Why Should Shipping my Bag Be Such a Hassle??

iluvmybags

& My Motos & Shoes!
O.G.
Sep 13, 2006
39,021
2,163
I won a MJ bag on ebay last night. The seller's payment terms were Paypal, MO or Cashiers Check. I sent an email to the Seller and let her know that I would be sending a MO by overnight UPS or FedEx so that she's have it the following morning. She replied that it would have to be either a Bank or Postal MO if I didn't want to wait for shipping. If I sent any other kind of MO, there would be a 5-7 day hold. I've been paying for my winning auctions for years with MOs purchased at my local Currency Exchange. MOs purchased there can be traced at any Currency Exchange in the US. I've never had a problem in the past or with any other seller - they all shipped my item imemdiately.

So I talked to my sister, who has a Paypal a/c & who just recd payment on my behalf for something that I sold (I don't have a Paypal a/c). She said rather than have the $$ transferred from paypal into her bank a/c, why don't I just let her pay for the auction for me. I told her that would be great. So I emailed the Seller & told her that the payment would go thru Paypal thru my sister's a/c.

She then replies that, that would be great but that she would have to send it to my sister. Unfortunately, my sister lives in an unsecured building & isn't available to sign for packages - she even has a lot of her purchases sent to me for this very reason & it's never been an issue (about 90% of her purchases/packages are from ebay!).

So now we're back to square one - I can't get to the PO until Thursday, which means I can't send the payment until Thurs night or Fri morning, which means she won't have it until Sat or Monday and then I'll have to wait for her to send the bag, putting it's delivery at mid-week sometime. If I sent the $$ thru Paypal, it would have been done tonight and I could have had my bag by the end of the week.

Am I wrong to be frustrated? I've never had an issue like this before - I always pay for my auctions w/MOs purchased from the same currency exchange & I always send them overnight for next day delivery. Some sellers are so appreciative, they upgrade my shipping at no addtl charge! But I've never had a seller wait [more than 1 day] to ship my item becuz of where I bought my MO. Bank MOs are actually much less secure that a Currency Xchange one, so I don't understand the problem - and I especially don't understand the problem with my sister using her Paypal a/c to pay for my winning item!!! Since my address is listed on her a/c (becuz she's had various things sent to me and/or my daughter) why should it matter!!! As a seller, wouldn't you want to get your money as quickly & safely as possible? If she's so concerned about the MO being good, why wouldn't she welcome the paypal payment???

I don't understand it really makes me mad!! I just want my bag - I was so excited, even opting to pay for overnight shipping!! Now I probably won't have it til next week sometime. ARGH!!
 
If your sister's use your address on PayPal to receive her packages then I think your adress should be confirm. If I was the seller I would only send it to the confirmed address as wellA.

Just pay via paypal if your address is confirmed there, you shouln't have a problem
 
I just thought if something - -if I pay w/a MO, she's going to send me the bag - - who covers the transaction then? I guess I don't understand why then, if my sister paid using her Paypal a/c, why it still can't be sent to me?? It doesn't make any sense

genieper - what does "Confirmed address" mean??
 
Seller's on ebay are asked to ship the bags to the buyer's confirmed address (The address listed on PayPal and confirmed to be the right place either from Credit Card statement or past transactions) If your sister checks her address listed in her PayPal's account she will be able to see if it's confirmed or not. Again there's nothing wrong with it after so many identity theft cases.
 
As a seller I would accept your money order but I would not ship until it cleared, probably 7 days. As a seller I would not ship to an unconfirmed address, which is the case when you ask to have it sent to an address other than the Paypal account holder. The seller would have no Paypal Seller Protection if she ships to you and the package gets lost.

THe Seller is simply following Paypal Seller Protection rules, not trying to be difficult.

I realize that you have had other ship immediately and packages sent to you when paid via your sister's account; those sellers took a chance, I would not. The MO could be returned (there are fake MO's out there) and the seller would be stuck with a returned check fee of up to $35 from her bank, if she shipped before it cleared and turned out to be fake, she would be out bag and bank fees, do you see where I am going here?

Send a PO MO express immediately after you purchase it on Thursday, ask seller to ship Priority, you should get your bag by Monday. THe seller can cash the MO right at the PO.

Good luck
 
I guess I just don't understand the big deal - If I send a MO, she's going to send it to me at my address - So if my sister uses her paypal a/c to make the SAME payment for me, just faster/sooner, then why shouldn't she still be willing to send it to me - if I pay with a MO who's protected and how???

As for MOs being faked, I totally agree - which is why I always use the ones issued by the Currency Exchange. These can be traced at any US Curency Exchange so that there's no question as to whether it's been stolen, cashed, etc. As for Bank MOs, those are actually the easiest and most counterfeited MOs out there. A lot of places won't even accept a Bank's MO since there are so many fraudulent ones!! As for waiting 7 days for it to clear - that's nuts. It takes 2-3 days at the MOST for a check/MO to clear. There's absolutely no reason to wait 7 days anymore.

It's so darned frustrating - I refuse to use credit cards. Credit card debt is the #1 reason for bankruptcy, home foreclosures, ruined credit, etc yet everyone tries to make it so darned difficult for anyone who doesn't have/use credit cards to buy something!! I am so tired of being "penalized" because I choose to spend the money I have instead of relying on a piece of plastic!!!

It's just ridiculous!!
 
I know this is a little OT, but.... Credit cards aren't evil. They are great for people who pay their balance in full every month.

I place items I purchase online on a credit card which I pay off every month with the cash that I would have used to buy something. You just have to be responsible for yourself. I do know that there are people out there who are not responsible enough to handle credit cards, and that is why CC debt can become dangerous.
 
It's so darned frustrating - I refuse to use credit cards. Credit card debt is the #1 reason for bankruptcy, home foreclosures, ruined credit, etc yet everyone tries to make it so darned difficult for anyone who doesn't have/use credit cards to buy something!! I am so tired of being "penalized" because I choose to spend the money I have instead of relying on a piece of plastic!!!

It's just ridiculous!!

If you have a bank account, you can have a PayPal account. You don't have to use a CC. You can also use a debit card with the Visa/MasterCard logo, and the money comes directly from your bank account.

Not everybody who pays with a CC is spending money they don't have.

As for the original point, I completely understand where the seller is coming from. If you pay with a MO, yes - she'd ship to your address; however, she would also wait til the MO cleared to make sure it's not fake before sending it to a random address.
 
My concern for you would actually be sending that money order. The seller can literally take your money and run ... you have no protection if she sells you a counterfeit item. You'll be totally out of luck.

I understand your aversion to credit cards -- but unfortunately, when buying items online, it truly is the best way to protect yourself.
 
I agree with lorihmatthews.
You have no protection whatsoever.. I would be so scared to buy anything from ebay especially if its a bag.

The seller is only trying ot be cautious as the other girls said. The item is only protected if it is sent a confirmed address. She doesn't want to take any chances. But maybe you should create a paypal and just pay via your bank account. You don't always hav eto have a CC at hand to be able to use paypal, bank accounts are accepted as well. It is also the only way to bbecome verified. Goodluck.
 
I don't think the seller is being unreasonable.

1. As you know, there are fake MOs around. Therefore most sellers would want to wait 5-7 days until it clears. If the seller knew you personally, I am sure she'd be able to trust you but the thing is she doesn't and she'd rather play it safe.

2. Sending it to an address other than "confirmed". If the seller sends the bag to the unconfirmed address, and the buyer claims that she never got the bag and demands refund, the seller would have no protection. To qualify under paypal seller's protection she needs to send it to the confirmed address.

I know all of this seems silly, but a lot of sellers get burned too so it makes sense to watch out for themselves.
 
My concern for you would actually be sending that money order. The seller can literally take your money and run ... you have no protection if she sells you a counterfeit item. You'll be totally out of luck.

I understand your aversion to credit cards -- but unfortunately, when buying items online, it truly is the best way to protect yourself.

On the back of the MO, right above where it will be endorsed, I include the following: "By endorsing this MO, [seller] promises to send (1) Authentic [item] to [buyer]." When the MO is signed by the seller & deposited and/or cashed, the MO passes thru the US Treasury and it becomes a legally binding contract. If for some reason I was not sent the item that was promised, I could take legal action and the seller would be held accountable since they endorsed the MO and agreed to that statement. One of the attorneys I worked for years ago told me that, and I've been including it ever since. I've never had a problem or instance where the seller took off w/my money - I have gotten taken for a counterfeit bag once (it wasn't a very high value & it would have cost more than the amt I lost to take legal action), but otherwise my transactions have all been problem free!

I don't know - It's not like I'm a new buyer with little or no FB - I have an over 70FB with most of my purchases being for items several hundred dollars (I also understand she's a PF member). I can see her wanting to be careful, but I guess I just don't get what difference it makes if I send her a MO or pay thru my sister's paypal a/c - I thought the idea was to have the quickest, safest transaction? How is sending an $800+ bag to an address that's unsecured with no one home safer than sending it to my house where someone will definitely be waiting for it??? And if I send the MO, that's where she's going to send it anyhow - so what's the big deal??
 
As a seller I am going through this right now. A buyer wanted her sister to pay for the transaction with her sisters paypal and ship to the buyer and I said no. I believe you only get protection if the winner of the auction pays with their paypal and it is sent to their confirmed address. I only accept postal money order as an alternantive nothing else. Postal money order is easy to get verified. Just take it to your local PO. Most other places are out of the way for most people or are unsafe for seller. This scam of a fake money orders is pulled a lot and so is shipping an item to another address other than buyers confirmed address. It is hard for a seller to be safe with all the scams going on and this is just protection for us. You do not have much protection either with a money order but I think buyers should check to see if their address is confirmed and get it shipped there if the auction states that you mus be paypal confirmed


I won a MJ bag on ebay last night. The seller's payment terms were Paypal, MO or Cashiers Check. I sent an email to the Seller and let her know that I would be sending a MO by overnight UPS or FedEx so that she's have it the following morning. She replied that it would have to be either a Bank or Postal MO if I didn't want to wait for shipping. If I sent any other kind of MO, there would be a 5-7 day hold. I've been paying for my winning auctions for years with MOs purchased at my local Currency Exchange. MOs purchased there can be traced at any Currency Exchange in the US. I've never had a problem in the past or with any other seller - they all shipped my item imemdiately.

So I talked to my sister, who has a Paypal a/c & who just recd payment on my behalf for something that I sold (I don't have a Paypal a/c). She said rather than have the $$ transferred from paypal into her bank a/c, why don't I just let her pay for the auction for me. I told her that would be great. So I emailed the Seller & told her that the payment would go thru Paypal thru my sister's a/c.

She then replies that, that would be great but that she would have to send it to my sister. Unfortunately, my sister lives in an unsecured building & isn't available to sign for packages - she even has a lot of her purchases sent to me for this very reason & it's never been an issue (about 90% of her purchases/packages are from ebay!).

So now we're back to square one - I can't get to the PO until Thursday, which means I can't send the payment until Thurs night or Fri morning, which means she won't have it until Sat or Monday and then I'll have to wait for her to send the bag, putting it's delivery at mid-week sometime. If I sent the $$ thru Paypal, it would have been done tonight and I could have had my bag by the end of the week.

Am I wrong to be frustrated? I've never had an issue like this before - I always pay for my auctions w/MOs purchased from the same currency exchange & I always send them overnight for next day delivery. Some sellers are so appreciative, they upgrade my shipping at no addtl charge! But I've never had a seller wait [more than 1 day] to ship my item becuz of where I bought my MO. Bank MOs are actually much less secure that a Currency Xchange one, so I don't understand the problem - and I especially don't understand the problem with my sister using her Paypal a/c to pay for my winning item!!! Since my address is listed on her a/c (becuz she's had various things sent to me and/or my daughter) why should it matter!!! As a seller, wouldn't you want to get your money as quickly & safely as possible? If she's so concerned about the MO being good, why wouldn't she welcome the paypal payment???

I don't understand it really makes me mad!! I just want my bag - I was so excited, even opting to pay for overnight shipping!! Now I probably won't have it til next week sometime. ARGH!!
 
On the back of the MO, right above where it will be endorsed, I include the following: "By endorsing this MO, [seller] promises to send (1) Authentic [item] to [buyer]." When the MO is signed by the seller & deposited and/or cashed, the MO passes thru the US Treasury and it becomes a legally binding contract. If for some reason I was not sent the item that was promised, I could take legal action and the seller would be held accountable since they endorsed the MO and agreed to that statement. One of the attorneys I worked for years ago told me that, and I've been including it ever since. I've never had a problem or instance where the seller took off w/my money - I have gotten taken for a counterfeit bag once (it wasn't a very high value & it would have cost more than the amt I lost to take legal action), but otherwise my transactions have all been problem free!

In a perfect world, this would work. However, speaking from experience, I can tell you that almost 2 years later, I am still trying to track down a seller who insisted that I send her a money order. Stupidly, I did ... for almost $800 ... and she never sent me the item, and I still have no bag and no money back. Since she's no longer registered on eBay, they won't help. To make matters worse, I know exactly who she is, what state she lives in ... but since she moves around a bit, the police have been unable to track her down.