Found a card I like on ebay, and I found the seller off ebay and want to make him an offer for the card. Taking the transaction off ebay will allow us both to save money, but I want to make sure I am still protected. What has been your experience with G/S, and how much buyer protection does it provide for users?
Thanks in advance! 
Considering youâre already sweating it out, just buy it on eBay. Paying a little extra is good for all of us who care about the hobby;)
Is saving 10% really going to make or break the deal? You risk both your accounts if you bring up anything to do with sales outside of ebay including contact details, It sounds like you found him off ebay but if the seller has had any questons about it and then ends the item he risks flagging their sales outside of ebay policy automated system. Ebay frustrates me from many angles but they did allow you to find that card and advertise it. Personally I use it to find potential further deals from a seller/collector that is not listed but still paying/buying for the opening deal.
Finally as a buyer you do get additional no quibble returns through ebay
You putting the seller at risk of possible eBay account deletion and ban for dealing away from their platform, for a few $ saved and no buyer protection.
You all make good points! I thought it was common for cards to be sold off ebay, especially with all of the advertisements on here in peoples signatures for price decreases off things listed on their ebay
If i go for this card it will be my largest purchase to date and the extra 100 or so that could be saved was enticing. I will have to reevaluate my strategy
This thread can be closed
thatâs what they say to scare you, as if they had control over it.
you are insured by paypal if you buy with G/S, just make sure you do ONE payment and state exactly what youâre paying for, maybe provide a link to the item. If your item doesnât arrive and the buyer cannot give evidence that the item arrived, or if the item arrives damaged and you can proof it, you will get a refund. but itâs a pain in the ass in certain cases, i had to discuss with paypal once for 2 months straight to get refunded because i somemhow splitted the bill and this was the only reason it took forever although i had tons of evidence that my product wasnât as good as it has been described.
It is ok to buy things outside of ebay. It is not ok to ask to buy the item outside of ebay by using ebay messaging.
Iâve received e-mails from eBay after various potential buyers wanted to buy items off my and stated in their direct messages that they want to deal outside of eBay. eBay is actively monitoring messages. I have an auto reply to these messages and thatâs just that I only deal on eBay and if they are interested they have to purchase it on eBay.
But why take the risk? The seller is obviously okay with the costs of eBay and PayPal, otherwise he wouldnât had listed the item on eBay in the first place. Than as a buyer, why go through the hassle and sacrifice your buyer protection?
arenât the fees actually the same when buying over ebay as if you just did paypal G&S?
Only no eBay sales fees.
doesnât paypal belong to ebay? so if you buy over ebay, you just pay what you would pay anyways when buying over paypal g&s?
If you buy on ebay=ebay fee+paypal fee
If you buy outside of ebay via gs=paypal fee
You potentially save on the ebay fee if seller agrees.
well then iâd buy over ebay, itâs a ripoff no matter where you buy.
Can also save on sales tax depending on where you live
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Not sure what youâre talking about here. Paypal G/S has strong buyer protection, perhaps not as robust as eBayâs âbuyer is always rightâ policy, but youâre very well protected if an item doesnât arrive or its not as described.
I do deals off of eBay though G/S all the time, it is a good trade as the seller saves eBay fees and often passes that savings onto the buyer. The only Paypal service you need to watch out for is F&F which has zero buyer protection.
Speaking of F&F - it is not as safe as it might look. I got scammed once with F&F and I was a Seller lol. Regular deal thru FB, asked buyer to pay usual PPal and for some reason he payed FF instead. It actually added extra steps for me as I had to give him tracking number manually as thereâs nowhere to put it when you do FF. Anywayz, after a week or so PP took my money, I called support, basically they told me that most likely he used a Credit card and then just claimed with his Bank that it was an UN-authorized charge. I lost about $100, my cards and PP added a $20 penalty for going in negatives.