Comment Only real insurance on Ebay... (Score 1) 357
www.buysafe.com
This is the company I'm aware of that actually guarantees sellers performance in auctions. They are not affiliated with ebay, paypal, or any payment scheme. There is no cost to the buyer. Each transaction is INDIVIDUALLY legally bonded to guarantee the sellers performance, with no deductible or seller caps. The bonds are underwritten by The Hartford insurance company (www.theHartford.com), so the guarantee has a strong financial backing.
So what's the catch? As a buyer if you see the auction is bonded with buysafe there is none. Some items buysafe will not bond (real estate for one). Sellers must go through a much more rigorous screening process then paypal or SquareTrade (which basically just check if you have a bank account). After all, buysafe/the Hartford is taking the credit risk for the seller. Sellers have to pay 1% of each auction for the bond, which is how buysafe is compensated. And, the seller probably actually benefits because buyers will be willing to pay more for an item if they know the item/seller is legitimate.
Buysafe is only a few months old, and thus does not have the name recognition of PayPal/SquareTrade. Thus it will not be on as many auctions (search ebay auction descriptions for BuySafe). However, this alternative eliminates virtually all risk for the buyer, at no cost to them, and I think that buyers would be demanding once it is more established in the market.
This is the company I'm aware of that actually guarantees sellers performance in auctions. They are not affiliated with ebay, paypal, or any payment scheme. There is no cost to the buyer. Each transaction is INDIVIDUALLY legally bonded to guarantee the sellers performance, with no deductible or seller caps. The bonds are underwritten by The Hartford insurance company (www.theHartford.com), so the guarantee has a strong financial backing.
So what's the catch? As a buyer if you see the auction is bonded with buysafe there is none. Some items buysafe will not bond (real estate for one). Sellers must go through a much more rigorous screening process then paypal or SquareTrade (which basically just check if you have a bank account). After all, buysafe/the Hartford is taking the credit risk for the seller. Sellers have to pay 1% of each auction for the bond, which is how buysafe is compensated. And, the seller probably actually benefits because buyers will be willing to pay more for an item if they know the item/seller is legitimate.
Buysafe is only a few months old, and thus does not have the name recognition of PayPal/SquareTrade. Thus it will not be on as many auctions (search ebay auction descriptions for BuySafe). However, this alternative eliminates virtually all risk for the buyer, at no cost to them, and I think that buyers would be demanding once it is more established in the market.
