Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/06/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My experience is similar to Didier's. When buying or selling something outside of Europe, Paypal is by far the safest and most convenient option. When selling I will of course happily accept a bank transfer from anywhere in the world, but it is likely to be a major hazzle for the buyer, since most banks outside Europe will charge a hefty fee for this, and the transfer takes several days. Paypal charges its 3% or whatever, but the transfer takes minutes. When trading within Europe, it is a different story. A bank transfer between, say, the Netherlands and Spain costs me exactly the same as one within the Netherlands, namely nothing. The one payment method I NEVER want to deal with it is paper of any kind (checks, money orders etc.)--that is just too 19th century--or Western Union and its ilk for that matter. Nathan On 19-jun-2007, at 9:39, Didier Ludwig wrote: > Salut Robert, > > I belong to the sellers which declare to accept Paypal only for > international transactions. I also prefer it as buyer. The reasons > are various: > > - Paypal = fast payment = immediate shipping (and leading to a > positive feedback for quick payment or quick delivery) > > - intl. money orders and checks can turn into a nightmare if you > don't find an institution (bank, post) in your country which will > refund it, or refund it without an exaggerated fee. > > - Money orders can take a lot of time. Once I sent a postal MO from > Switzerland to Wyoming, it took 10 weeks to arrive there, forcing > me to send a lot of appeasing mails to the seller who thought I'm a > non-payer. Never again. > > - Bank wire transfers can cost a lot - depending from where to > where they go - IBAN is only free inside EU but otherwise rather > costly. There's a high fixed fee on low amounts, and a high > percentage fee on large amounts. Every bank has another fee/pricing > policiy, which is often not visible before you do the transaction. > > - Sending cash in insured letters is russian roulette. I have given > up this option since an enveloppe arrived open and empty. > > Having a good feedback profile is more than welcome. I have > cancelled dozens of bids from buyers with doubtable profiles. But > reading and accepting the payment options of a seller is another > obligatory requirement fo a buyer. Your feedback profile won't stay > perfect when you bid on Paypal-only auctions and then want to > negociate the payment methods afterwards. You'll get negatives like > "Did not read the payment options". > > Since a buyer does not have to pay Paypal fees, and can use it > without credit card (by uploading money from his bank account), I > don't see any reason why Paypal should not be reasonable for most > buyers. > > Bad Paypal reputation? That sounds a bit diffuse. There certainly > are issues with the Paypal seller and buyer protection rules, and > Paypal accounts with too simple passwords have been phished in the > past (but does anyone have compassion for people using passwords > like "abcd"?)... Personally, after approximately 600 Paypal > transactions, I have never been involved in any trouble, but others > LUGgers might have been. I don't want to say Paypal is hasslefree > and without risk, but it's 100x more convenient than checks and MO's. > > Best regards > Didier > > > > >> Bonsoir, >> >> Since *bay and Paypal are mentioned here every so often, I was >> wondering if anybody (surely someone must) has an explanation for >> the following. In the last couple of days I was going to bid (and >> surely win) some items on *Bay. However the sellers flatly >> refused to accept a method of payment other than Paypal. My >> feedback is perfect. Why would anyone actually tie their hand >> with Paypal (who do not have the greatest of reputation >> businesswise) and lose money? Did this happen to anyone on this >> list? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Robert (Un chevalier sans blason) > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > Nathan Wajsman nathan@nathanfoto.com General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.frozenlight.eu Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog