Confused

[j4]

Trying to set up an eBay seller's account and I'm confused already. It wants me to fill in a direct debit mandate -- are there regular fees for having a seller's account even if you don't sell anything? I couldn't see anything about that but I can't see how you can set up a dd to say "please debit however much these people need from my account whenever I sell something", you'd basically be signing a blank cheque.

And they've already asked me to keep card details "on file" to check I'm me, and to nominate a card to pay from, as well as an alternative card to pay from, and I'm running out of cards!

Having seen some of the people who apparently manage to sell stuff on eBay with no difficulty, if I can't do it I must be so stupid that it's amazing I managed to work out how to breathe. :-(

Update: Huh? "You are already a registered seller!" How'd that happen then? I've never tried to register as a seller before...

Comments

[angua.livejournal.com]

I never sent back the DD mandate in the end (it got left at EJs for so long that by the time I got it I'd already paid the fees).

I just have one card listed and I usually pay for the fees and stuff using my paypal account.

[j4.livejournal.com]

How does that work then, with the DD mandate I mean? If you don't send it in presumably it doesn't work??
And they don't seem to be giving me an option to use my paypal account...

[angua.livejournal.com]

Well, I was going to set it up and went through the motions but then when it came time to pay the fees it just gave me the option to use paypal.

I've probably broken a million rules or something but it seems to have been OK so far.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

You don't need to send off the direct debit mandate. Best thing to do is fill it in and then print it off, and continue to pay your eBay fees using either PayPal or conventional methods such as cheques. I've been doing this for years, as you'll see if you check my eBay profile. Oh, and if you don't sell anything, then they don't charge fees.
Great thread you've got in the Other Place btw.... love your ad but I'm afraid I fail at the "well-off" bit.

[j4.livejournal.com]

love your ad but I'm afraid I fail at the "well-off" bit

Ah well SAm seems to have joined the queue without being able to fulfil that criterion ... perhaps he doesn't realise that he's already disqualified anyway on the grounds of having a moustache.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I had the same thing. Went through some of the hoops, then decided I could not be arsed to complete the DD mandate then (involves switching computers because I can't print from this one since Windoze got upgraded) and the next time I went back I was registered and ready to sell... uh, ok then. I haven't tried it out but from the looks of it I am indeed ready to go and can use PayPal. Ho hum.

[angua.livejournal.com]

*grinz*

Well that's three of us at least that jumped through the hoops and then couldn't be arsed to send off the paperwork.. worked for us though :)

[lnr]

Yup, that's exactly what happened to me. So I got round to listing things, and then discovered that you can pay fees at any time by paypal at http://cgi1.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?OneTimePayPalPayment without bothering to wait for them to invoice you, so I did.

You get charged a small fee for listing the item, which varies depending on starting price and on any extras like being in bold or having more pictures. And if the item sells you get charged a small percentage of the final value as well.

Full fee details are at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html

NB if you want people to be able to pay you by paypal you probably need to upgrade (for free) from a personal to a premier paypal account, and they take a small percentage fee plus 20p from all credit/debit card payments into your paypal account. Or you could just say cheques only :-)

[j4.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the PayPal tip -- upgraded now!

[nja.livejournal.com]

I couldn't see anything about that but I can't see how you can set up a dd to say "please debit however much these people need from my account whenever I sell something", you'd basically be signing a blank cheque.

That's what a direct debit is (as opposed to a standing order which is for a fixed amount). You're authorising the person or organisation to take however much they want out of your bank account (provided you owe them the money according to a prior agreement). Personally I'm fine with this when it's the phone company or the utility bills, but I wouldn't want it for an internet auction company! Especially as Amazon has just sent me an email to say the £40 item which arrived on my doormat yesterday is going to take 3-5 weeks extra to arrive, and has added it back onto the list of things on order (I've removed it - I have no idea if I'm going to be charged for it since they don't seem to think they have sent it out, but if they can't organise their ordering system properly I'm not going to chase them about it).

[j4.livejournal.com]

DD: I guess I'm just used to there being some sort of regularity/accountability/thingy to it. It seems a bit more vague and handwavy when it's just pennies here and there. Which is silly really because the pennies are less likely to completely drain my account than, say, paying my mobile phone bill by DD...

Amazon -- don't get me started! They are cack-on-a-stick. Every time I use them I swear that I'll never use them again. Grrr. Though at least it sounds like you benefited from their incompetence this time...

[imc.livejournal.com]

I sold several things a while back and I have a DD in place. They haven't charged anything to it in over a year. When I do sell things, the fees accumulate during a month and are then charged at the end of the month.

When I signed up it wasn't compulsory to send a DD mandate but I did anyway (this is because I'm lazy and clearly more trusting than other folk - I pay NTL by DD too). They also allowed payment by cheque (i.e., I think they send you a bill at the end of each month and expect a cheque back - there's a limit to how much your fees can mount up before you pay, though). This was before they had aquired PayPal, so I don't think PayPal was an option back then. I forget the exact details.