Buyer Restrictions

[calm-horizons]

Is there any easy way to see if a seller has buyer restrictions on a listing?  In my case,

I don't have and don't want a Paypal account, and obviously some sellers restrict activity to those who do.  But I only discover this after I try to place a bid.  Is there a way to know if this restriction is there beforehand?    I've looked all over various listings but can't find an heads up info on them.

[bonjourami]

If the auction is flying the PP flag, thats the only payment the seller accepts. the only other way would be if the seller has his own merchants account to accept cc's. With all of PP's buyer protection, why dont you want it?

[7606dennis]

I would assume that all sellers have set some buyer restrictions on their listings.  Whether the seller requires that bidders/buyers have a PayPal account is something that you might want to ask the seller before placing a bid or ordering.  If the item requires immediate payment, I would also assume that PayPal is required.

[calm-horizons]

Well, the "PP flag" is the part that is confusing to me.   All the auctions I won showed that credit cards (processed by Paypal) were acceptable, and when I won, I paid right away (as a guest, I think you would say?).  Yet I tried to bid on an auction today that said credit cards were acceptable payment, yet when I tried to bid, I was restricted by the seller because I didn't have a linked Paypal account.  So, that's when I looked for any sign of the restriction in the listing, but I guess it isn't shown there.

I have my reasons for not wanting a Paypal account, which I accept may limit my bidding.  And it's fair if sellers don't want non-Paypal account bidders, which I assume would restrict their selling.

[castlemagicmemories]

As 7606dennis said, most sellers do have buyer's restrictions.

[pburn]

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@calm-horizons wrote:

Is there a way to know if this restriction is there beforehand? 

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Virtually every listing indicates the types of payments accepted:

[pburn]

Also, there is a tab further down on the page for "Shipping and Payments." This tab will list payment options.

[calm-horizons]

Hi pburn, yes, I look at the payment options before bidding.  My point is that I've bought or won 9 listings without having a linked Paypal account, and they all said they accepted credit cards procesed by Paypal.  Yet, when I bid on one today, or tried to, it displayed the same payment options as listed in your screen capture, but when I tried to bid, it said the seller restricted to only those with Paypal linked accounts.   So my question is are those seller restrictions re: needing to have a linked Paypal account listed on the listing itself anywhere?  Because the payment options doesn't appear to be a reliable guide to that.  Or do I have to email the seller to find out?

[kensgiftshop]

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@calm-horizons wrote:

Yet I tried to bid on an auction today that said credit cards were acceptable payment, yet when I tried to bid, I was restricted by the seller because I didn't have a linked Paypal account. 

There are some sellers that won't take orders from buyers that don't have a Pay Pal account.

[calm-horizons]

I understand that.  That is not my question.  My question is:  If a seller selects "Buyers without a Paypal account" as a restriction, where is that actually listed on the listing?  Or is it not?  It's not buyer friendly, in my opinion, to have to go through the bid/buy steps only to find out at the end that I can't.  

[missjen831 · Accepted solution]

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@calm-horizons wrote:

I understand that.  That is not my question.  My question is:  If a seller selects "Buyers without a Paypal account" as a restriction, where is that actually listed on the listing?  Or is it not?  It's not buyer friendly, in my opinion, to have to go through the bid/buy steps only to find out at the end that I can't.  

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It’s not shown on the listing. You would have to try to place a bid in order to see if the seller uses that restriction. You could also ask the seller but many forget what blocks they use so you might get bad answers.

[calm-horizons]

Hi Jen, I think you're right.  

[castlemagicmemories]

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@calm-horizons wrote:

I understand that.  That is not my question.  My question is:  If a seller selects "Buyers without a Paypal account" as a restriction, where is that actually listed on the listing?  Or is it not?  It's not buyer friendly, in my opinion, to have to go through the bid/buy steps only to find out at the end that I can't.  

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It isn't listed in the listing.  As most have a Paypal account, there probably aren't many affected by this, no offense to you.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Sellers who take Paypal processed credit cards will have this in their payment area and will not accept your credit card if you don't have a linked Paypal account:

Sellers with their own merchant accounts (no Paypal accepted) will have this:

Many sellers require linked Paypal accounts because it does tend to cut down on sport bidders - bidders who bid just for the sake of bidding with no intentions of paying.  I guess they get their kicks out of costing sellers time and money.