How popular is Wire Transfer.....

Dennis saved me a lot of typing as I was about to enter this discussion and post all the points he's made.

One thing I didn't see mentioned, PayPal is frequently requested for overseas transactions and sometimes the buyer wants the item shipped to his work address so someone will be there to sign (signature required for high value).

ANY address other than verified PayPal address limits sellers recourse should the product be lost, stolen or broken.

PayPal can work for or against both buyer and seller. Also, overseas transactions are a premium, especially if currency conversion is involved and then usually another 4% fee.

One of the earlier posters said that Paypal was structurally set up to allow Buyers to defraud Sellers but not vice versa. This has not been my experience. I once used Paypal to pay for a piece of electronics which the seller never shipped. The buyer stalled providing me with shipping information for several days and by the time I figured out what was going on and complained to Paypal the funds were gone from the sellers bank account.

Paypal provided me with a form email offering congratulations that I had won my dispute. It went on to state that unfortunately they were not able to obtain the funds, and it stated that I have no further recourse. It did state that Paypal would continue attempting to recover the funds, but they specifically stated that they will not disclose what actions they are taking. This was 4 years ago and there has been no further communications from Paypal.

In support of Dennis, the EXACT same thing happed to me and through Ebay, the company that is connected to PayPal.

In my case it's only been three years, not four but I'll wager neither Dennis or myself will ever see our money again.

If a thief wants your money he'll go to most any length to get it. There is no guaranteed system that protects both buyer and seller. 8 years ago some thief in Florida established a bank account using false ID. He then listed great buys on gear, and sold the gear dozens of times making victims of dozens here on AG. All AG could do was shut down the sellers AG account. There was no recourse with any law enforcement investigation for the thief had used false ID. I'm retired LE, so even I am was not immune to getting burned. Bottom line is, seller or buyer, someone is rolling the dice and there's always the possibility of being burned. I agree, the feedback does give one a better idea of the character one is about to do business with.

Paypal contract states it does not honor 3rd party contract sells. Therefore I as a seller refuse to do overseas transactions. I'll sell the item to the buyer and ship it to a US intermediary chosen by the Int'l buyer with the understanding that my obligation ends once the item is signed received by the intermediary. Of course it's the int'l buyer's intermediary who is responsible for shipping the item to the int'l buyer and not mine. Paypal is very upfront about this in the rules, so if you're doing int'l sales you're rolling the dice for Paypal won't back you. Personally, if I can't find a buyer in the US I don't need to sell it overseas. But if I do have a rare int'l sale that sale and my responsibility for it ends on US shores, not elsewhere. Be smart, do your homework, that's the best anyone can do for there's no failsafe system. Such is life.

Thanks to all who have sent "in depth" explicite replys to the wire/bank transfer question,
Len W

Actually, just another question. From a Buyer's perspective, how much comfort does one have in buying gear off eBay using the eBay Buyer Protection Plan?? Right now, I am working out a situation with an eBay Seller whose equipment was damaged in transit. We ARE working the problem out, and so far so good. Nevertheless, I contacted the eBay Buyer Protection people to set up a case file just in case. Although I fully expect that my Seller will act honorably, I assume that the eBay Buyer Protection Plan will provide some level of back up.

Maybe A-gon should try to put in place some type of Buyer protection plan similar to what is on eBay????

Nonetheless, I agree with the folks who mentioned that the best protection is to deal with parties who have excellent feedback, either on A-gon or eBay. Thank goodness, so far I have been very lucky in that, either as Seller or Buyer, I have never had a problem.