eBay Paranoia

[Jim KO5V]

Good Afternoon,

For the last couple of years, I have avoided giving eBay my bank info and SS #.  I always use PayPal on line, mainly because in my simple mind, keeping my information in one place, rather than spreading it out all over the web lowers the odds of having that info stolen. Several years ago,  a couple of my CC #s were stolen when on-line merchants were hacked, so I am probably a bit over-sensitive.

I guess eBay wants to dump PayPal and "float" the money themselves, so now I'm no longer allowed to sell unless I give them my bank info and SS# info. I am not comfortable doing this. I still can buy on eBay with a credit card (or PP until they get rid of it). My credit cards are protected by their issuing banks, so if they are compromised. I'm OK. 

I'm just curious how other people on this list feel about this situations. Is there a viable alternative to eBay?

BTW, eBay is holding about $7.00 from a sale I made a couple of months ago, and they won't release it until they have my bank info. I think I'll let it ride, and see how they handle it.

Thanks. Jim

[Jeff Walton]

Unfortunately, the people with the money and website get to make the rules.  They will push until people start to abandon the platform by charging higher commissions and rigid banking rules.  So far, they are still keeping their business...

Jeff 

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[Toby Thain]

On 2022-03-31 4:01 p.m., Jim KO5V wrote:
> Good Afternoon,
>
> For the last couple of years, I have avoided giving eBay my bank info
> and SS #.  I always use PayPal on line, mainly because in my simple
> mind, keeping my information in one place, rather than spreading it out

> all over the web lowers the odds of having that info stolen. ...

> I'm just curious how other people on this list feel about this
> situations. Is there a viable alternative to eBay?

My 5c:

* Ebay is definitely not MORE evil than PayPal. PayPal was founded and
presumably still owned by some of the worst people on the planet.

* I've set up banking with ebay as buyer and seller. The only complaint
that I have as a seller, so far, is that they keep dipping into my bank
account for fees they could have withheld in the first place. Imho they
need a "never debit this account" setting even if it delays deposits in
some cases.

--Toby

>
> BTW, eBay is holding about $7.00 from a sale I made a couple of months
> ago, and they won't release it until they have my bank info. I think
> I'll let it ride, and see how they handle it.
>
> Thanks. Jim
>

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[Grahame]

Hi

So far I've not had a problem with eBay or Paypal but then I think I have been following their rules when both buying and selling.

I tried to open an account to buy through Alibaba house of horrors and they asked for a photograph of my passport, proof of my home address and a photo of the credit card I was going to use. I just deleted the email and all those that followed asking me to pay for the goods in my basket. Eventually they stopped and I've not tried again.

Grahame

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[Nicholas Stock]

Etsy sellers have nixies etc on them....I quite liked that platform in the beginning, but slowly their commissions grew higher and I gave up using it as a seller.

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[threeneurons]

eBay has been doing this now, for about a year and a half. I've had no problems, so far. Initially, I didn't understand why they did this, only a few years after selling off Paypal. So It seemed kinda stupid. But I think it has to do with some legal changes both in the US and in Europe. In the US, all online transactions need to include the sales tax of the buyer's state. In Europe, they want the VAT collected at time of purchase. When eBay took over handling the payments, they take care of both of those. Sales tax and VAT get routed directly from the buyer to eBay, and (I assume) to the respective government agency. I only get the item's price, shipping (that I established), less eBay's fees (~10%). They deposit that amount to my bank account, either daily, or weekly, dependent on the sellers preference.

I Long ago set up a different bank account, at a whole different bank, just for online stuff. That way if either eBay or Paypal get hacked, only this "online use" account is exposed. Your SSN is needed, if and when they issue 1099s.

Of course, all banks now, have an on line presents, so with my luck, my main bank gets breached, while the small sum, at the "online use" bank stays unaffected.

[Paul Andrews]

@threeneurons, that is very sensible. As someone who had their identity stolen I am very wary about any of this. BTW 'stolen identity' does not mean they got my credit card info. It means they got my identity and went around opening their own credit cards in my name, using my address and my social security number. This year we found out that my son also got his identity stolen - someone filed their taxes using his information (I still don't see the benefit of that).

Anyway, I stopped selling online after paypal sent me a 1099. The extra hassle filing taxes isn't worth it for the small amount of money I get from selling.

[Jim KO5V]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I am very frustrated with eBay, since I get an email every couple of weeks telling me that "action is required to put my account back in good standing". It sounds like I am a deadbeat, rather than a paying customer.

I had considered opening a 'for internet use only' bank account, but giving out my social security number is probably always going to be the real problem. It might already have been compromised, but I guess I just don't want to volunteer any more information than is necessary.

As I get older, I am wanting to simplify. eBay is convenient, but there are ham radio sites, etc where I can sell my treasures, so except for the occasional purchase, I'm  probably done with eBay - after almost 25 years.

 Best regards, Jim

[SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F.]

I've never had problems with payments on ebay so far, but i have to admit that i think ebay is getting worse and worse every day.

My biggest issue is that ebay is actively hiding items that can't be delivered to your address. I have multiple addresses for shipping, but only the primary one is considered valid at searches. Its a pain switching between 3 addresses to see "all" items for a specific search.  Not to mention the ridiculous forced translations they do since a while ago...

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

My biggest issues with eBay in the past were not receiving and item though it was a rare occurrence. I would contact eBay and they would tell me to contact PayPal. Contacted PayPal and they would tell me to contact eBay. One big circle j__k. Since the amounts had been under USD$10, I just wrote it off. But it has always made me very leery of buying anything on eBay though I have not had any issues for many years. When I first opened my PayPal account, I too worried about them having my checking account. In the end, I opened a second checking account at a different bank right near me where I already had a savings account. I keep very little money in the account as I can easily transfer money from savings to checking as needed (I think back to when I was kid in the 1960's and my father would drive to the savings bank, take out money and then drive to the commercial bank to put it in the checking account - glad that is a thing of the past). As such, there is very little PayPal, or now eBay, can take from me if they are hacked or just decide they want some money for some reason.

[ZY]

I've been buying from ebay/aliexpress/etsy with no issues, I probably have 500+ transactions over the past 10 years. But as with all internet orders, I do have the occasional missing item or broken item sent to me. I've gotten my money back every single time, ebay/aliexpress would 99% of the time side with the buyer and they'll give you an instant refund.

I also sell on ebay, I think they give you the option now for fees like shipping costs to be deducted directly from the sale instead of debting from the bank.

I would trust these large internet vendors with my CC info more than the restaurant I go to tbh, these large companies have been operating for years and have millions of dollars pouring into security. The restaurant nearby who takes my credit card could just be skimming my info at the counter for all I know. I guess it's a US thing, in Canada they bring the small handheld CC machine to you so your CC never leaves your hands.

[Mac Doktor]

On Apr 4, 2022, at 7:40 PM, ZY <zongy...@gmail.com> wrote:

I would trust these large internet vendors with my CC info more than the restaurant I go to tbh, these large companies have been operating for years and have millions of dollars pouring into security. The restaurant nearby who takes my credit card could just be skimming my info at the counter for all I know.

That's how an infamous book thief financed his lifestyle while he wasn't casing stores and shoplifting valuable old tomes. He worked part-time in an upscale clothing store and wrote the credit cards down. Someone wrote a book about him:

"Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of  book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be."

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Loved-Books-Much/dp/1594484813

If you don't have time for the book check out this talk by the author:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPknmLx8xcQ

Amazing.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

"If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes."—Roy Batty, Blade Runner

[Nick Andrews]

I've had pretty good luck as well, but did get screwed over by a dishonest seller a couple years ago where I won a bid on a rare RADIAC set with a very rare probe.  Scumbag canceled the sale (after I paid even) and actually wrote that he couldn't afford to sell it for the closing price because he had more into it than that (which I doubt).  He had listed it as ButItNow at just under $3k for months and months, then finally listed it as an auction, which I won for a reasonable number.  I reported to ebay and they did nothing even though I had it in writing through their messaging system that he was flagrantly violating the rules.  So my hobby is from time to time reporting a bunch of his auctions as fraudulent, stolen, illegal, etc.  Maybe I should buy something really cheap from him so I can get his address.

But with  several thousand other transactions, not an issue as a buyer or seller on epay, except their increasingly exorbitant fees, and now the tax nonsense.

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[liam bartosiewicz]

The only bad eBay experience I’ve had was when I ordered 80 NL-5853s for about a dollar a piece...needless to say, this was too good to be true and the seller kept sending messages about why they couldn’t send the package, and then went radio silent. I will say that the process of getting a refund was quite simple and easy, so props to eBay on that front.

On Apr 5, 2022, at 9:18 AM, Nick Andrews <nickja...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[gregebert]

>99% of my transactions are as a buyer, and after almost 20 years and 391 transactions I've only had 2 cases where the seller didn't deliver, and both times I was promptly refunded; neither of those 2 cases were nixie tubes. Ebay protections seem to favor the buyer much more than the seller, so my viewpoint is obviously different than for those who mostly sell.