Best way to pay for an eBay timeshare purchase?

[wackymother]

I've told the seller that I will be paying through PayPal. The amount will be more than $1,000 and PayPal says it protects purchases up to $1,000. I know there is some debate about whether paying with a credit card via PayPal gives you the protection you normally have with your credit card.

So what's the best, most buyer-protected way to pay the seller? PayPal with a bank account? PayPal with a credit card? I don't think they will accept a credit card directly, but I could ask. I don't want to send a check or certified check or money order.

Thanks for any help!

 

[AwayWeGo]

PayPal For Our Cheap eBay Timeshare & Certified Checks For The Rest.

For our el cheapo eBay timeshare ($152.50), we just sent all the money via PayPal.

For our timeshare purchases handled by professional escrow & timeshare closing services companies, we went down to the bank & got regular old-fashioned paper certified checks & sent those to the closing agents via snail mail. (Those weren't exactly upper-bracket timeshare purchases, either -- $3,500 max -- but with the transactions being handled by professional escrow & timeshare closing services companies, regular order called for going with conventional cashier's checks, so that's what we did.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Emily]

I usually use my debit visa for purchases when I'm out ot avoid a bill but when I do online transactions I use a credit card visa or mc so that I have some recourse.

I did a business purchase online with a visa debit and the vendor failed to send the merchandise. I ended up having to get the attorney generals office and the BBB involved before the account was credited. My bank had no way to "undo" the transaction because it was done on a debit card. Since then I don't do that anymore.

The last ebay timeshare I purchased, I paid direct with a credit card for the TS, closing & maintenance fees. Everything went very well, we just received the recorded deed.

 

[johnmfaeth]

Safest way short of using escrow service/closing company/attorney to handle the money is PayPal using a credit card.

When you go to pay them, after putting in their email address, the next screen shows their PayPal name with a number in brackets after it. That is the number of unique individuals who have sent the person a payment.

If the seller has a large number of feedbacks, they should also have a good number of transactions on PayPal.

It is important to compare the two because one of the newer, growing scams is tricking an Ebay user out of their password (through the scam emails) and then listing bogus auctions with a different paypal account (the scammers) vs. the sellers. Because this scam involves making quick hits and moving on, it will almost always have a low number of PayPal transactions.

To be sure of who the seller is and legitimacy, a great this is to do a "get contact info" request. You can only do this if you are a bidder during the auction or winner at auction end. This will list their Ebay registration info. Call them and you know they are not a "hijacked account" have them send you a PayPal invoice and it helps make proving the situation with PayPal/Credit card if something goes wrong with the seller delivering.

Also have them send you a PayPal invoice so you know that it's comming from the actual seller (you could still get a bogus money request fro a third party scammer). Compare the email address on the account with the sellers email from communications. Some Ebay communications will not list their email.

John Faeth

 

[Mimi]

John, after reading your email, I'm less upset at the fees I paid to the closing companies for my timeshare transactions via eBay. I guess I am too trusting by assuming most people are honest. I'm feeling mighty lucky that I have never been scammed!

 

[johnmfaeth]

Hi Mimi,

I follow the scams closely because I am both a big buyer of timeshares on EBay and a Power Seller - Ebay's high volume sales recognition - as long as you keep the sales levels up or they dump your Power Seller status (happened 3 times in last 4 years).

Truth is in all my Ebay transactions over the last 7 years (over 700 total, have 523 feedbacks from unique buyers/sellers), I have encountered only one scammer, a Nigerian who wanted Western Union funds transfer to return a $3900 overpayment with a check drawn on some victim corporation in California. Looked great but had their name, routing #, and account #. Knew it would be bad because first he said he was a reverend and then a businessman. They send so many scam emails they have trouble keeping their lies straight

I have never personally encountered any scams of any kind while buying MANY timeshares on EBay.

But they DO exist, and the chances are someone on TUG2 will become the victim of a scam if they do not validate their purchase properly. Doing the due diligence the right way takes about 15 minutes total.

I am a partner in a timeshare closing company located here in NJ, so I'm biased, but I agree that it is a GREAT way of minimizing risk. If I took $10 out of our escrow account to buy lunch at McDonalds, it would be a felony under NJ State Law. Our company is just one year old and in the 5 years of Ebay timeshare purchases before then, I have used most of the bigger ones out there. I must say that they all got the closing done (sometimes it took a very long time or a mistake had to be corrected - including the wrong property description on deeds twice - two different companies - wrong unit and week #s !!!)

But they were honest and corrected their mistakes. Even those in states like Florida and Texas where consumer protection laws are VERY lax, still no problems.

John Faeth

 

[wackymother]

Thanks for your thoughts on this, John. I really appreciate it because I'm the anxious type and this is by far my largest eBay transaction ever.