Experienced Ebay Sellers, perhaps you can offer some insight...

[DDowning]

There's a particular item I am interested in listed on ebay right now. The seller has a policy requiring that if I'm to use paypal it has to be from a confirmed address. I have my paypal account set up to pay directly from a bank account that I use for purchases like this. I keep very little money in this account, don't use it to write checks and only "fill it" when I need to cover paypal purchases. I'm "verified" with paypal but my primary address is not "confirmed." Paypal will only let me "confirm" with a credit card, not with a bank account. I do not want to link a credit card and tried to explain to the seller my predicament and she still insisted that she has to keep her rule in place. There are no bidders for her item as of yet and it ends in less than a day. Every purchase I have made to date has gone through with no problem and I have 100% positive feedback from the sellers that I have bought from. Hopefully I will be able to find an alternative to this item at some point but I was hoping someone with ebay selling experience will offer insight why this step is so important to them?

Thanks!

[cdlamis]

Deidra,
I don't know why it is important- I am not an ebay seller. But if it comes down to you not being able to bid, I would be willing to use my Paypal and just have you trasnfer $ to my acct.

Daniella
Mom to Julia 6-13-02
And another little girl EDD 12-30-04!!

[jubilee]

I'm guessing this seller got burned before on a high ticket item. I feel pretty comfortable with the security of paypal having my info. And with the assurance from the credit card company that I won't be responsible if someone does get my info. But I understand wanting to be safe!! But here is the info from Paypal's site about the issue:

PAYPAL: Address confirmation is useful because it provides a way for a seller to verify a buyer's identity. Shipment to a confirmed address, however, is not necessarily a requirement for coverage under the Seller Protection Policy since not all PayPal users are able to confirm their addresses. An Unconfirmed Address is not necessarily fraudulent but sometimes poses an inconvenience for legitimate buyers. If a transaction is eligible for coverage under the Seller Protection Policy, a seller must ship to the address found on the Transaction Details page (regardless of whether that address is confirmed or not). For transactions that are ineligible for coverage under the Seller Protection Policy, we recommend that a seller ship to a buyer's Confirmed Address.

[chlobo]

What about adding the credit card number for this transaction and then deleting it afterward? That way you are confirmed, if only for a short time.

[sidmand]

We've actually been burned by this before. It wasn't such a high ticket item, but it turned out that the person using the account had *stolen* it from their parents. Because we shipped to an unconfirmed address, they told us we had no recourse, that they would only protect us if it was shipped to a confirmed address, so we were out all the money for the item. It sounds like their policy may have changed somewhat, but I know that's why we won't ship to an unconfirmed address.

HTH,

Debbie

[houseof3boys]

Have you already tried emailing her and pointing out the whole feedback thing and explaining your reasoning for not wanting it tied to a CC?

I would be glad to get it for you, btw. Just let me know.

[lukkykatt]

I have a paypal account with an unconfirmed address - we use a bill paying service and all of our bills go to a 3rd party address. There was one time that I wanted to bid on something and the person did have that noted. I emailed the seller and explained my situation and pointed out that I have all positive feedback. It was not a problem at all - I would try to contact the seller.

[DDowning]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I did contact the seller a couple of times, told her of my positive feedback and she refused to budge. The auction ended and no one had bid on her item. The funny thing is that she would have gotten her money in less than 5 days if she had let me bid. So, her loss. Thank you also for the offers to purchase it for me. The item was/is fairly expensive and while it would have been cute to go in my daughters nursery, its not a must-have and I'm over it and will just keep my eyes open in case the same item comes up again. Hopefully from a different seller as I don't think I'll purchase anything from this particular seller in the future though.