So I had an expanded HP48G up on Ebay. The item number is: 9726615176. I received an email from the buyer, but his email suggests he thinks the calculator is an HP48GX. Secondly, the buyer has opted to use Paypal from an unconfirmed address, despite my description requiring confirmed addresses. With his feedback rating of 0, I have to suspect that he is either (a) very new to Ebay, or (b) perhaps not being very honest. I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, if he decides to not continue with the purchase due to a mistake on his part, I will still be screwed in terms of listing and sales fees, no? Is there anything I can do to recoup my fees in that event?

What is the best way to handle this situation?

Hi Han,

I would encourage him/her to CONFIRM address, they can do that fairly quickly. If they do not pay for item, just file NON-PAY complaint with ebay, they will assist. You can always relist and try and get your listing fees back by maybe trying for a reserve or higher starting BID.

Good luck,

Regards,

Andy

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So I had an expanded HP48G up on Ebay. The item number is: 9726615176. I received an email from the buyer, but his email suggests he thinks the calculator is an HP48GX.

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Secondly, the buyer has opted to use Paypal from an unconfirmed address, despite my description requiring confirmed addresses.

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With his feedback rating of 0, I have to suspect that he is either (a) very new to Ebay, or (b) perhaps not being very honest.

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I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, if he decides to not continue with the purchase due to a mistake on his part, I will still be screwed in terms of listing and sales fees, no? Is there anything I can do to recoup my fees in that event?

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1. listing fees (to include photo fee, buy it now, fee, etc)
2. Final value fees

Bottomline: You have control over this situation. He does not. Don't let him dictate any terms to you. Your auction was very clear and if he didn't read it, it's his problem; not yours.

Small Warning:I'm seeing more problems lately dealing with PayPal. I'd be careful about not following PayPal's rules to the letter. If he has "unconfirmed" address, he still has his protections while you lose yours. It would be perfectly posible for him to issue a chargeback and send you a piece of junk, rock, brick. All paypal requires is a confirmation that something was returned. And even if you can prove otherwise, they will freeze or take your money, first and then demand you prove your case. PayPal favors the buyer and is not very friendly to the seller.

I have one dispute pending. The buyer says the item hasn't arrived. It was an international shippment and they are often delayed. He is over-reacting and not giving it time to arrive. It most assuredly will arrive. I have proof it was sent and provided that to PayPal, but since he filed the dispute, PayPal immediately took the money back and will only give it back to me, if he says it arrived. If it arrives and he doesn't tell them it arrived. He gets the money and the item.

Edited: 17 May 2006, 1:18 p.m.

Quote: "Small Warning:I'm seeing more problems lately dealing with PayPal. I'd be careful about not following PayPal's rules to the letter. If he has "unconfirmed" address, he still has his protections while you lose yours. It would be perfectly posible for him to issue a chargeback and send you a piece of junk, rock, brick. All paypal requires is a confirmation that something was returned. And even if you can prove otherwise, they will freeze or take your money, first and then demand you prove your case. PayPal favors the buyer and is not very friendly to the seller.

I have one dispute pending. The buyer says the item hasn't arrived. It was an international shippment and they are often delayed. He is over-reacting and not giving it time to arrive. It most assuredly will arrive. I have proof it was sent and provided that to PayPal, but since he filed the dispute, PayPal immediately took the money back and will only give it back to me, if he says it arrived. If it arrives and he doesn't tell them it arrived. He gets the money and the item."
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Gene: And this is precisely why I no longer accept paypal.

Sounds like a bad deal to me.

Edited: 17 May 2006, 4:11 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

I have had over 200 positive transactions on e-bay also using PayPal. Only one instance i can recall was where i shipped a HP35 Battery pack to Europe via USPS Global Priority mail. Package arrived opened and battery pack missing. Buyer and i agreed on solving the matter. I said i would send him another pack at my expense, he countered saying he would buy one locally. I was lucky, being it was not either of our faults. Now i read of some Horror stories on ebay. Of course this has me quite concerned.

There will always be an unscrupulous person(s) to ruin your day.

Warmest regards to all

Andy

Well, the buyer and I managed to resolve the problem. He agreed to refund me the seller's fees and the matter has come to an agreeable conclusion.

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He appears to be new. Why do you suspect he's not honest?

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I never said he was one or the other, just that given the circumstances, there were only two scenarios that I could think of: he was either a new Ebayer, OR he fully read the description (which turns out he didn't) and still decided to not follow through with the terms.

In the end, he admitted to not carefully reading the description. I had no problems with him wanting to cancel the sale because he was new to the Ebay process, and offered to cancel the sale under the conditions he pay the fees incurred.

Thank you all for your advice.
Han

Hi,

maybe I missed something,

BUT

I'm a verified PayPal user in Germany,

and a verified eBay member in Germany.

The eBay verification can be obtained

by printing out a special eBay form,

taking the form and the personal ID card

to the local postal office, let the

officer confirm the identity by checking

the form against the ID card.

The PayPal verification works through

checking your bank account connection.

You initiate a test money transfer to

your PayPal account using a transfer code

given by PayPal.

If that worked, you're a verified PayPal user.

AFAIK that's all you can do, at least in Europe.

And the above procedure is safe,

eBay has a copy of my personal ID card.

But how can a European eBay member or

PayPal user have an address confirmed

by eBay or PayPal USA ?

I'm not the buyer of Han's HP-48G,

but I once had an experience with an

US seller which could be categorized similary.

The seller offered to ship worldwide,

and also offered various payment options,

including PayPal.

But he restricted PayPal payments to confirmed US addresses.

Overseas buyers would have been obligued to pay

via (Western Union or postal) money order,

cheque, and wire transfer,

all of which are very expensive compared to PayPal,

and (especially Western Union transfers)

are said to be less safe than PayPal transfers.

Apart from that, these transactions take more time.

Nearly paradox:

I became PayPal user to ease payments from/to

especially the US, and then there are US sellers

who claim to accept PayPal payments,

but not from PayPal Germany users.

Finally the case was solved the triangular way:

Fortunately a friend of mine who lives in the US,

bought the item for me,

paid the seller via his US PayPal

account with confirmed address,

the seller sent the item to his address,

I paid my friend from my PayPal account,

and he sent me the item.

This produced unnecessary fees,

and unnecessary delays.

This was one of the cases where I really wanted the item,

so I've 'bitten into the sour apple' ,

and luckily the US friend helped me.

But in more ordinary cases,

I'd simply not buy from that seller,

if he doesn't want my money.

However, in most cases it worked fine

with PayPal and US eBayers.

Regards

Raymond

The way I understand it, a confirmed account is one that has been checked with a credit card. What they do is request your credit card number and run a check on the billing address of the card and make sure that it matches with the shipping address you use in your account. Thus, when you ship the items, the items get shipped to the address on that credit card.

A verified account (one where they make two tiny deposits and you enter in how much was sent) is slightly better in that instead of a credit card, you use a bank account to confirm your address. Same idea as above, but instead of a credit card, you use your bank account.

I believe Paypal can be used without a credit card or bank account. There is a limit on how much you can spend, and I believe you also get monthly statements.

Just two questions cause it's not very clear.

If a seller has an unconfirmed PayPal account and as a seller PayPal doesn't allow you to have the "PayPal buyer protection" on your auctions, can a buyer still fill a complaint for something you sold in eBay and was paid by PayPal?
Also, does PayPal still freeze that amount on your PayPal account until you can prove that the item was received by the buyer?

Nearly everyone in this forum complains about ebay, cheaters and fees, but although there are other places to buy, noone seems to use them. From time to time I have listed some items (as FSBO) in the classified ads section of this site. Apart from 2 buyers from NIGERIA, noone has responded.

Use the classified ads to buy, and you will get a well-described item from a honest seller.

If you go through the non-paying bidder thing on Ebay, you can select "The Buyer and Seller Decided not to Complete the Transaction".

He will get an e-mail stating that you both areed not to complete the transaction and he will agree by clicking on a URL.

After you do this, you are released from the contract, all your ebay fees are returned except for the relist fee. If you relist, that's free though, I believe.

As for Paypal, REFUND the money directly from Paypal by using the transaction they used to pay. The fees are refunded to you as well.

So you both get away with no extra fees, and are released from obligation.

On a side note, the non-paying bidder does not necessarily give the buyer an unpaid strike in this instance.

Eric