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How to try Protect Yourself Against Fraudulent Advertisers


Added 25th of September 2007

So far we have had no reports of any dishonest people using this site, however, it's always a good idea just to think about how to protect yourself if you were unlucky enough to encounter a problem. Here are a few simple ideas. If you can think of anything else, please contact us, so we can pass them on to others.


For Buyers


Generally Paypal is a safer method of payment than a cheque. It's free to set up a paypal account and free to make a payment (the seller may have to pay a small charge). On top of this, there is a level of protection for you. If either the goods are not what was advertised, or nothing arrives through the post as promised and you start to smell a rat, it is possible to get your money back. I'm not sure how easy the process is as I have never had to use it. Obviously, the seller should be contacted first, but if things can't be resolved between yourselves then you can initiate an " Online Dispute Resolution Process" via paypal. Here is a quote from their website (Some of it is only relevant for goods bought on Ebay, but there is protection for the rest of us too!):



  • Disputes between Buyers and Sellers - Buyer Protection Programmes

    • 13.1 Buyer Protection Programmes. If you buy an item using PayPal and either do not receive the item or receive an item that you believe is Significantly Not as Described by the seller, we encourage you to open a Dispute with the seller in our " Resolution Center" located on the PayPal Website(s). By doing so, you will initiate our " Online Dispute Resolution Process" - a step-by-step system designed to facilitate communication between you and the seller in order to get resolution of the issue. If your dialogue with the seller fails to produce a satisfactory result, you can then escalate the Dispute into a Claim that we will evaluate for reimbursement under one of the following programs:

      • PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy - Our best efforts program to reimburse Users for losses only to the extent we are able to recover the funds from sellers.
      • PayPal Buyer Protection Policy - Our program to reimburse Users for losses for up to:

        • £500 ("Top Tier" amount) for eligible items purchased on eBay; and
        • £150 ("Basic Tier" amount) for all other eligible items purchased on eBay

      • Please see section 13.9 to determine whether Top Tier Coverage Amount or Basic Tier Coverage Amount applies. The coverage amounts listed above are for eBay.co.uk (U.K. website) purchases. To view the PayPal Buyer Protection coverage amounts for purchases made on other eligible non-U.K. eBay websites, please refer to section 13.10 below.
      • Buyer Protection for eBay Express - Our program to reimburse Users for the full purchase amount paid at the time of purchasing the item on eBay Express (and not for return postage costs nor any other consequential costs or losses) for items purchased on UK eBay Express if the eBay Express seller did not:

        • deliver the promised goods; or
        • issue a full refund after the eBay Express buyer returning an eligible purchased good within 7 Business Days after receiving the good.

      • These programs only cover payments for tangible, physical goods. All other payments, such as payments for intangibles, for services or for licenses and other access to digital content are not covered by any Buyer Protection Program that we offer (but may be covered by Chargeback rights).
There is also a time limit. Section 13.1 states:

  • We will not grant any Claim unless you first initiate a Dispute in our Resolution Center within 45 Days of the date of the relevant payment and then escalate the Dispute into a Claim within 20 Days of the date you file your Dispute.

Click here to read the whole article (their User Agreement):


https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_pbp-outside


For Sellers


What do you do if you post the item, but the buyer claims that it never arrived and seeks a refund? You should always get a certificate of postage. Compensation claims would be made buy you, and when successful, a refund can then be sent.


1. You can get a certificate of postage (proof of postage) for free when you post your parcel, which would help you in a compensation claim. Items are automatically covered for compensation up to the value of £34 should they go missing or get damaged, but it is possible to increase this. This table is taken directly from the Royal Mail website and is relevant for standard parcels.


http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=51000711&catId=400031


Compensation cover


We (Royal Mail) offer automatic, standard compensation cover of up to £34 for loss or damage. If you want to extend compensation cover for more valuable items, see the table below:















Maximum compensation per parcel Price
£100 £1.00
£250  £2.25
£500 £3.50

2. Recorded Delivery costs an extra 70p and includes:



  • Proof of posting
  • Signature on delivery
  • Online confirmation of delivery
  • Up to £34 compensation

3. Special Delivery can be quite expensive (price starts from £4.30 but depends on weight), but included in the price is compensation up to the value of £500.


For more information on special delivery click here:


http://www.royalmail.com/portal/campaign/content1?catId=1000002&mediaId=35900680


Things we thought about, but haven't done:



  1. Charge to place an ad: It's probably fair to say that if there were a charge for an ad, fake ads would be less likely to appear. However, we really wanted to give people to chance to recycle their cloth nappies for free. It does cost us to run the site, but we decided to cover these with google sponsered ads. We can therefore offer this service to you for free.
  2. Have feedback scores for sellers- like on Ebay. We may introduce this features however, people don't generally sell large quantities of second hand nappies (or do they?!) So it wouldn't necessary be a bad sign that a seller had very few feedbacks to read. Even one positive score would offer reassurance though, so watch this space!

The golden rule is: IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT USUALLY IS!


If you have any ideas that we could incorporate into the site that would make you feel more secure, then please contact us. We are always trying to think of ways to improve our site. Please note: Although we take the idea of placing fraudulent adverts on this site very seriously, we cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of any of the items described.


Sell your Pre Loved Nappies on www.thenappysite.co.uk for free!