Originally Posted by
JohnDThompson
I would suggest that for any high-dollar item sold to someone you don't personally know and trust, avoid PayPal "friends and family." Yes, you'll get charged a transaction fee, but you also get PayPal's buyer protection if things go bad. Only accept "friends and family" reimbursement for amounts you're willing to eat if things don't work out.
If you're selling your bike
online, then yes, you should
absolutelyhave the buyer use the normal PayPal "buy goods or services" approach so they have buyer protection. It'll be up to you if you want to pass the 3% fee back to the buyer or bury that into your selling price.
My PayPal tip is from the
seller's perspective, not the
buyer's. The thought is that the buyer is buying the bike in-person and not paying you in advance. He/she is paying you while standing in your driveway, looking at the bike to be purchased. In other words, there is no need for PayPal's buyer protection because once the money is transferred, the buyer will be taking the bike home instantly. As far as I know, PayPal doesn't offer any kind of seller protection. Once the sale is done, do you really want the buyer that already has your bike making a claim against you through PayPal to get their money back when they have your bike?
Using PayPal "Friends and Family" is one of the few ways I can think of that the buyer can avoid having a large sum of cash on-hand when going to buy a bike from an unknown seller. Also note that if a person attempts to pay you via PayPal using a credit or debit card as a funding source, you as the seller will end-up paying a transaction fee even with the "Friends and Family" option because you'll be paying the credit card fees.