Why isn’t the seller replying?

[inspecto9]

There is something I want to buy on eBay and I can't because there is only by PayPal and by card but I have only an eftpos card so I messaged the seller to ask home is there any other way I can pay and he hasn't replied.

[davewil1964]

You can buy using a Visa debit card as a guest through Paypal. Or you can open a Paypal account and link it to your bank account.

I would not be paying directly into the seller's bank account unless you are prepared to lose the money. You have absolutely NO eBay protection if you pay that way and you will be relying on the honesty of the seller. Who you don't know.

[countessalmirena]

@inspect09,

• Consider getting a debit card and linking it to your PayPal account, OR making a "guest payment" using the debit card. It will still be processed by PayPal, but you yourself need not have a PayPal account in that case. (Just bear in mind that there are stronger buyer protections when you have a PayPal account. This is important in case there is any problem.)
• You can open a PayPal account and link it to your bank account, specifying your bank account as your funding source. Bear in mind that a payment via this method (funding source being a bank account) is considered an echeque, and it takes time to clear.
• You can obtain a prepaid card from any participating post office. Read about these here. Once you've loaded some money onto it, you can use it like a debit or credit card to purchase online, to link to your PayPal account (and specify that the card is your funding source), etc.

I would suspect that the seller may not have replied because there is no way for the seller to offer you some alternative payment method. It's a requirement on eBay that a safe payment method be offered by the seller, and asking for an alternative payment method than that offered is not encouraged, because eBay may interpret that as an offer to buy or sell outside of eBay, thus avoiding the relevant eBay fees. If a listing states PayPal and credit card* as the two payment methods, those are the only options.

(* Credit card will implicitly refer also to debit card and prepaid card.)

I hope that helps.

[kopenhagen5]

Also many sellers are just people selling from home and might only log into eBay 2-3 times a week.

[brerrabbit585]

The seller is under no obligation to reply.  Your seller has their accepted methods of payment listed and there's no point in them wasting their time and replying just to state the obvious, ie. that they're the only payment methods they accept.   it's up to you to find a way to be able to use those methods, not for them to jump through hoops to oblige you.  Ebay is primarily for paypal and credit card payments so if you want to buy on the site you need to fit in with this.

Too many buyers think sellers are so desperate they'll jump through hoops for anyone who shows the slightest interest in their items, but there'll always be another buyer who's less work so why spend time on the ones who are going to take extra time and work?  It's the old 80/20 rule - if 20% of your customers take up 80% of your time you're better off to eliminate the time-consuming customers and put your efforts into finding other customers.  

I often ignore questions that look like the buyer could mean a lot of work.  It's not a case of being rude - it's a case of prioritising one's time and using it for the most important things.  In the case of selling, this means the buyers who take up the least time and effort.

[*tippy*toes*]

Depending on how you worded your message to the seller, the eBay bots could have thought that you were trying to buy off eBay, and they would have blocked both you and seller from sending messages for 7 days. If that is the case, the seller can't reply to your message.