How can I best protect myself in this transaction?

[christmaspuddingoverload]

Good people of MN I need your help please!

I am not the most financially savvy person and as a result tend to be fairly cautious. I'm not quite as bad as my SIL who never shops online as people might see her bank details, but anyway..

I've seen a large furniture item I'd like to buy. It's about 250 miles from me. The seller is a small business and offers payment by bank transfer or PayPal (friends) only. As I'm spending nearly £1000 I'd hoped to pay by credit card as my understanding is that offers more protection. However I don't think that's an option by either of the above?

So in my position wwyd? Take a chance and pay by bank transfer? Or just hope the item comes up elsewhere with a seller who will take credit cards?!

Out of the 2 options provided, I would go for Paypal as it does offer limited buyer protection, although not quite as good as that offered by credit cards.

Are there any online reviews of the business? If so they might give you an idea of trustworthiness. The other option is you could ask if you can pay by cash or cheque and only hand this over on collection / delivery. You could also ask if you're allowed to pay by bank transfer after delivery - they may say no but might be worth a try.

I would be wary of any business who takes PayPal payment by friends only. That’s a red flag for me. What is it particularly that you are worried about? Not getting the item or it not being as advertised?

They are not a friend. Do not pay by paypal friends.

I'd carry onlooking

Depends what you are trying to "protect"

• against the seller not delivering?
• against the seller going bust?
• against the seller be a thieving git who runs off with your money?

I am not a big fan of Paypal but they offer some limited protection against some of the above - but there are a lot of hoops to jump through to ensure it is in place.

Credit cards give you the protection that the credit card company is jointly liable if the company/trader goes bust.

How about paying when the item is delivered?

I certainly wouldn't do a bank transfer. Unless you can pay on delivery.

There are reviews which seem favourable so that's something.

They won't despatch it by courier without payment up front. I would have been more comfortable with bank transfer on delivery but they dont deliver themselves it's via a courier co.

To be honest, I don't think the business will get very far if those are the only 2 payment methods they accept.

I guess they are trying to avoid bank fees, but they will end up driving customers away unless they become more flexible.

They don't want to pay the Paypal fees. If you really want to go ahead you can link your credit card to your PayPal account to give you prorection if anything goes wrong. But I wouldn't, it all sounds a bit shady

If you pay by PayPal friends, the seller doesn't pay a fee but also don't think u would b covered as you would if it was goods and services. I do however believe you can add a credit card to PayPal and use that. But the friends thing would make me wary

It's a 'second' type item. So I'm mainly concerned about there being more faults than they've flagged, or that they keep my cash and don't send it.

I'd just shop elsewhere tbh. That's a lot of money to hand over without any guarantees. A business should make it easy for you to buy, so should take credit cards.

They won't despatch it by courier without payment up front.

Ahhm oot then - I'd be happy to pay when it arrived, but not for something I've never seen without any real protection.

I do sympathise about the vast charges that small businesses have to pay for taking Credit cards and Paypal though.

PayPal recently changed their t&c’s and now charge the sender for friends and family transactions.

Lots of small businesses use PayPal and you could link your credit card to your account; but only if they’ll accept a goods/services payment.
Transaction fees are a cost of doing business and they ought to have realised that and figured them into the pricing of individual items.

My Paypal account draws on my credit card so I get both sets of protection - can you not do that? I don’t think it needs a debit card.

I would not buy from this seller.

There is a PayPal goods /services payment option and I would use that happily as if the goods never turn up PayPal will help get your money back.

But not the friends one.

I think it's a small local business which operates a lot better face to face, local people can go in, see items and either take them away or arrange delivery.

So it might all be above board but it's not v professional. There aren't many places that don't take credit cards especially for transactions over £500.

My Paypal account draws on my credit card so I get both sets of protection

No you don't - details here -

www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/PayPal-Section75

They're just wanting to avoid PayPal fees and poasibly hide it from their tax assessment. They cannot force you to do that - they are breaching paypal's terms and conditions.

You could tell them that their options leave you no protection so you will pay for it via PayPal as "goods and services" and tell them they are breaching paypals terms and conditions and can have their accoubt closed if they say no.
Really, they should be sending you a PayPal invoice and then you'd pay that.

If they come back and say that you can pay it using the "goods and services" but you must be more to cover the fees, that is also clearly against PayPal terms and conditions. As a seller, you cannot charge an additional fee for that payment service in order to cover the transaction fee - you mist charge the same as you'd charge anyone else.

Can you afford to lose £1000?

How confident are you that the reviews are not from friends of the seller?

Is the furniture worth enough to you to hire a van or van/driver, and go and collect yourself so you could pay COD?

Kimmy, when you use to credit card to pay via Paypal, in many cases (not all) the normal card protection won't fully apply and will be replaced instead by Paypal's inferior cover.

x-post. sorry

Google "paypal friends and family scam".

They are being dishonest, and asking you to be dishonest by declaring to Paypal that your payment is not for goods or services. Not really a glowing recommendation for you to entrust them with £1000.

I'd keep looking unless you can drive up and do it cash on collection.

I wouldn't spend that much on something that was a second and I hadn't seen. I'd hire a van and get it myself.

I can't drive there really, it's about 5 hours each way. Certainly I couldn't go there and back in a day. Hiring a van, staying overnight, fuel etc would cost loads.

I think I might have to just walk away. Which is annoying because I've been looking for this for ages. But I can't afford to risk losing the money.