Alright I figured I might as well ask you guys, since this seems to be the best board for it, but I was wondering when any of you have sold or bought cars. Have you used paypal? I mean I know we've all used paypal to send each other money for parts and stuff, but I was wondering how do you receive the money? I'm trying to find out so I can explain it to a person. Since I've never actually received a payment on paypal before.

 

usually paypal, but money orders are also good, they just take longer..

 

You receive $$$ just like sending $$$. Just send it to X person's Paypal email addy. If you've never verified your accnt, the first payment sending takes several days to clear. I've never bought a car via Paypal, but I received payment for a car... kinda sucked as Paypal takes a % of the receiving end.

 

Any non-dealership car transactions I've had, either selling or buying have been cash. The one time I had particularly large transaction, I agreed to accept part of the payment in the form of a bank cashier's check and I met the person at the bank. The only problem with Paypal is that they take a certain percentage of any incoming funds. So either you have to convince your buyer to pay extra to cover that Paypal fee, or you just have to eat the cost as the price of a secure transaction.

 

And I wouldn't really call a PayPal transaction secure either...

When you receive the money through PayPal, make sure you take it out of your PayPal account as soon as possible! PayPal is notorious refunding or freezing funds when bogus buyers claim they never received the part or it was defective.

Since PayPal IS NOT AN FDIC INSURED BANKING INSTITUTION or FEDERALLY AUTHORIZED CREDIT INSTITUTION they do NOT have to follow Federal credit or banking guidelines.

I typically only use a REAL credit card with my PayPal account. NEVER attach it to your "REAL" checking account. Any funds I receive through PayPal are immediately withdrawn and transferred to an account that PayPal has no access too.

You can also setup what is called a sweep account. This is a checking or savings account that you use for no other purpose than to get verified with PayPal. I transfer money into that account when I need to pay for something and I transfer money out of that account as soon as I get paid for something.

With the prevalence of online banking, this is very easy to manage now.

My credit union does internal account transfers under the same "owner" immediately, so I don't even have to wait a day for the transfer to occur like with some banks, most notably Bank of America.

I buy something on eBay or Craigslist, then login to my credit union account, move just enough money to cover the purchase from my "real" checking account into the PayPal dedicated sweep account. Then I login to PayPal/eBay and make the payment through PayPal using my sweep account at the credit union.

Receiving payment is the reverse. I login to PayPal and move the money from my PayPal account into my credit union account, then I login to my credit union's website and move the money from the sweep account into my "real" account.

Cheers,
LWW

 

When I sold my last car, had the guy meet me at his bank and issue a cashier's check. Worked out fine.

 

The sweep account is what I do as well, although out of paranoia I had years ago set it up at a completely different bank. No ties electronically between my account and the paypal account. All deposits and withdrawls I have to do via cash.

Also, if someone does pay you with a credit card, afterwords they can have their card company refuse payment and paypal will pull the money back out. If it is a sweep account, your account will just go into the negative while you fight with PayPal in court. Paypal is not guaranteed. Don't trust it for large transactions.