DescentBB

Do any of you have any experience with dealing with buyers from foreign countries? I'm concerned about credit card scams and what for, so I'm not going to use Paypal. What about Western Union? Is there any way I can get screwed by them? Thanks.

You might consider wire transfer only then. Any person using a credit card can potentially screw you with a chargeback, even if they use a service like western union in conjunction with the card.

Wire is truely the only safe way to do international business payments

I used Paypal to order some DVDs from Canada, had no problems and received them faster than if I was ordering locally. Always be sure to check the guy out before bidding, check their ratings and feedback. Obviously that won't help the genuine newbie eBayer who just needs to get some feedback, but it's a fairly good way of checking.

Just out of interest, how can someone screw you on Paypal? I always assumed Paypal was entirely third party, and revealed *sod all* information to either sender/receiver - Other than that the transaction took place.

Well, if the person uses a stolen credit card, they could send the funds through Paypal. Paypal only protects transactions if the ship to address is confirmed and in the US, so if I ship overseas I'm totally on my own, and any chargebacks are sent my way. I'm not concerned about sending payments, just receiving them. I recently received a traveler's check from a guy in the Philipines. The check cleared after 5 days, so I assumed it was good. About 5 days after that the check bounced. Luckily I hadn't shipped off the unit, or I'd be out 2500 bucks. I'll look into the wire transfer, is this easy to do? Thanks.

yes, it's very easy to do. Just call your bank and tell them you want to be able to accept wire transfers internationally and that you need the information needed to complete a transaction for the money sender. It does cost a fee for the buyer to send via wire. Which is a good thing at times. It will effectively scare away any would-be thief from the get go.

Very important that you tell them the wires are coming internationally as most banks use much different information for domestic transfers vs. international ones.