Does anyone read ebay billing instructions?

Well, sometimes, no matter how plainly you think you may have the shipping listed, it might get missed by the bidder. There's been plenty of times where the seller has stated to check item description for shipping and it just isn't there. Other times you've got to re-read the description a couple of times before you see the shipping amount plainly "hidden" in a sentence.

As far as PayPal, one of the things that confuse folks is that eBay sometimes sends you a pay for the item link that directs you to PayPal regardless if the seller accepts PP or not. Go figure.

If you do not accept PayPal, then the payment stays unclaimed in the buyers account. They can cancel the payment if it has not been claimed.

Rob Gronovius Modern US armor at

And snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (who me?) opened up and revealed to the world news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Craig,

Have you come across the sellers who "self-insure" their packages??? I was in a disscusion on the Topps web site about that. The two main people who are doing this see nothing wrong with saying that they insure a package. When in truth all they're doing is pocketing the buyers money and claiming to insure the package. . .

I don't know about the 'rest' of the Commonwealth but Lancaster County has always felt it was special. ;)

I had one fellow do that Paypal bit on me. He got a trifle annoyed that I hadn't claimed it after 2 days but I pointed out that I don't take it. He relented and sent me a personal check. Once the check cleared he got his stuff.

The ones I like are the folks who have changed their address since they joined E-bay but didn't update their info. I quote them a shipping price for the listed address and then they come back with a different mailing address. Most times it's the same charge but a couple of times there was a difference. I notified them of the change and they made the adjustment.

I've been fairly lucky in that I have only had one deliberately bad apple.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Why is this a problem, providing they pay off just like an insurer would? Your premium is gone either way, and if you get the same coverage from a self-insurer, your interest in the merchandise is protected. It's really stupidity on their part, because they have no way to rate the risk--odds are they'll lose money in the long run.

Mark Schynert

You've piqued my curiosity, Kurt. What's peculiar about Lackawanna County? They have a picturesque courthouse but I'm sure that's irrelevant.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Yes, but there are plenty who don't. In fact, I'm convinced some of buyers read nothing except the subject line. Usually I get a "whoops, I'll send a check tomorrow" type response. But the best is when some buyer realizes he can't pay with metal rings, salt, or a credit card, and I get a "Well, then how am I supposed to pay?" As though I'm supposed to figure it out for him. Or my favorite; the "I can send a money order, but that will cost me more money." I've always worked it out though. For one I even worked out a swap. I think the buyer mentioned he was about to sell some kits on eBay. Further discussion revealed he had a kit I was looking for.

Paypal is great. I have a personal account so my transactions are free but I cannot accept credit cards. The hook is; if you mark your auction that you accept paypal, eBay puts a little image on there of credit cards. So people, without reading my billing instructions, send a credit card payment via Paypal. I have to reject it and wait for the buyer to come up with something else.

You can however, change the text in your billing instructions. Use bold, larger text, or change the color.

Curt

I get that all the time... most people do not realize that, except for large items, First Class and Priority is the same from everywhere.

Lance