Charles Andrews wrote: I recently bought a nice colnago super on ebay, and I paid with cash from my paypal account. No credit card payment on this one.
Dear Mr Andrews, I purchased a bicycle on ebay some three months ago, paid paypal cash on balance. I always got the same story on mailing: left yesterday. After one and a half months, I lodged a complaint with paypal: they the sent a mail to the seller who did not respond. Within a fortnight they wrote me that they had been able to recover the money from the sellers bank acount (not paypal account) and refunded me.
Had the seller written to paypal/ebay claiming to have sent the item, I imagine the dispute would have taken a long time to be resolved, were it to be resolved at all. Had the seller been bust, I think the situation could have been hopeless for me, maybe I would have got back the amount the buyer was covered for in ebay "insurance" (this is always mentioned to the right of the listing) after a long wait.
My way of limiting risks is to systematically enter into private correspondance with the seller by asking him to send a series of photos of details of a bike to my private email. This cut's out gross fraud such as the item being lifted from someone's webpage etc and the seller not having the property. I further offer my telephone number and ask the seller to phone me, and I will ring him right back "to avoid him cost". Speaking to the person should give you a feel as to whether you are dealing with a bona fide owner or a scam artist.
Nicholas March Mont de Marsan, 40 000 France
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