ebay

[Paint Your Wagon]

There was a small announcement I saw quite by accident at the bottom of my ebay ( my wife's) that ebay belgium no longer offers any buyers protection unless you pay with paypal So they withdrew their lousy 200 euro on which you had to pay 20 euro of file cost

My ebay (germany) did not have that announcement but had an announcement that sellers using an unknown computer from friend or library or whatever ; better have a working telephonenumber cause they will be telephoned to confirm they are the seller of the item
This will work by way of a flashcookie whatever that may be 

So are they going for paypal insurance only and more protection ? Anything like this happening in the US or Australia ?

[Twoshadows]

Actually, over here in the U.S., the PayPal insurance as you called it is FREE. PayPal will automatically give you the protection up to $2,000 (if I remember correctly) for using their service. And, quite honestly I know it works as I have turned to them on 2 different occassions to get my winning auction delivered or money refunded. Seems most sellers find out very quickly PayPal means business and the protection is very valid. Both times the problem was settled in my favor, once with a refund and the other with product being shipped. It would seem to me that Ebay and PayPal are making the move to include other nations under this blanket coverage and I have NO complainst with PayPal or Ebay for doing so as it will protect buyers and sellers world wide from worthless sellers. If they don't pay up they will get the boot from Ebay for good!

[Paint Your Wagon]

yes but there are two things
First in Europe any seller is allowed to ask 5% extra if paypal is used (or outright forbids it ) and everybody is paying interbank at no cost
So the cost goes up a 5% for a possible coverage of 1000 Euro for which you have to read the fine print on ebay and at 5 % extra cost
and god only knows what they deduct in expenses
If you are carefull it is not worth 5% in the EU only outside the EU since they accept paypal without extra especially the pound people and I never seen they ask 5% So it is probably illigal there

[scottishmoney]

Right now as we speak I have a pending paypal complaint with a seller that has been non-responsive etc. after I paid right after winning the auction.  A at least one time reputable Canadian paper money dealer.  I will see what rolls on Monday.  I definitely want my funds back, and really no longer want the item as it has been too much hassle with no response.

[Twoshadows]

Both times I had to file a complaint I won but it took a few days as PayPal takes a few steps to encourage the seller. First they give them the opportunity to respond, once it reaches the official complaint stage, and then they lock up the sellers account for up to 60 days or until things get settled. This can really hurt a seller who does have funds remaining in his/her account at the time. My first dispute took a couple of weeks to settle but the last one only a few days. One thing is for certain Scottishmoney you will get the refund or the product after that complaint is filed! Keep us posted!

[Paint Your Wagon]

I would not be too sure

A few years back I bought sixty silver eagles from an american with like 300 positive feedbacks
He sold like 2000 of them and did not have them and could not buy them when silver shot up and he was broke anyway
I wrote ebay and the governor and the board of fair trade and the subbranch of the FBI and everybody I could think off
A certain disgracefull policeofficer called COCO asked me I got what I want and in passing let it be known this was not
the first time this greek legal alien pulled of this stunt on ebay
After that COCO was no longer responding to emails ; so much for the american police system ; and ebay requested a copy of all correspondance like 1 pound of fotocopies to be sent to an address in Germany . After like 4 months I got 200 minus 20 is 180 euro for what was a 500 euro loss
And about 200 emails and tons of hassle
Never ever again will I buy were I cannot go to the local police and be legal plaintif which is all of the EU now
A guy from Texas who went to small claims court got double awarded and the crooked greek paid him once and  probably dared him to go to court again
One by one the big swindled parties were paid off but me and the single tube buyers were left dangling cause the thief knew well enough we would not or could not go to small claims court .
I gave his name to Belgian airport people so that if he ever goes back to greece by way of Belgium they will know him

I even tried to report him to the IRS but as a non american that was impossible

I better forget about Spiros 

[scottishmoney]

Lately it seems like many of my eBay experiences are swimming with the Tidy Bowl man in Sir Thomas's Crapper.   Non responsive sellers, slow shipments(currently waiting on one from England that has been over a month) etc.

[Paint Your Wagon]

Lately it seems like many of my eBay experiences are swimming with the Tidy Bowl man in Sir Thomas's Crapper.   Non responsive sellers, slow shipments(currently waiting on one from England that has been over a month) etc.

This is the lowest 31 days period I ever had on ebay
Either I see junk, or I see zero feedback sellers, or I see pros with a minimum price too high above melt
So I bought outside ebay from an internet shop a few tubes of Wiener Philharmoniker 1.5 Euro with a 2 weeks delivery delay
I bought in that shop before and price is confirmed
Also I stopped asking anybody saying germany and austria and switzerland only if they would consider belgium
50 or so said yes in the past
One insulted me by asking what part of germany only I did not understand and i could only qualify if I had relatives in germany
It was very hard for me to refrain from answering my last relative left in 1945 after eating grass and worms for 5 years on a workfarm as POW

[Hermit]

...So are they going for paypal insurance only and more protection ? Anything like this happening in the US or Australia ?

Worse. Australia is being forced to use Paypal as the only payment option when using feebay. For some reason Paypal Australia has extra fees for just about everything and is troublesome, glitchy and painfully slow clearing e-checks. The result being many sellers and buyers have quit feebay and use the alternate Australian auction site Oztion.

[scottishmoney]

I collect banknotes also, it seems like lately I have had nothing but marginal to lousy experiences with buying stuff.  Then I bought a 17th century Irish token, back in early March, still do not have it, seller claiming had to wait for an export permit!  What?  I buy an Irish token from a seller in England and they have to get an export permit?  On a £30 item?  In January I bought the Scottish gold coin, from a well known and establish London dealer(no eBay), nothing about an export permit etc. and the item is significantly more consequential to British history.

I buy stuff from rather high priced paper money sellers, and you wonder why you pay the firm price, but then you get friendly communication through the whole process, and request for want lists etc.  I already have tracking numbers for a purchase made on Thursday, and hopefully should have those goods by Wednesday or so.  With regards the Irish token, I am losing hope of ever getting it, and think my second paypoo claim in a week will be in order in a few days.  With the one Canadian dealer I bought much stuff from him in the past, but it appears as though he turned the business over to his daughter and son in law and they are crapping it up for him.  I maybe leaving a negative for them very soon.

If someone made some comment to me about my relatives in Germany, I can honestly say, they were bombed out in 1943 during the raid on Hamburg.  How would that be for a comeback?

[scottishmoney]

...So are they going for paypal insurance only and more protection ? Anything like this happening in the US or Australia ?

Worse. Australia is being forced to use Paypal as the only payment option when using feebay. For some reason Paypal Australia has extra fees for just about everything and is troublesome, glitchy and painfully slow clearing e-checks. The result being many sellers and buyers have quit feebay and use the alternate Australian auction site Oztion.

Hmm, will have to look into that, I troll eBay Oz from time to time looking for booty from downunder.

[Paint Your Wagon]

I am sure the European democracy is fighting back
Ebay had to leave Switzerland as headquarters and choose the next best thing Luxembourg
Now they are vulnarable to legal attack by anybody with enough initiative or money
On the continent their best market is germany and germans don't take it lying down I am sure
So they started with little belgium I guess to see what reactions are on not insuring anything anymore if you do not pay for paypal
It probably is illigal to force paypal since we got a new European law forcing banks to accept international payments
at no extra cost within the union . The banks would ask up to 20 euro for transfor to another euro country before this law
This law and protection of the people saving money is seen as key protection
( The savings law is supposed to protect people from being sold products like the bank that sold liveinsurance to my 91 year old mother for 10 years so that everytime she asked money before the age of 101 she had to pay a big penalty ) She died broke

[Paint Your Wagon]

If someone made some comment to me about my relatives in Germany, I can honestly say, they were bombed out in 1943 during the raid on Hamburg.  How would that be for a comeback?

My mother was bombed out by the UK allies no less
Luckily she was not home
The RAF had this nasty habit of missing the railway repair depot by as much as 10 miles especially on foggy days when they did not want to go back with
full bomb bays I suppose

[scottishmoney]

Given the alleged collaboration of the Belgian King with the fascists, they should have stuck to pummelling royal palaces only, that way collateral damage would be minimized.

[Paint Your Wagon]

Given the alleged collaboration of the Belgian King with the fascists, they should have stuck to pummelling royal palaces only, that way collateral damage would be minimized.

Yeah you got that with foreign imports no quality
If I remember correctly we got independant in 1830 and only found a king in 1831 cause the job was not intresting or maybe not well paid

I forgot under which king this was but i remember from school i think that at one time there was the first flemish activist who had been killed and he got like a decent burial until a marechaussee ( that is police on horse ) shot into his casket to make sure he staid dead

At another time somebody talking to the king made a true observation I think
Sire , les Belges ça n'existe pas ( Belgians do no exist meaning there are walloons and flemish )