If something is purchased from an eBay seller, but not during an active auction, that's not legit, right? Even if it is suggested that I keep all messages to the seller in My eBay? Just want to make sure.
It's very dangerous to purchase an item from a seller outside of eBay. And yes, eBay will not back you up if the purchase doesn't work out. Don't do it!
Thank you both ^^ One more question....if a buyer did do this (I'm not going to) and paid via paypal through their credit card, what protection, if any, would that provide?
you would still have your cc protection and maybe pp i'm not sure. but not only are you not protected by ebay but it's frowned upon and i believe could get you suspended for doing outside transactions. if say the seller had your email and you were friendly and you sold something to her out of the blue then it would be fine- but going through ebay's system but not using their stuff is generally not encouraged. it happens though.
I would read all the paypal stuff over to check about them, but whatever protection is provided by the credit card you use to make a purchase is there regardless of whether you walk into Macy's and buy something or purchase something online on or off eBay or wherever. And I second the advice to be very very cautious about buying something off eBay from an eBay seller unless the eBay seller also has an established, known, and reputable off-eBay business, preferably with a brick and mortar presence. Even though you have credit card protection, why risk the annoyance and expenditure of your time and anger cells?
paypal will NOT protect you if you buy outside ebay. it happened to me and i ONLY got my money back because i used a credit card. and as for ebay suspending the seller, forget it. they will not even tell you the action they take on the buyer and the buyer i reported is still selling.
So true! I need to keep all my anger cells available for my kids. You have ALL made very good points, and I thank you! I was uneasy from the beginning, and I wanted backup to make sure. Thank you!!!
Paypal protects you in any transaction where the seller accepts Paypal. There are quite a few merchants other than eBay that take Paypal now. They are listed on the homepage at the bottom under the Shops link. I used them with a watch company last Christmas. The company wasn't answering my emails, so I filed a dispute (just like with eBay). And it got the merchants attention (just like eBay), so we resolved the situation.
