Is Buying Via Ebay Safe...?

Hi,
I read so many threads suggest they buy via ebay. I have not yet
bought via ebay. What are the chances what bought is not what is
shown or as described ? what are chances of rip offs ?
my other problem is I do not have PayPal acount I tried to create
one but they do not honor my banks credit card. 4-5 times rejected.
Should I get new account and credit card only for transection for ebay only with limited amount account ?
Recently what I bought only from members here, now a days I see only
ebay offering.

tikithindi

It all depends on the seller and the item. I've bought many Stamps on ebay and for the most part it's fine. Some pieces I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole without a certificate but again, it all depends on the item & seller. Without Paypal I'm not even sure you can buy or sell on ebay. Not sure what to tell you about the credit card thing.

In my opinion it is safe. EBayer considers 'the buyer' as their primary customer and its procedures and policies reflect this; they will side with 'the buyer' when mediating any disputes.
That said, there are deceptive practices by some sellers on ebay. Be cautious of sellers who seems to have a lot of negative feedback. Be cautious of anything that seems to be too good to be true. Be cautious of listings that do not have good quality images and/or descriptions. Have patience, especially when seeking the more common stamps and items, do not get caught up in emotional bidding.

Ask questions of the seller if you have any well before the time the auction ends. If you have additional questions or need further verification try asking in this forum for input/opinions. Or you can always invest a few dollars and get a professional opinion from someone like Bill Weiss Authentication service (http://www.stampexpertizing.com) before you buy, it is low cost and can give you a piece of mind that the item is correctly identified in the listing.
don

I bought hundreds of time on ebay and had just very few problems. Some collectors wouldn't buy through internet website but for me it's one of the reason I came back to collecting years ago. As for example of an honest sellers, not long ago one refund me the cost of a sheet before I received it because there was gum disturbance and he didn't have another one to ship to me. Like previously said, read carefully the descriptions before buying and asked the sellers questions if needed.

Defenitely you need Paypal, so you have to fix that problem. I'm not using my credit card anymore. Now Paypal withdraw the money from my bank account using my bank card.

Daniel

Yes it is safe as possible. There are many checks and balances on sellers and they do not put up with any shady ones for long. I have been buying stamp there since 1995 and PayPal has made it a lot simpler. You have a choice of using any of your registered credit cards or debit your account. They seem to try to get you to debit your bank account first- never had a problem over all these years with any stamp seller.

I've been buying (mostly stamps) and selling (a few stamps) on ebay since 2001. I think it is safe.
You need to do some homework though. I don't think it is possible to buy on ebay without a PayPal account. If you can link your account to a checking account and a credit card (a confirmed account) it is much easier on both you and the seller.

Depending on the price of the item, there are some things I check before bidding:
a. Check the seller's feedback. If there is a pattern of negative feedback, be careful. Usually though it is one or two hot-headed, quick tempered people with a bee in their bonnet. Not a deal breaker for me.
b. If you have questions, ask! If you want additional scans, ask! The response or lack of it will tell you a lot about the seller.
c. See what else they are offering and have previously offered for sale. I categorize sellers into three loose groups: 1. Dealers/stamp collectors. Usually a majority of their offerings are philatelic. 2. The ebay seller. They may sell lots of things: pottery, jewelry, dolls, cameras, etc. They have a solid selling history and their listings are informative. 3. The occasional Ebayer. Typically they are cleaning out a closet or getting rid of things they inherited. They don't have much of a selling history and their listings are not well done. If you are dealing with a group 2 or 3 seller, they may or not be stamp collectors. Most likely you will have to rely on your own philatelic knowledge and judgment.

This gives me a feel for the buyer so I can make a decision to bid or not.

Of course ebay isn't perfect. There will be hiccoughs. Things do get damaged in the mail; people make mistakes. If you are working with a conscientious seller (I'd say 90% to 95% of sellers) they will work with you to get things worked out.

Just my $0.02.
Hope it helps.
Dan

ebay is safe. Follow the advise already given.

As far as PayPal and your credit card, it IS possible to bid/buy on ebay without PayPal, although many sellers only accept PayPal. Sellers can also list their auctions/sales to block users who don't have PayPal. I sell a small amount on ebay and I have all my listings set to block people who do not use PayPal. Meaning my listing shouldn't show up in your search results. The reason for this is that PayPal can verify a buyers shipping address against their credit card or bank account billing address, and many sellers, such as myself, only ship to PayPal verified addresses. Since ebay does side with the buyer, this is step sellers can take to protect themselves. Shipping to a PayPay verified address is much less likely to be outright fraud.

I also see a shift toward e-bay from this forum simply because of the activity you get from it.
Tom

Once in awhile I'll get a question from a potential buyer on ebay asking if I would take a check, m.o. or cash. I personally don't have any problem with it and I usually say okay. As a seller I cannot advertise they I take such payments unless asked first. Delcampe is much more relaxed with payment options although most people still use PayPal and a few use Skrill. The only thing I won't take as a bank money transfer as the fees associated with it are way too high. I guess it's a more common option for Europeans.

Overall, I find ebay to be very safe and I've had very little problem with them aside from changing their fee structure every time you turn around and banning certain items that don't need to be banned.

I feel that ebay and PayPal together are a good combination. I have done 1550 transactions as a seller and 1430 as a buyer. I believe that less than 5 transactions were a problem. Not a problem with the item bought or sold but getting lost in the mail. I have found most sellers are upfront with there listings because they want to get positive feedback from the buyer. I personally tend to buy from sellers with 100% positive feedback. But you still have to be aware of what you are buying so you are not disappointed when it arrives in your mailbox.

If you are still wary, start with sellers that have thousands (or better year 10's of thousands) of sales and 99-100% feedback. There are a number of sellers I trust to ship want they have advertised. Don't buy something if the images are bad or you can't tell condition of the stamp.

Condition of the stamp is very important. Be sure you understand the conditions the seller has stated about the stamp. Better if you can return the items if dissatisfied of course, but not a requirement necessarily.

Above all, you need to be able to judge what stamps you are buying from the images if, for example, you are buying a collection. If buying a single item or set and seller has stated exactly what item/set you are getting, then you have recourse to lodge a complaint with ebay if you don't receive what you asked for. Ebay/Paypal are very good protecting buyers.

"If you are still wary, start with sellers that have thousands (or better year 10's of thousands) of sales and 99-100% feedback"
Beware that some of the big sellers get special treatment from ebay and get some of their negative feedback removed if they eventually issue a refund, so feedback % is not a true indication.

My collection and research would be much the poorer without ebay and PayPal. I recommend them without hesitation. Of c1300 transactions, only a couple went wrong and ebay found in my favour as a buyer, so I never lost out financially.

One worrying trend, though, is the amount of reproduction, fake, copy "stamps" appearing. Even the paper is now being falsely "aged". Most state what they are, but be sure to read ALL of the description as I stupidly got caught out recently, despite all my years of so-called experience.

I believe that every lot that is a recent private printing of an older stamp /essay / proof etc should be forced by ebay to start its description with the word "Reproduction" so that no-one misses the fact.

GLENN

As a seller on ebay with hundreds of transactions under my belt both as a buyer and seller, I would say yes it's very safe, but use PayPal to protect yourself. Also, when in doubt, you should be buying the seller, not the product. In other words, do your initial and primary research on the seller and if you feel comfortable buying anything from him, the rest is secondary.

I have been using ebay for 13 years and have never once been ripped off as a buyer, and maybe once for $5 as a seller. I am very open with my product descriptions and mention stamp faults in my titles, description, and in the condition field and ensure my scans are very high resolution so nothing is hidden. This is a long term account, I would rather be honest from the get go and have happy customers.

Dan

I think it is much safer to buy than sell on ebay. There is a lot of buyer protection in place. ebay requires pictures now on all listings and don't be afraid to ask questions. I have been burned a few times, but that was before a lot of the buyer protection stuff was in place.
A seller is guilty until proven innocent. Right now my Paypal account is frozen over a 6 cent transaction where the buyer neglected to read the description or look at the picture. (He is upset over a pencil mark which was noted twice in the listing and clearly shows in the picture). I have offered a full refund and Paypal froze my account until the buyer accepts my refund. I can still accept payments, but I am unable to make payments. The explanatiion as to why is because I have never had anyone file a claim before and I have no history of how I handle claims. I would think having a history nothing but happy customers would be a positive thing. My first indication that the buyer was unhappy was when he filed a claim. He made no other effort to contact me.
I have been selling on ebay since 1998 and 99.9 % of transactions have been very positive.
Hey, thanks for letting me vent.

They froze your entire account?? Normally they only freeze the amount in question, not the entire account, that seems really strange. And as you mentioned, I hate when ppl just go right to the heavy handed contacts instead of just contacting the buyer directly, although that's not entirely their fault. ebay recently changed the workflow for contacting... so if I click on contatc seller, it asks me why, so let's say I click "Item not as described". Rather than letting me fill out the email form and send, it goes immediately to the resolution center and opens a claim. Didn't do this last year, so must be a fairly recent thing.