Reply With QuoteI thought it was an eBay requirement that sellers HAD to accept PayPal as a method of payment.
My brother is keen to purchase a watch he has seen on ebay and has asked my advice but I have no idea.
The watch is around £2.7k the buyer is happy for the watch to be viewed at his home and paid cash on collection. He will also take a BT and post the watch RMSD. The seller will not accept PayPal (due to the fees I imagine).
Can anyone advise if this is normal practice and what protection is in place for a buyer from a private seller with these payment methods.
Thanks in advance
I thought it was an eBay requirement that sellers HAD to accept PayPal as a method of payment.
It is, but many sellers of high value items won’t accept it due to the well known PayPal scams and their fees (2.9%+30p) which are uncapped.Originally Posted by Haywood_Milton
Not to mention their additional 3% (approx) that’s hidden in the exchange rate of foreign current transactions.
Your brother will have no comeback with either cash or BT (except the option of close inspection of the watch which is ok if he knows what he’s looking at).
There’s no easy way really; with PayPal, the seller is taking a risk, without it, the buyer is at risk.
Of course this is all totally irrelevant if the transaction is between two honest people.
Last edited by Dave+63; 19th June 2020 at 08:52.
If the seller’s offering viewing of the watch prior to your brother going ahead, I can’t see what the issue is (unless that’s not possible for your brother..).
Unless your 100% certain the watch is genuine I'd leave it. Paying PayPal offers the buyer a lot more protection than the other payment methods. If it was me I'd be sceptical why they wouldn't accept that
Viewing is possible and payment via BT or cash would be fine but if the watch was to turn out to be a fake is there any security which I believe you have paying through PP.
This is the watch in question.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IWC-PILOT...38f1%7Ciid%3A1
Both watches I have bought on EBay I have paid via PayPal. The last one I agreed to pay the fees on top of my final bid but adjusted my bid down to reflect this (but still won it anyway!)
I wouldn’t buy a high value item without PayPal and I am more interested in their feedback and what they have sold in the past (the last seller had excellent comms and multiple feedback entries for high value items)
Yeah I wouldn't go for that personally. Unless I feel confident about the seller(which is unlikely when it comes to ebay) it would be paypal or no buy for me, sometimes you have to go with your intuition.
The seller is breaking ebay rules and if the PayPal fees are too high for him he should factor them into his selling price.
He cannot physically remove PayPal as a payment option on checkout, if your brother really wants that watch and that watch only buy it, pay with PayPal and see what the seller does. If he sends the watch great, if he cancels the sale and refunds report him.
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I'd be reluctant to buy a watch of that value on eBay for the reasons mentioned already.
Would prefer more watch-centric platforms like Chrono24 or indeed this forum ;)
Thanks everyone for the advise, I will let my brother know the risks are to high unless the seller will accept PP.
Offer to split the fees with the seller?
Cheers..
Jase
Cant believe the seller has put his full post code in his advert
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And for his £10 postage cost he can only insure it up to £500.
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Only charging £10, doesn't mean he won't pay more.
I will speak with my brother and suggest maybe splitting the PP fees.
In terms of how the watches looks does anything flag up, I understand from my brother the seller has the original receipt from when it was purchased and also the warranty can be extended.
Last edited by boring_sandwich; 19th June 2020 at 09:48.
No it doesn't agreed, but why would he under charge on postage and lose money there but balk at PayPal fees?
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I have my Sub listed on ebay at the moment and have specifically said no paypal as I have it down as collection only, I have no means of sending it fully insured.
Two things from my point of view firstly the fees but more importantly as I have it collection only I have heard of too many paypal reversal horror stories for collection.
As I understand it if a buyer collects and I accept paypal as I did not send it tracked I have no cover if they decide to reverse the fee for whatever reason.
That is my reasoning for cash or bank transfer on collection. I cannot see an issue as the buyer can inspect it before he pays.
I sometimes just 'guess' the postage/carrier and might send it differently when I have the order, loss on postage here negligible anyway. Might have bumped price of watch by £100 to cover it.
Having said this, for expensive items RMSD is selling point to me.
So is it normal to refuse PP and insist on BT or cash on collection.
Are you still cover by EBay this way?
Fully agree, regarding expensive items, the asking price should be set to reflect PayPal fees and if I was buying and not collecting it I'd only want it sent to me by rmsd.
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Last edited by Ruggertech; 19th June 2020 at 10:30.
I don't know! Collections are not covered in the normal way, but as I see it a face to face transaction with both parties happy, must be OK.
Isn't that the way things worked when you bought something in the days before ebay was invented.
To be honest I find it a bit of a minefield, you cannot refuse Paypal on the listing, but I would not be happy accepting it on collection.
If somebody insisted paying by paypal and wanted to collect I would not accept the sale.
I'm not happy with the seller's feedback pattern. Random set of purchases and sales, no other high value items, let alone watches. Doesn't smell right, especially with the low postage cost and refusal to accept paypal.
Buy the seller, and I wouldn't buy him.
I would proceed with extreme caution.
Avoid - there is no protection for the purchaser if there is an issue with the watch as others have said, a mate of mine had a very close shave with an E-bay superfake Pelagos and only managed to get his money back due to the protection that Paypal and E-bay offered. Without that he’d have a fake watch and would have lost nearly 3k with no redress...
I would buy a valuable watch from E-bay but only within the confines of their buyer protection.
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im always dubious of stock photos or stolen images, his first one i am sure is
I also never understand why a seller wouldn't post a picture of the B&P' doesn't have to show the serial and these are widely faked anyway but you can at least make a better assessment
It does look from the cushion to be an IWC box but nonetheless
No
The seller is wide open to fraud too tbh
Playing devils advocate
Your brother goes to the house buys the watch paying by bank transfer to the seller
Off he goes with the watch
He then reports to eBay that the seller hasn’t sent it
He proves he has paid via bank transfer - then gets his money back
eBay is a land of risk - I wouldn’t sell face to face with high value
You’re better doing PayPal fees in either side protection is better
As for fees - PayPal can prove v expensive - FVF isn’t as many £1 selling deals
as we are talking ebay I generally now either photograph every stage of packing up a watch for shipment making sure to show the recipient address etc and occasionally video the process. Ive not needed such evidence yet but as a safe guard its a small amount of time to spend. If used in line with the rules paypal is one of the safest ways to buy..less if selling hence the evidence.
Keith
Don’t think eBay will side with buyer if no PayPal.
And eBay says "Sorry, you didn't pay by PayPal so you have no Buyer's Protection. Go away and stop bothering us".
There is no real method which protect both the buyer and the seller - either the buyer pays up front (Bank Transfer) and takes all the risk, or the Seller accepts PayPal and takes the risk of a SNAD claim and getting an empty box or fake item back.
A face-to-face transaction is obviously better, but it's often not practical due to distance. It also means that the Buyer needs to be sufficiently confident that they could spot a fake/superfake, and that they are certain that it's not a stolen item.
There are escrow services around (which hold on to the Buyer's money until both parties are happy) but they are not cheap.
Again thanks everyone, he is going to pass on the watch and look for something else.
I see that you’ve already decided. All the no responses are good advice. Always look at their eBay profile on a desktop as you can see what they bought as well as sold. Buyer feedback is a must.
Street view for the postcode given appears a better area of the Bexley/Greenwich borders.
If in doubt, always wait out.
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This message was received earlier from the eBay seller.
It does sound like a genuine sale to me, however it seems weird that the extended warranty is until 12/2026 and not 08/2026 as I would expect the addition 6 years is added on from the original purchase date, or is this normal?
The watch was purchased from an IWC Authorised dealer new by me and registered with IWC at the time of purchase in August 2018. I contacted IWC when notified by the supplying dealer in December 2019 when IWC increased their warranty from 2 to 8 years and they have my name and watch model/serial number recorded on their system. I have the documentation with the extended warranty from IWC Head Office with these details. I can supply a copy of these documents. The warranty expires 31/12/2026.
I can assure you of the genuine purchase/supply of the watch. I have put my phone number on the advert and am happy for you to visit my home to view the watch. I don't think there is much more I can do. I have sold many things on eBay without issue and have 100% feedback.
Feel free to give me a call tomorrow if you wish to discuss.
Last edited by boring_sandwich; 20th June 2020 at 23:26.
The seller has also confirmed he is happy to take PP if the fees are split 50/50.
So to summarise the seller is happy for the watch to be viewed at his home, paid for with PP and taken one payment has gone through, he will provided a copy of the original purchase receipt along with a copy of his ID.
Last edited by boring_sandwich; 21st June 2020 at 10:39.
Sounds like a genuine, helpful seller who’s doing everything he can to alleviate your brother’s doubts.
I’d be pretty confident that the watch is genuine too.
I’ve had it on eBay were I could only charge a capped postage fee and it cost double which came out of my pocket
I’ve never had that but I usually use the phone app to list. I can adjust the postage to whatever I want.
That doesn’t mean that I’ve never hit it wrong and ended up paying more postage than I’ve charged.
Ebay sellers have got to learn that they either sell through PP or else the deal is off. They may not like paying the fees but that's their tough luck. If I buy from a total stranger who is not a bona fide business then they are a high risk and they have to accept that the buyer needs reassurance.
If I buy from someone on sc then I can be more relaxed but ebay is a scammers delight and we all have to protect ourselves.
Stick to PayPal only and be aware that RMSD won’t give him a penny if the watch goes missing if they value it over 2500
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Capped postage fees? Never come across those before.
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I’ve sold on eBay and taken cash ,yes a bit risky but I think you have to do your checks.
If the seller was dodgy I’d doubt he’d let you go to his house,I think we sometimes think that if some one is selling an high end watch they wouldn’t do it on eBay,you’d use a great forum like this.
I know and have spoken to loads of people who aren’t on any platform like this or Facebook group so eBay is one of there only options,I’ve dealt with a couple of good watch nerds one eBay,it’s not all full of scammers.
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