There is a forum I found on the internet that is free, and helps with Ebay, PayPal, business and the law.

The forum has a lot of expert advice on it. I found advice there about how to avoid EBAY suspensions, get past PayPal limitations, also lots of detailed help on creating your own business, getting past trademark violations, VERO and lots more.

Beautiful forum. I was made a moderator of the forum and I love it!

I wouldn’t recommend going around ebay to buy something. You lose all your protection.

It doesn’t, as other have posted.

Teddy Bear is incorrect in part of his answer. Money is not withheld from the seller unless they are new. If that is the case, they are trying to ensure that the seller is not trying to scam people. They want to have a history of items being shipped and received. Once a seller has a good track record, money is no longer placed on hold. If you buy a $500 watch from someone who has a feedback of 99% with 1000 ratings, the money IS NOT withheld from the seller.

If you do not receive an item you purchased on eBay, you can file a dispute with eBay/PayPal.

So, unless you buy it on eBay, it is not protected by eBay.

Transactions only work when you use EBAY.com. Ebay uses its own method of paying via Pay-pal. It is a very secure website where you can add your account info without exposing it to buyers. Auto trader is completely different from Ebay. On Ebay, you are protected if you bought something from Ebay and the seller does not send you the item.

For example: If you buy a watch for $500.00 USD, they seller will only get paid when EBAY verifies that you received the item or until 21 days have gone buy. If you do not receive the item, the seller does not get his money. The money is is put on hold, especially if the seller is new to EBAY. This way, if you do not recieve the item, simply go to Ebay and claim your money back. Its that simple.

but beware, you can be looking on a scam. Unless the seller from Auto trader is selling on Ebay, do not give in with this Ebay talk. He just wants your money. It does not matter whether the car is good or not, the seller is not being honest.

He might be a member of eBay buyer protection, when he sells through eBay and only then. He’s at least misleading you if not outright lying to you. If I were you I’d run away from this deal as fast as possible.

I’m not sure. I thought you had to go through ebay for that to cover you.

Just a warning…we were looking at cars on eBay and actually spoke with one of the sellers…on the phone and via email.

A month or two later, we bid on a vehicle and someone who was clearly not him, contacted us with an offer. Said they’d work with eBay, but it was definitely not our seller.

Just be sure that you are speaking with the right person.

You need to very carefully read the rules on eBay’s web site about eBay buyer protection. It is almost certain that if the transaction is not done through eBay, then you do not get ANY buyer protection.

Here is the info about buyer protection on eBay’s site:

It doesn’t. It’s a method of completely scamming you out of your money, used by fraudulent seller who send you a legitimate-looking e-mail that looks and sound very convincing.

DO NOT FALL FOR IT.

Your money will disappear, and you will never see the item.

If you want to see more – go to ebay directly, and you can read that the “ebay buyer protection” is ONLY for ebay transactions….plus it never even involves the buyer sending the payment “to ebay”…EVER.

It’s more of an insurance policy that will pay out after the fact if you get ripped off…with a claim limit of a few hundred dollars.

Um, it doesn’t