Hi

Please can I have some advice. I have bought from eBay before but never a watch. What is the best way to pay? The seller accepts PayPal but says that he thinks Paypal will insists it is posted to get their protection. Posting a watch of this value seems very risky. How do you guys buy from private sellers?

thanks

Josh

 

Via PayPal and with a credit card for extra protection if possible (although I just use PP).

"PayPal will insist on posting". How else would you expect to get it??

 

Seller has to post and track to show it has been delivered. Face to face means no tracking and any claim against the seller will go against him.

 

Thanks both. He lives locally and wants to hand it over. He says he is trying to avoid the 3% Paypal fee which I get but I want the protection so I think I will insist I use PP.

 

If he lives locally meet him in a meeting room at your bank and transfer the money after you've inspected the watch

 

As a seller, I would NEVER do this. There is no proof of delivery. Paypal only recognizes tracking numbers.

 

I meant bank transfer, not PayPal

 

This will not satisfy ebay. Seller only has to claim he never got paid. Bank transfer does not count on ebay. Will give strike against buyer.

 

Why would he buy it via eBay if he's meeting the seller in person?!

It's just a private sale. The seller then ends the item on eBay.

 

If he is local, why are we talking about purchasing through eBay?

 

Hi. The item is on eBay and that is where I have made the offer and he is using eBay to communicate with me. So it is logged there.

I assume the rules of eBay mean he can’t act outside of that and to be fair he doesn’t want to.

I could always pay him by credit card through eBay couldn’t I?

Josh

 

If it's a handover from a local seller meet at your bank and either have CASH in hand or cut a cashier's check at the bank. Done. F2F transactions are the easiest to do.

It seems the seller is hung up on the eBay thing for whatever reason. A flashing yellow light for me, it might not mean anything but if I was the seller I'd find a way to do a F2F to get the sale done.

 

Never met a seller that didn't want to keep money for themselves. Selling through eBay he loses 10% to them.

 

Bought and sold ebay watch for years.
Never an issue. I've returned a watch twice.
Once it was a Seamaster that was beautiful that they decided to polish before sending out.

Be aware that they NOW charge TAX!

 

Maybe people here need to read the eBay terms. The item is on eBay. I was brought up to understand honesty is the best policy.

 

Seller needs to add local pick-up as an option (or only option). Problem solved. Next problem please.

 

It's so much easier to sell watches if you are 100% honest.
Detail as many scratches as possible and include accuracy of the watch.

 

Even the local pickup option doesn't mean you can pay in person. You have almost zero eBay protection unless you pay for the item through the eBay checkout process and pay through PayPal ("goods & services"...you have ZERO protection if you pay by "friends & family"). I say "almost" because if you don't checkout through eBay but still pay through PayPal, you're protected against non-delivery but NOT against INAD. So, if you get a Timex instead of an Omega, you're screwed unless you checked out through eBay and paid through PP. If he does change it to local pickup and you checkout through eBay and pay through PP, you're protected, but it's still your word against his that you actually met and that the item was delivered. Sellers can protect themselves by videoing the exchange or by photocopying the buyer's Drivers License together with the buyers' in the same copy (proving that you met in person). Not sure how to protect yourself as the buyer in that situation, because you can't document a negative: i.e. that you never met if he just says you did but he had no reason to document it. Either way, your credit card will NOT provide any additional protection unless it was used without your authorization. The "merchant " is always PayPal, and never the seller and PP isn't liable for anything the seller does and their agreement with you absolves them of any responsibility for your loss attributable to buyers' actions. If PP rules against you in the dispute, your cc will reject your claim for anything other than unauthorized use of the card.

 

That is exactly correct.

I just did exactly this last week with a vintage brass Omega Dealer sign. Saw on ebay, realized he was local and messaged him. He agreed to meet and I bought the item. We continued our planning messages to meet on eBay (as you should in such an instance) and we met two days later. He was a great guy and a clock and watch collector. We exchanged numbers after talking a bit in case either one of us saw something that may interest the other person.

 

Yup. Document all arrangements in the eBay messaging system. You can agree in those messages that you're going to photocopy your drivers licenses together on meeting and/or that you'll be taking a selfie together (after exchanging IDs to confirm identity). Anything like that will work, but if you just meet without some sort of documentation, at least one of you is relying on the other's honesty not to take advantage of the absence of some form of documentation.