eBay Hacks, 2nd Edition

Protect Yourself While Accepting Payments

Reduce your odds of getting burned by setting firm policies about the types of payments you accept.

Just as bidders must be cautious when sending money [Hack #33] , sellers need to be careful about the payments they receive. A little common sense is all that’s required to avoid fraudulent payments, payments that can be reversed, and payments that require excessive fees to process.

Fortunately, it’s the seller who sets the rules, at least when it comes to payment terms. Before you start selling, and especially before you send payment instructions to your customers, you’ll need to develop a strict policy regarding the types of payments you’ll accept.

Figure 6-3. Customize PayPal’s End of Auction email message to include essential information

PayPal

PayPal goes further than just about any other payment service to protect its sellers from fraudulent payments (such as those made with a stolen credit card). But if you don’t follow the rules spelled out in PayPal’s Seller Protection Policy, and the payment is disputed or turns out to be fraudulent, PayPal will yank that money out of your PayPal account faster than you can say “incontinence.”

Warning

Often the reason a particular seller might refuse to accept PayPal is that he has been previously burned by a fraudulent payment, most likely as a result of not having bothered to read the fine print of the ...