A plea in advance for all the haters out there, please excuse my naivete if this is a big no-no for a question.

I am interested in knowing whether or not it is okay for members to set up a Buy it Now auction for PBS credits. The reason I ask is that PayPal's "Bill Me Later" service only functions through the ebay system. It'd be nice if I could use my Bill Me Later credit line to buy some credits, but through ebay is the only way I can use this payment method. I realize there are seller fees, so a reasonable premium on the credits would be fair.

If this is okay, I am requesting 10 credits for $2.75 each, OBO. Please, I am not seeking to make a subersive arrangement. Therefore, please reply in the forum followed up by a PM if someone wants to do this.

Thank you

I think it's allowed.  It's allowed to sell them, so I don't see why it wouldn't be allowed to sell them through eBay. 

It just makes it even more expensive than through PayPal straight, which was bad enough for fees.

Yes, it would seem like a logical deduction that it is okay to sell them on ebay.

Concerning the fees, I agree, they are a pain. But, I would gladly accomodate someone for those fees by having them charge extra for the credits for the benefit of putting my credit purchase on a credit line... helps with X-mas shopping. That said, I wouldn't want to be charged so much that I feel taken advantage of. So for example, if some is selling credits for $2.50 I think charging $2.75 for those same credits sold on ebay would make up for the fees.

Doesn't seem like there would be a problem, but if you want an authoritve answer use the Contact Us link in the lower right under Company and ask the Team. 

The only thing I see that would happen is that someone would buy the credits and then do a chargeback through Paypal. You wouldn't be able to prove delivery, since there would be no online tracking information.

It'd be nice if I could use my Bill Me Later credit line to buy some credits, but through ebay is the only way I can use this payment method.

This isn't true .... you CAN buy credits through Bill Me Later on here. I use Bill Me Later all the time for postage.

If you buy stuff from eBay then your Bill Me Later runs through Paypal. It does the same thing here. When you go to the PBS kiosk and put how much you want to spend on credits, click the Paypal option. It'll bring you to your Paypal account. Then, just like normal, click the Bill Me Later option.

This is almost the same process as buying from eBay: eBay ---> Paypal ---> Bill Me Later versus PBS ---> Paypal ---> Bill Me Later

Also, as an FYI, tons of online vendors allow Bill Me Later. Go to the Bill Me Later website and it'll give you all the informaiton

Thank you Susan for informing me that I can buy credits through the kiosk with Bill me Later. That is an alternative I would consider. However, using that method I lose the liberty to hunt for a better deal on credits. That said, does anyone want to list an auction?

Oh, now I get it. I also wasn't clear .... I don't use it for credits I use it for postage. Same thing, just different usage.I've actually never bought credits here.

I'm not sure about the ins and outs but you should do some checking because Bill Me Later is linked to Paypal, so if someone is selling credits in the BB and asking for Paypal then it shouldn't matter what method you're using to pay Paypal (Bill Me Later is one of the methods), as long as the other person gets the money.

I guess that's more what I'm trying to say, is that Paypal and Bill Me Later aren't  linked solely to eBay. So when someone is asking for Paypal as a payment method and you put in their information to pay them via Paypal, as long as you have a Bill Me Later account, that will be one of the options to choose as opposed to your debit or credit card.

Good luck to you! :)

Thanks for your reply. My initial thought was that anybody paying with paypal can use Bill me Later as an option. But it turns out that they are treated separately. The website you are conducting the payment through has to support Bill me Later in addition to Paypal. I tried to have my brother requestr money from me. My hope was that once I payed him with Bill Me Later, he could Paypal the money back to me. That didn't work, when my brother requested the money, the Bill Me Later option was greyed out.

All I can say is that if I owned PBS I would not allow it. Too many complications. 

greg

Wow, if I had 10 credit to sell you, I'd let you pay me in installments. You can always ask around if someone is willing to let you pay for credits in installments. :)

Here is the Team's word on it:

Dear Melanie,

We don't see any issue with this - she can arrange this through eBay if she likes, if she can get another member to agree to sell them that way.

So if you can find a member willing to do it go for it.

The website you are conducting the payment through has to support Bill me Later in addition to Paypal.

Oh, well that sucks. :(  But I guess it makes sense. That was part of the "ins and outs" that I guess I wasn't sure of.

"Wow, if I had 10 credit to sell you, I'd let you pay me in installments. You can always ask around if someone is willing to let you pay for credits in installments. :)"

Thank you saying so, but with so many things going on in life, I wouldn't saddle anybody else with my own with revolving debt!

Oh, well that sucks. :(  But I guess it makes sense. That was part of the "ins and outs" that I guess I wasn't sure of.

Yes, had to find out the hard way, sad but true.

"So if you can find a member willing to do it go for it."

Thanks for contacting the team Melanie. Good to know it's okay to do. So far, it doesn't look like this thread has garnered the interest of any of the big PBS credit holders on the forums though... so I may be out of luck anyway!

I have an Ebay account and have sold some stuff there before, but have never used the "bill me later" aspect.  I don't know what the Ebay charge would be for this, either, but I would be willing to give it a try if you can figure out how to walk me through it.  i have the extra credits, too.  Certainly $2.75-2.80 each would be OK, depending on how the charges are assessed.  If you can investigate how the details of this would work, I'd be willing to give it a try.  Winston