 sj |
||
|
||
BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay
|
|
|
Subject: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Richard Bridge Date: 18 Mar 06 - 01:41 PM I have been considerably affronted this week: 99% of US based ebay sellers say "shipping to US only" or similar. If I want to bid from England I email to check. I have always been okayed before - and, it goes without saying, I have always paid). This week I emailed and the ebay seller (from Santa Ana, CA) without any apology says "No. I've lost too much money shiping overseas already". I resent getting lumped in with far Eastern and African scammers, frankly. Is this a general American view of the English? Views? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Clinton Hammond Date: 18 Mar 06 - 01:48 PM Move on, Richard.... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Rapparee Date: 18 Mar 06 - 01:52 PM I'd never do that, but then, I never buy or sell on ebay. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Joe Offer Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:00 PM I don't think it's arrogance, Richard - it's just a major hassle to deal with shipping and money transfer outside the U.S. I have the same trouble buying from outside the U.S. I think the problem is that the U.S. economy has always been somewhat insulated from the rest of the world, and we're just not set up to deal with internationalism. We have our own system of weights and measures, and the cost of money exchange and shipping is horrendous for us. And yes, some of us have had bad experiences with international money transactions, and we don't know what to do to protect ourselves. I hate having to pay five dollars or more to get a hundred from an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) in Europe. I'm still wondering what those $30 charges on my credit card were a couple of years ago - some company in the EU billed me, and I think it may have been connected with European book purchases I made on eBay or Bookfinder. So, I think it's not arrogance at all - we Americans just find it scary to do international transactions. I've traveled a lot and get along in a number of languages, and I find it daunting - most Americans would find it even more difficult. -Joe Offer- |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: SINSULL Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:03 PM I know of several eBay sellers who have had problems with goods damaged during overseas shipment no matter how careful the packaging. Question: Are UKers who refuse to ship to US eBay buyers arrogant as well or just good businessmen? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Brass Monkey Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:08 PM Well why don't those americans who use ebay but don't like shipping abroad stop using ebay altogether and use some local/national method of advertising their wares instead of wasting the rest of the world's time as usual? Get a life. Lose your egos. Find some friends. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: John MacKenzie Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:11 PM Difficult one to call Richard I have done a lot of transactions using Paypal, if they don't ship outside US I get it sent to my son and he sends it on. My biggest gripe was with WalFart who while happy to take my credit card in person refused to deal with me over the internet, the solution.....stop dealing with them. Yes the US van be insular but you just have to get over it mate. Giok |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Big Al Whittle Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:36 PM well actually I always find them all right. They all say that about not doing business outside America, but they're usually quite amenable, if you e-mail them. you will probably meet one or two strange cases, or occasionally find yourself dealing with the office boy, who has his orders - BUT, and its a big but. the vast majority of business men recognise the value of an paypal account or a visa card, and the customer really does have the morality and the relentless logic of the marketplace on his side. a dollar looks pretty good wherever it comes from. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:57 PM Please consider that part of the problem might well be that some non-US bidders have no idea how expensive it is to ship something overseas. Then, when they find out that it's going to cost them $20.00 in shipping to receive that $15.00 item, and that they may not get it for several weeks, they back out of the deal. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:00 PM Richard, if you check some the UK listings, you will find the same - no shipping to the U.S. Get a grip!! Just because you have a preconceived notion you are finding what you think is justification. It doesn't work that way! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:08 PM A lot of American Ebay vendors will only sell within the USA. I have never seen anyone from any other country who will only sell inside his own country on Ebay. Never. UK vendors sell to the whole world, in my experience. I think this derives from an insular psychology in the USA all right...the sort of perception that says "the real world basically stops at the USA border". It's annoying, all right, because you have to watch for it quite carefully when deciding whether to bid on an item from the USA, and the whole rest of the world apparently believes in trading with each other as a perfectly normal thing, but NOT some Americans. Add to this that you have the largest single market by far IN the USA, and it's an annoyance to the whole rest of the world's Ebay buyers. It doesn't speak well for the USA. It seems to indicate either ignorance on the part of some American vendors, an unwieldy system, a bad attitude, or all three. A Paypal account will eliminate the various risks and complications with sending payment to an overseas customer. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:13 PM Really, Ron? "No shipping to the US?" Hmmm. Well, I must not be bidding on the right stuff, cos I haven't seen one of those yet. I wonder if anyone refuses to ship outside Lichtenstein? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:34 PM Maybe it was just me. I had an experience last year trying to purchase a Martin Carthy LP that the seller would only ship to the UK. I just did a check and I do see that UK sellers are willing to ship worldwide. I stand corrected, and I apologize. Still, it is not right to call us "arrogant" because of shipping issues. As Richard said, he has never had a problem before. Is it right to call this thread "arrogant americanS" because of one experience? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Purple Foxx Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:38 PM Certainly this thread might have been less emotive had it ended in a question mark. Can't help noticing that the Google ads at the bottom are for "Cash machines & ATM's & Debit Card .Ahem. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:39 PM I had a query this morning from a fellow in Italy who wants six of the 14 books (mysteries) in a lot I've put on eBay. He says he'll pay for the lot (it's really cheap) and pay the postage if I'll send just six of them because they're the ones by this author that he hasn't read. I had to do some research and I still don't know what a total price would be because I have to find a box that will be the right size and make the trip intact, pack the books, and notify him of the time and cost. He said send it cheap taking a few weeks. Sounds like he's a guy in Italy who likes the author and wants to read more. I'm still pretty new at this, and I'm still duking it out wht PayPal and eBay often enough that advertising I'd ship anywhere in the world may invite more work than I want to fool with while I'm learning the biz. For now I advertise I'll ship anywhere in the U.S. But since he wrote and it only means repacking, filling out extra customs forms and paying PayPal an extra fee to convert Italian money on top of a fee for using a credit card on top of the eBay fees. . . it's an opportunity to learn, but I won't end up making any money on the deal. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:43 PM Well, it's strange, that's all. I don't know if it's arrogance or what it is exactly, but it's a very noticeable phenomenon if you shop on Ebay and you're not an American. Shipping into Canada is a hassle too, because of our damned customs and post office which both cause unnecessary problems and fees for the receiver of the shipment. I was getting a package from England last month. I eventually got an email from the seller, a longtime friendly contact who is 100% dependable, and she told me that the Canadian Post Office (or Customs) had returned it to England! With a note saying: "No return address" It obviously HAD a return address (and a very clear one too) because they successfully RETURNED IT, didn't they? DUH! She said this has happened a few times with her shipments to Canada, and it's totally inexplicable why it would, since the return addresses on the packages she sends are clearly indicated every time. Canadians hate the Canadian Post Office. It's about as popular here, in a general sense, as politicians or lawyers are. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:52 PM Cross-border insurance is a problem. Insurance sold at the U. S. post offices stops at the Canadian border. One parcel shipped insured from Texas was tracked to the border, but couldn't be tracked into Canada. It never arrived. The item was insured for selling price, $300. The shipper was good enough to refund half the price. Expensive items should be shipped by courier only (expensive) since they have their own insurance. Registered mail is tracked across the border, I use it for small items such as collectable postage stamps. I buy occasionally from UK dealers, the cost to them is about $9; the cost from Canada is $11.00. Registered mail is almost never lost or damaged, but if the item is really expensive, get private insurance to cover. U. S. banks are barred from dealing in foreign currencies and this causes further difficulties. Foreign money they receive in checks or cash is sent to a Federal Reserve Bank for conversion, with a fee attached. Many Ebay sellers are private and are not prepared to take plastic. I send U. S. international money orders for sterling to the UK from Canada, but I don't know if this is possible from the States (Canada does permit banks to trade in foreign currencies, only a small number of Federal Reserve banks in the States are allowed to do so). Rather than blame American Ebay sellers for refusing the headaches of overseas shipment, find out the regulations and rules before you rant about their practices. After all, it is the right of the seller to set their own rules. Many sellers and buyers refuse to use a third party expense like Paypal; I am one of them. Moreover, some banks here refuse to transfer funds through that type of company. At my bank I would have had to transfer funds to another account in order to deal with them. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 03:59 PM The expense involved in using Paypal is minimal. The convenience is considerable. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: kendall Date: 18 Mar 06 - 04:41 PM I sold a set of CDs to a guy in the UK and it took me months to get paid for them. There may have been a screw up in the mail, and had nothing to do with arrogance. Sometimes it's just not worth the hassle. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Clinton Hammond Date: 18 Mar 06 - 04:49 PM I've never had a problem with Canada Post... Nor with getting things I've ordered on eBay shipped into Canada.... Living in a border town and having international chums also helps dispense with the problems of "Only Ships To America" auctions... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Mar 06 - 04:56 PM PayPal is the 800 pound gorilla, and you're stuck using it if you want much traffic at eBay. They're a territorial pain in the ass. I had a "free" PayPal account, no fees to use it, that is, until someone tried to pay with a credit card and I, thinking that they must have made a mistake, denied the payment. The resulting mess was not pretty but we didn't get to a shouting match or leave bad feedback. After that I tried to fix it by advertising that I didn't take credit cards. So eBay cancelled those auctions (they don't believe in sending a warning to change something) and said I had no choice but to take credit cards and upgrade my PayPal account if someone wanted to pay that way. They assured me that I would enjoy paying for all of the options I have no intention of using but that are being foisted upon me. It reminded me of that stupid "lie back and enjoy it" advice that used to be given to women in case they were raped. So much for eBay's promise that PayPal is free to use* at their site. (They need a huge asterisk so you go in and find all of the conditions as they really exist.) I've been using eBay for nearly a year, and thought I was getting the hang of it until this happened. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 18 Mar 06 - 05:01 PM I've never had a problem with Paypal. I've used them through e-bay and another online service I use and never had a problem. I've always received what is owed me and I only have the "free" service. I highly recommend them for ease and safety when shopping or selling on the net. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Peter K (Fionn) Date: 18 Mar 06 - 05:37 PM Unquestionably there are UK sellers who will not deliver overseas. There are even some who insist "buyer collects." The US has a domestic market is several times greater than the UK's, and if that's as far as some sellers want to go, what's wrong with that? The title of this thread is entirely unreasonable. Also, Richard, what makes you think you've been "lumped in with far Eastern and African scammers"? And is that really so much worse than being lumped in with UK scammers, of whom I've encountered a few? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: katlaughing Date: 18 Mar 06 - 05:51 PM Well-said, Fionn. Like, Ron, I've never had a problem with PayPal's free service, either as a seller or buyer, and it allows me to accept or use credit cards. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Naemanson Date: 18 Mar 06 - 05:59 PM I sell things on eBay, mostly my old books because I am trying to cull the library. However I also sold an old sword, an 1830s Austrian Infantry weapon. I have shipped to Britain, Canada, The Czech Republic, and the good ol' US of A. I haven't had any trouble. My only difficulty is with the expense. When you add the expense of mailing to the price of an item I am sure it dismays potential buyers. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: GUEST,Art Thieme Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:15 PM A few years ago (1998 or '99)I wanted to secure what I was told was called an International Money Order so I might purchase the first CD of Nic Jones' to be issued in a VERY long time. Nobody here knew what an I.M.O. was or is. Finally I was able to contact Nic directly and he was nice enough to agree to swap his new one for mine.----It was the only way I could solve the problem. Art Thieme |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Alaska Mike Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:24 PM Heck, most ebay sellers won't ship to Alaska, and we're in the same country for crying out loud. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:40 PM What you Alaskans need to do is threaten to secede and join Canada if other Americans won't shit to Alaska! That'll smarten them up fast. Remember, your medical care is mostly free in Canada, eh? And our beer is better too, so I've heard. ;-) As for the cold, you've already got it worse than most of us do. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Joe Offer Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:58 PM I suppose most groups don't deserve the stereotypes they're saddled with. Americans are described as "arrogant" - but that's seldom the case. Little Hawk describes the weather in Alaska as cold, and that's true for Fairbanks and places north. Anchorage is warmer in winter than what I remember from my childhood in Milwaukee - and Southeast Alaska is downright balmy in winter. I suppose Little Hawk is right in saying that many Americans won't shit in Alaska. Maybe it's constipation from eating cruise ship food... -Joe- |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 07:03 PM Whoops. Bad typo up there... I meant to say "ship" to Alaska. ;-D |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 18 Mar 06 - 07:24 PM That's okay, Little Hawk. It's not as bad as the time you called Billy Boy "Shitner". |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: SqueezeMe Date: 18 Mar 06 - 07:25 PM Recently asked an American eBay seller about shipping to Australia. His reply was that, no, we don't ship to Europe! For arrogance, read ignorance! MC (P.S. There are no kangaroos in Austria!) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: kendall Date: 18 Mar 06 - 07:37 PM Stereotypes afford us the luxury of not thinking, But, sooner or later they will extract the price of our not thinking. (Jean Harris) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:32 PM If you accept credit cards via PayPal, then you're not getting PayPal for free. Take a look at your account. You can spend on PayPal via a credit card and it doesn't cost you. But if you sell and someone out there with PayPal wants to put their purchase on a credit card instead of out of their bank account or out of their PayPal balance, it is going to cost you. You'll get a message saying you need to upgrade to a Business or Premier account in order to accept that payment. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:34 PM Oh, really? Hmm. Haven't run into that yet. And how much does that cost you? Is it a set fee or per individual transaction? How does it work? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:45 PM The solution: no more ebay.com for Americans, but only ebay.us - if any one wants to sell on the whole world market. they sell at ebay.com. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Georgiansilver Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:47 PM Have received dollar cheques in payment for antiques on Ebay..from US.. and cash by secure post which is my favourite. I have bank charges to consider if selling outside the UK and receiving overseas currency cheques....that charge is levied on the customer. Cash by 'secure signed for postage' is best by far. I can cash dollars for pounds at UK post office at favourable exchange rate....easy! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:57 PM Art International Money Orders no longer exists in Australia - you used to be able to buy them at the Post Office, but now all such things aew done thru the Western Union agency at the Post Office - W.U. have started to set up independent office here in Oz now too. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 18 Mar 06 - 09:21 PM U. S. International money orders in Canada available through banks, not the post office. My bank provides then without charge, but if I go to another bank, there is a fee. I thought banks in Australia wrote them- has this changed? Western Union in Canada does money transfers, but expensive to foreign countries. They have stopped- or are about to stop- the old telegram service. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 18 Mar 06 - 11:29 PM Sorry SRS, I misunderstood you. When we sell, we do not accept credit card but we accept Paypal since we have a free account. The buyer usually pays their Paypal account with a credit card so it is transparent to us. I did not understand that you were not getting paid through Paypal |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: SINSULL Date: 18 Mar 06 - 11:49 PM Ron, I had to upgrade to a Premier account in order to get paid by credit card. The cost is minimal and the systen for me is convenient, A sales closes in a matter of hours vs weeks when checks have to arrive and clear. SINS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Little Hawk Date: 18 Mar 06 - 11:52 PM Exactly. And isn't that worth a minimal fee? These guys make money on the sheer volume of transactions, which must be in the millions. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 18 Mar 06 - 11:52 PM When my wife or I sell something on e-bay we usually request payment by Paypal. No problems yet. IF we sold more frequently I would surely upgrade, but we only sell occasionally. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Mar 06 - 12:58 AM I do take payments through PayPal, and I had to accept the charges they insist upon. I used some of their wording to try to make myself clear (the reference to a "merchant account") and was slammed for it. Here is what they sent when they cancelled an auction (edited slightly to remove name of actual auction):
Lot-14 PB- [Name of auction listed] However, your listing was in violation of eBay's Paypal Payments policy and has been removed from eBay. We have credited all associated fees to your account and notified eBay users associated with the transaction that it has been cancelled. We would like to take this opportunity to let you know what part of your listing is not permitted. Your listing(s) contains the following information: I do not have a merchant account, so no credit cards are accepted Sellers who offer PayPal as a payment option in the listing process must accept all forms of PayPal payment, without restriction. For example, it is *not* permitted to state: "I only accept cash transfers with PayPal (no credit cards)" "I only accept payments with PayPal over $15" Sellers must have a Premier or Business PayPal Account or be willing to upgrade from a Personal PayPal Account to a Premier or Business Account if sellers receive a credit card payment. Sellers may not communicate to buyers that they accept, or will not accept, specific forms of PayPal payment. Please be aware that you are not required to use PayPal as an accepted form of payment for your listings. However, we hope that you will realize the protection and convenience that PayPal offers. For more information on Paypal Payments visit the following Help page:http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/paypal-payments.html Please note: violation of this or other eBay policies may result in forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings, limits on account privileges and account suspension. Please review eBay's Listing Policies and User Agreement at the following locations: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/policies.html http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html For more information on why eBay removes auction-style listings, or to write to us with questions, please review the following Web page: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/listing-ended.html We thank you in advance for your cooperation. Regards, eBay Trust & Safety I wrote back and complained about this and received the following automated response: Thank you for taking the time to write eBay with your concerns. I'm happy to help you further. To begin, I would like to inform you that eBay's intentions are never to accuse, or speculate that you are intentionally violating our listing policies. Our intention is to educate our members regarding issues which are contradictory to our User Agreement. We value all of our buyers and seller's input with regards to the PayPal Payments policy. I understand that you are a hobbyist seller and the policy may end up costing you more money should you continue to list your auctions on eBay. Please understand that the driving force of this policy was not out of greed. While it does appear to be a major factor to sellers such as yourself, do keep in mind that policies are put in place with both buyers and sellers in mind. In this case, we feel that buyers will benefit from this policy as it will make their transactions simple, safe and more consistent between sellers. For sellers, I understand that it will be more costly, however, there are still benefits to this policy. For example, many bidders have told us that they prefer to bid on auctions that accept credit card through PayPal. With this policy, it may help drive more bidders to the listing. The increase in bidders can also lead to more bids being placed. This can result in a higher bid price overall. While you may feel that this policy is unfair, it has been put in place with the best intentions to benefit the site and our members. Bidding on eBay is supposed to be fun and easy. If you feel that the charges of your "payment services" are to high for you, you should incorporate these charges into your opening bid price. Then, you could for example offer a discount to buyers who pay by your preferred method. If you would like to use this option, the discount would have to be taken off the winning bid price after the auction closes. While I may have not have changed your opinion about this policy, do know that many of the changes made on the site are due to suggestions received from our eBay Members. While we are unable to implement every suggestion, we do review all of the suggestions we receive. To make a suggestion please do so by emailing: suggest@ebay.com Due to the number of suggestions we receive, we are unable to respond to each one. However, if you send in your suggestion please be assured that it will be reviewed. With regard to your request for a copy of your original listings, please understand that since eBay removed your listings, they can no longer be viewed or accessed on eBay. Therefore we cannot return a copy of your listings to you. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. In the future, we highly recommend saving a copy of your listings for backup purposes. You may also wish to consider using Turbo Lister for your future listings. Turbo Lister is free and you can download it from the Turbo Lister home page. This program allows you to list faster by duplicating your primary listings and save those listing templates to re-use again later. For a better understanding of our listing guidelines and more information on Turbo Lister, please visit the following URLs: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-ov.html http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/turbo-lister-ov.html I apologize for any frustration but please know, that when eBay removes listings, all fees associated with creating the listing are refunded. Please feel free to relist the listing at your convenience, with the required corrections. Finally, we appreciate your intentions to be a great part of the eBay community. We truly appreciate your honesty and willingness to comply with eBay's policies. At your earliest convenience, please take some time to fully familiarize with our site policies. And please be assured that this violation should not discourage you from trading on eBay in the future, and rest assured, you do not have a tarnished reputation with eBay. Thanks again for writing, and thank you for being part of the eBay community. Have a good day. Regards, Archie Community Watch Team eBay Trust & Safety You may have clicked on the "upgrade" button ages ago and made the change without even realizing what you were doing. Look at your PayPal account and see if you find charges for .50 and .75 and such in there from VISA through PayPal for taking cards. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Wolfgang Date: 19 Mar 06 - 06:49 AM You'll find often "No shipping to Switserland" in German Ebay. It has nothing to do with prejudices just with past experiences and not even with past experiences with the people themselves, simply with past experiences with the workings of the system. The most frequent limitations you'd find in German Ebay would be to exclude all non-Euro countries or only to allow them if they pay more and use paypal. That too discriminates the poor British buyers. Wolfgang |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: JohnInKansas Date: 19 Mar 06 - 08:04 AM Stilly - Ref eBay's Then, you could for example offer a discount to buyers who pay by your preferred method Note that since the new bankruptcy statutes were enacted in the US recently, companion changes made it a technical violation of a US Federal Statute for any commercial seller to offer a discount for paying cash instead of by credit card, or for offering a discount for use of one credit card instead of another, if the seller takes any credit cards at all. The seller may specify that only certain cards are accepted, but the "price" cannot be changed to reflect the method of payment. Most credit cards previously included that in the terms of use of their cards, but information from my local newsrag (not always 100% reliable, of course) indicated that it is now US Law. John |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: kendall Date: 19 Mar 06 - 08:07 AM As awkward as it is, it is a far cry from the days when everything was bartered. "I want a cow and calf for this prize pig" . "Ok, I want it, but how about shipping?" "two sheep will cover the cost of shipping, but I'll need a good dog to cover the cost of shipping the sheep." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Toenails John Date: 19 Mar 06 - 08:18 AM Arrogant Americans on EBay? what was the last bid, and when does bidding close? (sorry Couldn't resist it. IT HAD TO BE SAID) |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Richard Bridge Date: 19 Mar 06 - 08:19 AM The seller did take, and stated that he would take, Paypal. He was also a trade seller. So it's not a convenience of payment issue. Nor is it an "I don't know how" issue. It's that he didn't trust me. I've bought a Beta 52 kick mic now, instead of the Sennheiser 902 I was hoping to. From another US seller, who said (when I emailed) "Sure. Shipping an extra $5" The people in Miami I buy my strings from have no problems. The guy I bought a guitar line pre-amp from had no problems. Now as for Paypal, that's a whole other issue. I have just bought some B-band pickups from a guy in Germany, and because he only had a basic Paypal account, I could not use a credit card to pay him via Paypal. He could not get a premium account because he had no credit card. Paypal, like ebay, has no conception of commercial morality. But it can be useful if used with care. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: Arrogant Americans on ebay From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Mar 06 - 12:08 AM You could put money into your PayPal account from your bank and use that to pay the guy in Germany. Yes, John, I saw the line about offering a discount for paying with my preferred method. Which means I have to do some extra fiddling around to do it and I wouldn't be surprised if there are Overlords from eBay Overseeing that part of it also, ready to "tsk tsk" if something isn't stated correctly. You know WHO got the lines put in the law saying you can't penalize blah blah blah--the credit card companies. SRS |
