On eBay, what is ProPay? What is Skrill? (Payment methods)

I committed to buy a CD on ebay.com this evening from a seller in the U.S., and much to my surprise, he does not accept payment by PayPal. On the eBay checkout page, I was given the option to pay by ProPay or Skrill. I've never heard of either of these pay services. Are they new? Are they the same, better, or worse, than PayPal? I haven't paid for the disc yet because I am trying to figure out how best to proceed.

 

The seller sent me a ProPay invoice last night, so I went with it. I didn't have to create an account.

I'm still curious if folks here have used ProPay or Skrill and whether you have found either to have an advantage over PayPal.

 

I'm not sure what it was I used years ago. I have discovered the hard way that I will never ever ever again pay for anything on eBay with anything other then Paypal.

basically you just gave up all your protections is what it boils down too.

 

A bit more detail on what happened to me the one time I did this.

Item arrives not as described. I try to get a refund, end up opening a case.

Seller then simply claims I never paid him. Game Over.

Seller gets to keep my money, gets his eBay fees refunded, gets my negative feedback removed, I get a non-payment mark against my account.

 

Never heard of either. I'd be skeptical too. Hope your purchase goes smoothly Keith.

 

Ouch. I received an e-mail receipt for my purchase from ProPay. Additionally, I can contact the credit card if there is a problem with the transaction.

I was surprised to see the ProPay and Skrill logos and no PayPal option at the eBay Checkout screen, so I didn't pay for the disc at that time. It seemed prudent to learn more about these services first. Shortly after that, the seller sent me a ProPay invoice. He has a good eBay rating, so I asked him why he used ProPay and Skrill instead of PayPal, but I haven't heard back from him. This was late last night, however.

I read up a bit on these services this morning. They appear to be legitimate. Both are on a short list of online pay services that are authorized by eBay. Last I had heard, eBay owned PayPal and only allowed PayPal for payments. Skrill is out of the U.K. and used to be called Moneybookers. More on the two services is available at the following links:

http://offers.propay.com/signup?gclid=CMXCsby8hbwCFStnOgodi2oAvg

https://www.skrill.com/en-us/?rid=20317595&gclid=CM6Wyd28hbwCFYl9OgodaFIAlQ

 

It's easy to have amazing eBay feedback when all you do is claim the person never paid you and have the feedback removed.

The only reason a seller would ever not accept Paypal is to avoid Paypal refunds. Granted I can see the mindset that thinks a Paypal refund is far to easy to get, as a buyer though I will never step out from under the protection of Paypal again. I can see some slight reasons a legitimate seller might stop using them, but I have seen the mountain of reasons that a sleezebag will not use them.

Never again.

 

I used Propay as a vendor for a couple of years when I needed to accept credit cards directly - as a buyer there's nothing wrong with it. You're using your regular credit card, so you can always issue a chargeback in case of trouble. Actually that makes it safer than paying from a Paypal balance - if PP/eBay rules against you in that case there's no recourse. I've never heard of Skrill.

 

I know you had a bad experience. All I can say is that the seller has a slew of recent positive feedback, and it is evident from his feedback that he has been using ProPay and Skrill for awhile.

 

If I have an issue with last night's purchase and ProPay offers no protection, my credit card will cover me. At worst, I won't get the item.

 

The seller wrote me back today to tell me that he shipped my CD. He also said that no longer uses PayPal due to a problem he had. He didn't go into specifics, which I can certainly understand.

 

The CD arrived today in perfect condition. Case closed.

 

Propay is the way to go. I will tell you why people are getting away from paypal as sellers. I have 100 positive, but everytime I sell something that is different from the last item they hold my money for up to 21 days.

When you buy something at walmart online does your credit card company not pay them for up to 21 days, no they do pay them.

Also sellers have no protection whatsoever with paypal. If I complain an item is not as described, scratch it up some on just make it look different, I will get a refund and the buyer does not have to send back the item, this is a bigtime scam for some. They do this repeatedly till they get kicked off ebay and paypal then sign up with a different name and do it again. Paypal and ebay bots don't usually catch them for a couple of months.

At least with propay it is a credit card chargeback and they may get away with it once but will never be a habitual offender.

 

As a seller, I'd prefer to take something like a money order, so that I won't get scammed (and I know all the tricks about money orders and how to avoid getting scammed with one).

But realistically, if you don't accept PayPal, it's usually game over in terms of getting a good price for your item.

As a buyer, I only want to use PayPal, because it offers the most protection. I definitely would not even consider ProPay, Skrill, or any off brand payment system. Not a chance. A seller that doesn't take PayPal is a big red flag IMHO.

 

I won't bid on an auction that doesn't allow PayPal.

 

Seriously? Do you guy's know about Google. Type Propay in the search box. LOL. It is a merchant account and whether you know it or not you have all made purchases using them but you do not know it. It is an authorized payment system on eBay. 1 of only 3. Why are people so hypnotized on Paypal. They have truly won when you act like this. Sheeple

 

Then bid on it.