eBay "direct credit card payment"

[akator]

So... I bought something off eBay to find that the payment was "directly with seller by credit card." Neither my wife nor I saw that in the auction, we only realized it once we had won and tried to make payment. Unlike some companies that use a third-party payment system, there was no way to make an online payment.

 

Obviously, I'm not giving any credit card or account info to someone over email or the phone.

 

Has anyone encountered this before? Assuming the seller gets around to contacting me with payment information, what are my best options?

Edited April 29, 2010 by akator

[Trade-N-Games]

Dont email credit card info ever. I would not even do it over phone. However if it goes via a payment gateway like my web site does it should be safe. I have encounted that. I have sold some stuff on Ebay and the buyer did not want to use paypal so I just let the use credit card on my site.

[labrat]

I was once directed to a fairly non-professional looking third party site after winning an auction. I told the seller that I had expected to be able to pay via paypal and asked them to send an invoice to my paypal email.

 

If you have your paypal payments withdrawn from a checking account (rather than from a CC) it may help to let the seller know that, as it will save them a few percent in CC fees.

 

If the seller is asking for direct payment to save a bit on fees, then you insisting on paypal should not be a deal-breaker. If they cannot use paypal because of previous bad dealings, then you're better off asking them to cancel.

 

 

So... I bought something off eBay to find that the payment was "directly with seller by credit card." Neither my wife nor I saw that in the auction, we only realized it once we had won and tried to make payment. Unlike some companies that use a third-party payment system, there was no way to make an online payment.

 

Obviously, I'm not giving any credit card or account info to someone over email or the phone.

 

Has anyone encountered this before? Assuming the seller gets around to contacting me with payment information, what are my best options?

[tetrode kink]

I don't know if this particular seller is legit or not

 

BUT...

 

Since (last year IIRC) eBay banned check/M.O. as payment, to appease sellers they started a program to vet credit card intermediary processors for sellers to use if they didn't want to accept PayPal. So if a seller didn't want to accept PayPal, and didn't already have a credit card merchant account to accept CC payments directly, they could use one of these "turn-key" intermediaries. Last time I checked, which admittedly was when they first started the program, eBay had approved only one such company for sellers to use. I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of the company, and by now they may have vetted more such companies.

 

Sellers accepting credit cards directly has been allowed for a long time, at least for large-volume sellers who could swing a CC merchant account. It's now going to be more common, since eBay eliminated check/MO payments and is allowing payments through approved CC processors.

 

Bottom line, if a seller doesn't accept PayPal and asks for your CC payment directly, it's not necessarily a scam. The same old caveats apply; check the seller's FB, etc., and if the seller steers you to a third-party CC processor, check if eBay has approved that processor and make sure you pay through the processor's secure web site, and not through an e-mail.

 

-tet

 

[edit]eBay has lots of info on their help pages on how to handle direct CC payments to sellers, and I'm sure they have a list of approved processors there too.[/edit]

Edited April 30, 2010 by tetrode kink

[akator]

I've paid many merchants through non-PayPal checkout systems. I have no problem with that, especially when we're talking about a seller/business that specializes in certain products and is easy to research/verify legitimacy.

 

Paying an individual with credit card is obviously different. The seller still hasn't gotten back to me, so it might all be moot...

Edited April 30, 2010 by akator

[tetrode kink]

OK, but to be clear, I wasn't talking about just non-PayPal checkout systems, such as Channel Adviser, Auctiva and others, that offer sellers an all-in-one eBay solution for listing, hosting pictures, checkout, etc.

 

I was talking about specifically third-party CC processors, where that's their only business. I don't remember the specifics, but this type of business gives Mom & Pop sellers something similar to a CC merchant account like the big banks offer, but without the huge volume requirement. So small sellers could accept credit cards and be charged per-transaction, without the huge hassle.

 

But, you're right, you don't want to conduct the payment over the phone or via e-mail, you only want to do it at a secure, verified web site. If your seller wants you to pay by CC over e-mail or phone, I would report him/her to eBay, as I believe that's against eBay rules. In fact, I wouldn't wait too long, I'd want to report the seller before the seller reports you for non-payment; the first party to report would probably have the upper hand in whatever eBay decides to do about the matter.

 

-tet

[akator]

In fact, I wouldn't wait too long, I'd want to report the seller before the seller reports you for non-payment; the first party to report would probably have the upper hand in whatever eBay decides to do about the matter.

 

Still no response from the seller. I took your advice and called eBay. The woman on the phone couldn't seem to get anything I told her straight. She eventually told me to call the seller directly and helped me get that information. I tried calling the seller but there was no answer, so I will try again a few more times later in the day before calling eBay back.

 

I've had some wacky experiences on eBay before, but this one has to be the most absurd.

Edited May 1, 2010 by akator

[Austin]

Strange. I thought eBay had made it a mandatory requirement to accept PayPal. I never thought they would have abandoned that policy, heh. Then again, this is eBay we're talking about.. ugh.

[akator]

The issue has been resolved. The seller had negative PayPal experiences and had to do the transaction online through their business site. But this raises a bigger question... if someone doesn't want to use PayPal, what are the best alternatives?