Seller limits buying options, refuses questions???

[alvinmoneypit]

I've been following an item.  This morning I tried to bid on it.  When I hit 'confirm', I got an Ebay message, "You are not able to bid on this item because you do not have a PayPal account or possibly have not linked it to your ebay account".   So I tried to ask the seller a question and I got the message "Sorry the seller is not able to respond to your question".   I then tried to message the seller directly and was able to do it by checking the box, "This is not about an item".  I have not heard back yet.

My questions are: Why would anyone block questions about an item they have for sale?:  Why would they block their customers by limiting the payment method?;  Is this some kind of phishing scam? 

I have had a Paypal account for over 15 years, I just haven't linked it to ebay for my own reasons.  I've never had an issue paying for any item,  is this the new policy on ebay that all Paypal accounts must be linked to be valid?

[alvinmoneypit]

I've been researching this issue on google as well.  I see your question and it seems to be connected to my question, "what's the differene?"  I have good feedback and no nopayment strikes, etc. , always pay with Paypal, so why require linking? 

Speaking of linking:  I just found out there are multiple linkings to Paypal:  in one sense, I'm already liked, my selling account is already linked to Paypal to pay selling fees.  Yet I'm blocked from bidding because I'm 'not linked to Paypal'?

[partial*eclipse]

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tweetystwades wrote: ... I don't understand the part that requires PP account to be linked to ebay, or the site preference will block them. .. I think buyers being blocked for not having a PP account, and not being linked to ebay are 2 different issues. ...

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It's the same thing.  The linking "ping" is how eBay knows that the bidder has a PayPal account.

[partial*eclipse]

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@alvinmoneypit wrote:

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 ...  I have good feedback and no nopayment strikes, etc. , always pay with Paypal, so why require linking? ...

You're taking this too personally.   If the seller has the buyer requirement in place, it is applied to all buyers whether they have been members for one day or for ten years.  All buyers have good feedback; it's impossible for sellers to leave neutral or negative feedback for them. There's a separate buyer requirement that's based on nonpayment strikes.

[partial*eclipse]

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alvinmoneypit wrote: .... A few years back, there was a pending partnership between Ebay and Paypal and a year later it was announce it fell through. I'm not up to date what the current relationship is...

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eBay bought PayPal in 2002, then PayPal was spun off as a separate company in 2015.

[a_c_green]

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@partial*eclipse wrote:

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tweetystwades wrote: ... I don't understand the part that requires PP account to be linked to ebay, or the site preference will block them. .. I think buyers being blocked for not having a PP account, and not being linked to ebay are 2 different issues. ...

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It's the same thing.  The linking "ping" is how eBay knows that the bidder has a PayPal account.

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Okay... so by that description, my buying account must be linked to my PayPal account, since I've never seen a block message saying anything about my needing to link accounts in order to bid.

However, after I've won, I still have to plug in my PayPal account password in order to make the payment; it's not a one-click payment for me, so evidently eBay does not have my PayPal password.

[moondogblues]

"However, after I've won, I still have to plug in my PayPal account password in order to make the payment; it's not a one-click payment for me, so evidently eBay does not have my PayPal password."

If you choose the 'remember me' option then you do not have to enter the password each time. Only do this if no one else has access to your computer.

[alvinmoneypit]

@partial*eclipse

you said,  "The linking "ping" is how eBay knows that the bidder has a PayPal account."

That doesn't ring as true to me since I started this topic,  I looked at my own account settings and I'm indeed already linked to my Paypal account - it's linked to pay seller fees, so Ebay already knows that I have a Paypal account. 

In addition, Ebay knows I pay with Paypal already.  If I click my feedback, browse to a recent item, click 'view item' it says I paid with Paypal on a certain date.  Hence, they already know I use Paypal, they may not know if it's viable at this very minute, but they'll know when I pay!  Almost all listings state, "This seller prefers Paypal" and that is what I give them. 

From another statement made that sellers can't leave negative feedback: If I don't pay, can't the seller leave neg feedback?  That doesn't seem right.

[southern*sweet*tea]

**general reply**

There are two ways of "linking" Paypal to Ebay. One is to verify that you do indeed have a Paypal account

http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/link-paypal.html  All this does is tell Ebay "Yes, this person has a Paypal account."  This is the one that sellers can block - buyers who don't have their accounts linked.

The second way is the one step checkout. If you do this, you do not have to log in to pay for your purchases.   http://pages.ebay.com/ve/es-co/checkout/streamlined_checkout.html

Two different "linkings" for two very different reasons.

[partial*eclipse]

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alvinmoneypit wrote: ... I'm indeed already linked to my Paypal account - it's linked to pay seller fees, so Ebay already knows that I have a Paypal account. ...

 If I don't pay, can't the seller leave neg feedback?  That doesn't seem right.

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That's not the same thing. If you don't want to go through the simple process of linking your accounts in the way that satisfies the eBay buyer requirements option, that's your choice, but ebay is not going to change this process for you.

Sellers have been unable to leave neutral or negative feedback for buyers since 2008. Furthermore, if a seller files and closes an unpaid item claim, then both parties are completely blocked from leaving any feedback.

[a_c_green]

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@alvinmoneypit wrote:

From another statement made that sellers can't leave negative feedback: If I don't pay, can't the seller leave neg feedback?  That doesn't seem right.

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The seller cannot leave a Neutral or Negative feedback comment for a buyer, only a positive (i.e. Green donut). If they leave a Positive feedback containing a negative comment, the buyer can have that removed and the seller can get an eBay slap for it. This has been the rule since May of 2008.

If you don't pay, the seller can file an Unpaid Item dispute on you (anytime after 48 hours following end of auction). If you do not pay within 96 hours after that (i.e. four full days from when the UPI is opened), the seller can close out the dispute and you will have an Unpaid slap on your record. If you accumulate two or more, you may find yourself blocked from a sizeable percentage of listings (except perhaps BuyItNows with Immediate Payment Required).

[alvinmoneypit]

hmm, buyer positive only feedback .  It has been a long time since I sold.  

@partial*eclipse

not a personal attack, I was just pointing out that Ebay does in fact know I have a Paypal account.  I don't expect them to change their policy, just wonder for what purpose it exists in the first place and your initial statement may not be accurate entirely.

[7606dennis]

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@tweetystwades wrote:
Where is the setting that requires a seller to have the PP linked to ebay?

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I didn't say the seller was required to have PayPal linked to eBay, but if the seller does require that the bidder have linked accounts, there is nothing for the OP to do except find a different seller in this case.

[7606dennis]

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@alvinmoneypit wrote:

I have Paypal and it's in good standing except it's not linked to Ebay.  This item is a nice, expensive item in my price range that comes along very rarely.

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Since the seller requires your PayPal be linked there is nothing that you can do except look elsewhere for the item.  The fact that it has no bids and has been listed before is probably not going to get the seller to change his policy.  The fact that you have a PayPal account means nothing since it is not linked to your eBay account.

I don't believe eBay keeps track of if you've used PayPal to pay for purchases before.  Even if they did, they would have no way of verifying that your PayPal account was currently in good standing.  

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They should be able to bid as a guest, though.

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I'm not sure, but I would think that having the requirement of having a linked PayPal account would exclude a guest from bidding since it would circumvent the seller's bidder/buyer requirements.  Of course, as I said I'm not sure about that.

[penguins_dont_fly]

They should be able to bid as a guest, though.

I'm not sure, but I would think that having the requirement of having a linked PayPal account would exclude a guest from bidding since it would circumvent the seller's bidder/buyer requirements.  Of course, as I said I'm not sure about that.

____!

Guest accounts would hit the block.

If there's no eBay Account, there's no way to link a PP account.

[creoleorchid]

While eBay "knows" that you have a Paypal account, and you use it routinely, when you try to place a bid on an item where the seller has this linked block in place, you will get rejected because the bidding page only pings to that spot in your account settings that has your Paypal account listed.  It doesn't look at your prior paying history. It doesn't look at how you pay your seller fees, it only looks at that one spot that you manually have (or have not) entered your Paypal address.

For the record, when you "link" the account this way in your account settings, it does not ask for your Paypal password. And it is not the same as the one touch checkout. That's a diffenent "link" altogether and one I wish they would just 86.

Also for the record, you are not the only person by far who has been stymied by the confusing block. I used to use it but when they came out with the guest checkout I disabled it.