Here is my opinion on the matter, from two posts of mine:
With eBay and PayPal, the buyer is king -- the helpless seller is at the buyer's mercy. That is, if the buyer acts wisely. His great weapon is the credit card charge-back! He should always try to buy with PayPal using credit card-funded payments. Additionally, eBay and PayPal favor the buyer and help the buyer, probably because they fear a negative press (which loves buyer sob stories) and because contented buyers create eBay's monopoly marketplace. Once there is a great mass of buyers, the sellers will be drawn like a magnet and learn to accept the fraud against them as a statistical cost of doing business. One thing that is terrible about this is that a buyer nobody knows/with no reputation can lord it over a reputable seller with years of experience and great feedback. The eBay-PayPal system makes it easy for a buyer to defraud a seller. To give just one example, the buyer can claim/lie that the goods received were not as advertised (significantly different), and in effect he can keep the merchandise and get his money back (via charge-back if no other way). To me it is awful that the seller can't really force his own terms. He can't make insurance truly "optional" -- no matter what he states in his auction, he is responsible for delivery. In effect, he is forced to pay for delivery confirmation along with insurance, or absorb all the risks. Of course, he can demand a high shipping and handling charge from the buyer, but that discourages sales and is wasteful economically . Enough.
I don't want to go on a long tear here. I hate PayPal for a number of reasons, especially when I am in the role of a seller. To give just one example, all a buyer on eBay has to do is say the item was "significantly not as described" when he received it. The seller has no defense (in effect) against that claim. PayPal will give the money to the buyer and go after the seller. (And then there is always your credit card company to reimburse you, the buyer, if need be.)For a buyer, PayPal and a credit card are wonderful protection. You should always use it when you can. On many eBay auctions I would ordinarily be afraid to place a large bid; but if I see that the seller accepts PayPal, that can make the decision to bid easy. ... .... ..... Also if you use PayPal and a credit card, you should never opt for insurance even if the seller says in the description that you assume the risk, etc, etc, if you don't opt for insurance. Ignore that! Especially if the PayPal logo thing in the auction boasts of $1000 PayPal buyer protection [$2000 now]. IT IS THE SELLER'S DUTY TO DELIVER THE ITEM TO YOU. Whatever he says to the contrary in the auction description is worthless. What I just said might not sound nice, and it might sound to you as against common sense, but believe what I said -- it is generally accepted eBay/PayPal/business practice to always make the seller responsible for delivery. If the seller is so concerned about insurance, he should include the insurance cost in his shipping-postage charge, thus forcing the buyer to pay for insurance!
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