Re: eBay Questions

["alfanatic" <alfanatic@domain.elided>]

My experiences with eBay auctions and private
sellers is this:  Whenever possible, go with
PayPal, and when selecting payment type, hit the
link and change payment option from the default
(which is your personal checking account) to your
credit card.  It's easy to miss this, and they do
everything possible to keep you from doing it, but
do it every time you send a payment (and be sure
the auction seller accepts PayPal before bidding).
I paid for an auction with a personal check on
ebay, and the guy cashed it and skipped town (and
eBay - his removed himself as an active user,
making it pretty much impossible to get any
additional help from eBay) without ever sending me
the item.  The work and time involved in filing a
claim with eBay, as well as the U.S. Postal
Service (filing a mail fraud complaint - which I
did) was more of a reason for my decision to pay
for everything I won with a credit card than was
the actual loss of money.  I also have been
unlucky enough to test the PayPal/Credit card
fraud program first hand.  I found that you can
contest the charge and have 100% of it credited
back to your Visa account for non-delivered goods.
Instead of over three months of filing forms,
endless emails, photocopying, mailing, etc., all
for a refund from eBay of "up to $200 (minus $25
for processing costs)", all it took was a 6 minute
phone call to my credit card company and problem
solved.
I too, had also hoped to make a "Federal case" and
reported the guy to the USPS. I envisioned a
Postal SWAT raid on his hidden bunker where he
spent his days defrauding people, but, as of today
(it's been almost 2 years), all I've received was
a form letter thanking me for sending in the claim
and telling me that they will be in contact should
anything occur regarding my case.  That kinda took
the wind out of my sails....
So, I hope my bad experiences will help you and
others bid safe when bidding on items posted on
auction sites.

Good luck,

- Jeff Barhoum

'77 Alfetta Sport Sedan
'79 Alfetta Sprint Veloce
'92  Ducati 900ss
'72  Honda CB500/4
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Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 06:32:20 GMT
From: doncoulter@domain.elided
Subject: Ebay Questions

Greetings all,

I'm thinking about bidding on some audio equipment
either on ebay, or on another auction website(
audiogon). I'm really apprehensive about putting
out large sums of money to a private seller,
without knowing of any recourse. Are there any
ways to insure that I get the material sent to me
, and that it's in good shape? I've thought about
COD, paying with a credit card through Paypal(
does fraud protection work here?)
B.S. suggests paying with a postal money order
making it a federal issue if they skip town.

Any proven suggestions?

Thanks ,

Don Coulter
86 & 74 Spiders
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