[78-L] "Protection" and other problems

[Taylor Bowie]

Benno's perspective is an interesting one,  but does not address all the 
issues or tell all the stories.

In the course of selling and buying books and records through the mail,  I 
have noticed an unpleasant uptick of fraud from Europe over the last six or 
eight years.   In some cases,  even retaining all the paperwork to prove 
delivery has not been enough to convince eBay or the credit card company 
that the buyer was lying when they claimed non-delivery...and the money 
collected from Pay Pal or from the buyer's credit card vanishes from our 
bank account.

One of the sales was to a man in Germany who refused to pay for a $500 book. 
Another was to a French institution which informed us that they were 
returning a book (without providing a reason).  The book never arrived here, 
but of course the money was deducted from the Pay Pal account.

So to answer Benno's original question about from what a seller should be 
protected,  I would say the answer is "organized and deliberate fraud" which 
in my experience comes from Europe more than from the US,  Canada or the UK. 
Despite what we've heard about problems from Russia,  South America and some 
other places...no problems from any of them so far.


Taylor (not planning to retire when I'm 60 OR 62 either!)




----- Original Message ----- 
From: <goldenbough at arcor.de>
To: <78-l at 78online.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] That Robert Johnson 78 - phony bid?


> .
> From what exactly should a seller be protected?
> Usually it is the consumer who has to be protected against unilateral 
> conditions set by corporations (sellers).
> This is why most anywhere in Europe online sales are not binding by law 
> (including eBay sales, of course).
> The reason being that the consumer has no possibility to inspect the item 
> he wants to purchase.
>
> In Germany and many other EU countries a buyer may return an online or 
> phone purchase for any reason within
> 30 days for a full refund (including return shipping on items priced over 
> 40 euros). Or he may cancel online or
> phone order within 30 days.
>
> In France any online sale is not legally binding from the start - neither 
> for buyers, nor sellers (slight difference
> in post-Napoleonic law). So, a seller may not even sell to the high 
> bidder.
>
> Bear this fact in mind when you bid on 78s on European eBay sites, because 
> eBay complies with these laws.
>
> In this Robert Johnson case, if it's a non-paying bidder that a U.S. 
> seller has to be protected from, then the seller
> can reclaim his fees anyway.  Incurred damage: zero, except for time spent 
> on auction management.
>
> eBay has well understood these issues. This is why they protect the 
> buyers.
>
> These European consumer protection laws will get to the U.S. anyway one 
> day. Maybe with a 40 years lag, like
> environment protection regulations.
>
> Benno
> (ex-member of eBay/PayPal's user advisory board)
>
>
>
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