eBay Question for those who know eBay

Hi folks. I recently bid on an item and asked the seller how much shipping would be.
Here's the response:
"18.50 ems if you pay via paypal (they require tracking and it's the only way to get it) if you pay via money order then 9.50 thanks"

Is this true? Does Paypal require shipping is trackable? I've never heard of this before. It seems fishy to me. Any thoughts?

Thanks

We have been doing ebay & paypal for a long time and never came across anything stating that shipments be trackable. Go to PayPal website and it says nothing anywhere about this. This sounds like a scam.
TTFN

Lots of sellers try to jack up their shipping prices these days to offset Ebay final value fees and PayPay fees. Sounds like your seller is downright fibbing about it though, which is pretty uncool. I use PayPal all the time, and there is no mandatory tracking or mandatory anything else with PayPal.

That doesn't mean that PayPal isn't without flaws however...

Sellers can use PayPal's shipping service to pay and print USPS shipping labels & tracking ability, but it is by no means required when you pay the seller using PayPal. That's like sellers who require you to pay them the exra percentage to cover the service charge Paypal takes out of the payment.

[ Edited by: badmojo 2005-09-16 08:00 ]

Its not required, no. But if something goes wrong, Paypal will always settle in favour of the buyer unless the seller can privide a tracking number. So if you decide to scam the seller and say 'I never got my stuff', the seller cant prove you did, and Paypal will automatically send the buyer the money. Sounds like the seller got burned before by this. I know I have been burned like this before. But I still dont require tracking - I just chalk it up to a few bad apples.

Thanks for the replies folks. I contacted the seller and told her I thought it was odd and she automatically cancelled my bid. Oh well. No biggie.

It is also against ebay rules and illegal in many states to charge more to accept different payment types - credit card vs cash.

As a seller I have been royally screwed by Paypal when they refunded a buyer alot of money after the buyer claimed they didnt recieve an item from me . They do not require you have delivery confirmation , however , if you dont and a buyer makes a similar claim , you LOSE as the seller. If you cant prove it was delivered , the buyer wins ! Since that time , my customers all get delivery confirmations and I just pay it out of my own pocket. I keep delivery confirmations and insurance reciepts until a period of time after I have recieved positive feedback. What a pain , all those little pieces of paper are but its worth it. And its only $ .45 cents ! Look at my completed auctions and feedback , soooo many happy Tiki Hawaiiana folks and its ALL VINTAGE stuff !!!