by simply clicking the Paypal buy now button I provide.
I would be happy with this, the buyer doesn't register so can't receive a strike through their username and I still get the sale.
If a seller doesn't want to deal that way with 'strangers' then they don't have to as the button would be something I would add to listings, you choose for yourself whether you want to use it. Of course, you have to sort the details for the button yourself but, as I understand it, it isn't rocket science and it would neatly get around the whole problem here, optional and easy to add.
I would point out though, everyone we deal with online is a stranger. You may think you know them but you don't, it could be a seven foot green monster sitting behind the keyboard, you can't tell. To take some of the paranoia I've seen in this thread to it's logical conclusion, I can't understand why half of the paranoid individuals are selling anything at all ... scams happen, they are very rare.
Accidents happen, does that stop you going out for a walk or a drive?
Buildings sometimes collapse or go on fire, does that stop you going into any building?
Storekeepers in the RW get robbed, sometimes shot and killed, just as well they don't all give up selling their commodities to the public.
If eBid can't fix the problem of strike throughs sending my precious buyers away in disgust, then the least they can do is allow me to place a button on my auction pages to enable the strangers I am happy to deal with to buy my items.
When I (and the friend I talked into joining) paid my lifetime seller+ membership, the fee was 99.99 and, frankly, right now I feel robbed.