Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Security when Making an Online Purchase from an Individual
I'm considering making a relatively high value (high 00s) online purchase from an individual for an item in another part of the UK. The law gives very limited protection when buying from an individual. I'd like to commit to the transaction, but I'm reluctant to buy unseen without any protection. I just Googled "UK online escrow" and came up with www.transpact.com.
This looks like an ideal service for me. I've Googled reviews of the service and it seems to check out. I thought I'd add this post both to check if anyone local has has any personal experience of it and to share the discovery lest it should be of any interest.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul Harvey on
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Safer to collect and pay cash on collection if in doubt? Or go through paypal and use a credit card if that offers any protection?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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I would collect, but it's all the way up in the North of the country and I don't have a visa.
Does Paypal/credit card offer protection when buying from an individual?
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As of now, the communication seems to have ceased following my making the suggestion of using Transpact. Perhaps that gives me my answer.
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Maybe paypal not the best, though using a credit card does offer protection by law if purchase over £100. Am sure you can pay an individual...http://www.lovemoney.com/news/money-saving-tips-bargains-and-freebi...
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Thanks Paul. To the best of my understanding there are very different levels of protection when you're buying from a company or an individual. In the case of the latter the only protection is the small claims court.
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Yes - think you're right. Maybe the individual you're buying from sells things regularly so may be classed as operating commercially? Bit murky. Worth looking at PayPal though. This is from the Which site..
"If you use your credit card to pay for something through PayPal and the funds go direct to the seller, then as long as the company you're buying from has a 'Commercial Entity Agreement' with Paypal you may still be able to claim under Section 75 for any misrepresentation or breach of contract.
PayPal offers its own buyer protection scheme, called PayPal Buyer Protection, so it's worth checking if you'd be covered by that if you have a problem with your purchase."
If your only fall-back is the small claims court - and you've got doubts, then I'd leave well alone, the small claims court cost recovery process is a real battle by all accounts, with no guarantee you'll ever see your money again.
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It may well be instructive if he doesn't respond to my suggestion of using Transpact. That may tell me all I need to know!
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Is an interesting point you've raised though, I have always assumed that PayPal covers me to some extent when making online purchases...
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Here's what I read on Moneywise yesterday:
However, if you’re buying from an individual – which constitutes a private sale – the rules are slightly different. For example, the so-called ‘implied terms’ of the Sales of Goods Act only apply to title and description, not to quality. This means the goods must simply correspond with the description, and be legally owned by the seller.
“That means a dress can’t be a size 12 if it was described as a size 18,” says Stephen McGlade, a solicitor at consumer group Which?.
However, if an item is advertised as “a three-year-old bike”, for example, it doesn’t mean it has to work, just that it has to be three years old. In this case, especially when the item has been well-used, the transaction remains a case of caveat emptor, or ‘buyer beware’. “This, put simply, is why you pay a lower price for second-hand goods,” says McGlade.
If the private seller has failed on any of the relevant parts of the Sales of Goods Act, it is up to the buyer to take issue with them, quoting that they have contravened Section 13 of the Act. If they do not rectify the problem by way of a refund or replacement, the next port of call is the small claims court. However, after you factor in legal fees and the time and hassle of a court case, this may not be worth your while.
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