Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
New Ebay payment system
Steve D, CT
I had a few items on ebay and just got an offer on one of the unsold ones. Ebay has eliminated paypal from their payment options and want users to connect directly to their bank account.
I'm not a fan of this idea. I'm curious if anyone has any experience with the new system or alternatives for unloading unwanted stuff around the house.
Re: New Ebay payment system
David Weaver
I'm in the same boat. I never use ebay for profit, but often use it to dump stuff that I no longer want.
Paypal has access to my bank account, which i didn't like, but over time haven't had trouble with. Not a huge fan of giving it to ebay, but it sounds like it's either do or don't sell.
You can dump things on etsy in some cases, but turnover there is slow, and they can be a nuisance, too.
I'm pondering setting up a separate account for ebay access so that exposure is low.
Craig'slist&cash
Re: New Ebay payment system
Bill Howatt
I hadn't heard of this until now.
Your idea of setting up a separate account is excellent. Be sure to set it up with the controls you wish and are available to restrict use. Having no overdraw capability would be one to consider.
I have friends who use a separate credit card for online purchases.
Bill
Re: New Ebay payment system
Larry Edinger
Just looked Paypal comes up on my account!
Re: New Ebay payment system
Ralph Lipeles
I have used the new system for both buying and selling on eBay. It has worked without any problems. When I buy something it comes right out of my bank account and the transaction shows up on my monthly bank statement. When I sell something the sales $$ go right into my bank account. The eBay selling fees are less with the new system then it was with PayPal.
May 28th and...
David Weaver
..as I recall from the email ebay, this is a change for selling but it's not effective until May 28th. I can't imagine they'll eliminate paypal as a payment option because it's too widely used online and people like the protections.
But for sellers, they want direct access to money and not to have paypal in the loop (i'm guessing) because it's margin that ebay would like to make instead, and for me as a seller, it's complicated things like refunds (e.g, if I like to do the practice of refunding excess shipping, I still eat the ebay fees because ebay has no clue that I'm refunding through paypal - they willfully have no clue, I'd imagine, because why would they want to refund ebay fees in that case if it would also add more work for them).
At any rate, I'd be very surprised if paypal were limited on the buyer's side.
Re: New Ebay payment system
Tim Greif - West of Chicago™
If you had a paypal account to receive payments, you most likely had it tied to a bank account. The new Ebay payment system just wants the same arrangement, paying your bank account directly and bypassing Paypal. So nothing is really all that different. I set up a small bank account with virtually nothing in it except the bare minimum balance that's required to avoid monthly service charges. I use that to accept all payouts from ebay. I had the bank account tied to Paypal for years with absolutely no issues. The suspicious part of me thinks this is something the IRS has talked ebay into with regard to sniffing out unreported income from ebay power sellers which truly run a for-profit business on ebay. But that's a discussion for another day.
Re: New Ebay payment system
David Weaver
I think it has more to do with ebay keeping the transaction fee for balance to balance transactions (as paypal does) and wanting to have internal control of whether or not sellers refund money. At this point, ebay is on the hook if a seller drops the ball (or they determine them to) and the paypal account has gone dormant or is empty by then.
And if you do a partial refund for a buyer, I'm not aware of an easy way to keep track of it (you eat the fees). It'll probably cut internal costs for ebay and then also keep the balance to balance transactions, which I'd assume is where paypal does well (vs. 3% or so on credit card to balance transactions - I'm sure their merchant fees are low, but keeping all 3% or so seems more attractive).
Re: New Ebay payment system
Barry Irby
My friend sells stuff on Ebay every day. A few hundred dollars worth. And has been dealing with them for years.
He thinks the fees are very similar.
He does not have a separate bank account for the activity.
He says both Ebay now and Paypal then were connected to the account.
In the past Ebay paid Paypal and Paypal sent him the money to his account.
His cutoff date to switch was last August because of the volume he does.
He does have it set up so that if they draft his account it comes out of his credit card and not directly out of his account.
Re: New Ebay payment system
David Weaver
yes on the fees. Ebay increased the base fees and then finagled some combinations so that the fees were similar or slightly lower if you used their payment system.
I guess that didn't move enough people away from paypal, so now we're getting cut off.
It's certainly true that when you're a volume seller on ebay or etsy or amazon affiliates or whatever else, you get subjected to the rules earlier and if you don't like them, tough. Realistically, if you're a user of those sites, it's hard to make an argument that you can't tolerate the rules if you don't find somewhere else that's better. They all have market share now and the fees and conditions all can only go up or their shareholders will have a fit due to lack of earnings growth.
They've done a reasonable job (all of them) making most of the new earnings initiatives optional, though. Not using those options pushes regular users further down the search list, but everything eventually sells, anyway.
Re: New Ebay payment system
Steve D, CT
The difference is that my Paypal account is typically empty or has a small amount in it.
Paypal is also an account in itself and acted as a buffer between the ebay world and my bank account. I'm probably paranoid but between ebay and paypal, I trust paypal more.
Re: New Ebay payment system
Barry Irby
One additional thought....Ebay is very Buyer Centric.
If the buyer complains, they side with them. Some of them have made clearly stupid and unfair claims but Ebay gives them there money back almost regardless.
My friend will sell antique car parts as Used, barn find, damaged but may be repairable, rusted, and with good pictures showing the rust and damage. The complaint comes in, Hey! this is used and rusty. Ebay returns there money whether they return the part or not. My friend blocks that buyer.
Another one is he will list something as Local Pickup Only and they will demand that he ship it or deliver it across the country. They get their money back.
It's hard to describe how much they favor the buyer.
Re: New Ebay payment system
TomD
I'm in Canada so US bank mileage may vary. But you can't just hand your banking info over to whomever you might wish to, based on what you think is convenient for you. When Paypal wen to bank account links, I checked with the bank, they had a "what's the problem" attitude about it, that was diametrically different from where they had been only a year before about anything that touched a bank account. So I assume they will be fine with whatever Ebay decides. However, it better not be on me, if I get opened up over it at some point. And you always need to check what their contract says, if you worry about these kinds of thing. Maybe they are OK about it because they take zero responsibility for what happens. And that can vary due to local or federal laws.
Re: New Ebay payment system
David Weaver
I've never been on the wrong end of it except for one time out of selling probably 300 things, so I can't complain too much, but I've definitely also lost money by underdescribing things to avoid it.
the pro rip off artists still find a way around it. I bought a "seller refurbished" power washer last year. Guaranteed to work, so on and so forth "tested and checked -you receive what's in the picture".
I got the power washer because the one I had failed at the hose/gun connection and the gun and hose were about the same price as a whole refurb unit.
What I received was a different color and the hose was kinked. I hooked it up and predictably, it had a leak without even running under pressure, just from the faucet. I turned it on and took a picture of it. I returned it and told the seller I wasn't happy that they claimed to check it when they obviously didn't and that it wasn't the one from the picture.
They got it back, and claimed that I'd swapped parts and only refunded half. Ebay ended up picking up the tab. I guess there's some kind of automatic system for large sellers where they can opt to only refund a portion and claim the buyer did something untoward. I showed ebay the pictures of the thing in the box as I got it (of course, it's true I could've swapped it, but it's also true that I didn't have anything to swap - but they wouldn't know that). Ebay blew it off and tooted their horn about covering for it out of courtesy, as if they were doing me a favor. I wanted the seller to be made to pay for it as I had to drive to a UPS center to drop it off and go get another one elsewhere. Ebay wasn't interested (the seller is large). Whatever they did to engineer the transaction, I was left with no ability to contest the original refund further and no way to leave feedback.
Their interest is and definitely has been for the last 5 years to move toward standardized listings so that walmart and their sub companies (like vm.com) and affiliates are selling items through ebay and they won't have to deal with individuals or anything that requires discretion.
Re: New Ebay payment system
Wiley Horne
“ Maybe they are OK about it because they take zero responsibility for what happens.”
Bingo.