The Yak Shack Forum

Can someone tell me if I'm just being paranoid?

I've gotten 2 Nintendo DS things off ebay lately and each time the seller has sent me a "checkout" page.  I'm supposed to enter some info, then I get REDIRECTED to the Paypal log in screen, except that it doesn't really look like the official Paypal screen.  It looks more like a screen the seller set up with the Paypal logo on it, but I'm still required to enter my Paypal ID and password.  So instead of paying throught that page I go to the official Paypal site and pay for my auction that way.  The problem is that the seller doesn't know I paid and now I have to keep sending emails that he already has his money.  One of these transactions is pending, the other one I had to open a dispute for and I never did get my item.  These are VERY large sellers, and I'm wondering if I should just pay for my auctions through the page they send or keep getting stiffed.  The auctions never say anything like "we will send you a checkout invoice".

If it's an AuctionWorks or MarketWorks or Marketplace ChannelAdvisor (it's changed names a lot), then yes, it's very annoying.  But the paypal payment information for both of those IS the paypal page, not the AuctionWorks or MarketWorks pages.

You can also pay via paypal AND then verify your information with the seller's checkout service to confirm payment was made.  I've done that before without a problem...

You can send me the link if you want via PM & I don't mind looking at it for you...

The services do link to "the" paypal checkout page, but often it's an older version of the screen, and it might not look familiar. Yes it's a good idea to look at the exact link to make sure the link hasn't been hacked, but it's been okay every time I've checked.

I've had problems trying to access anything with at least one of the checkout services. After it directs you to Paypal, it thinks you're "done" and I haven't been able to update anything or post a message. And occasionally the checkout service has wrong information that you can't correct, like when combined-shipping charges weren't tallied right.

The usual Paypal checkout screen these days is actually inside the eBay domain, so it's even more "different" from the older Paypal screens.