[WerTicus]

Hey guys.

I am going to be doing a fair few transactions with america soon from australia and i was wondering what the options were for doing this safely?

currently we are trying paypal for the first one, but i have heard bad things and so i would like to hear your opinions for other options.

im primariliy buying stuff from america... ip actually so no shipping occurs just data and money is tranfered.

[TheChairGuy]

Werticus,

I have only had one transaction that went sour on either A-gon or ebay in 4 years and I always use PayPal for payment of goods.  That one time I had a dispute, Paypal responded to my situation within 48 hours and had resolution with a week.  Visa, Mastercard or American Express (if you have this Down Under) will typically take far longer.

In the end I lost 3% - Paypal's transaction fee - when they determined that the seller (the other guy) was in the wrong.  What amounts to a 3% surcharge for their service, and safety, seems to be a cheap insurance policy to me.

Perhaps others will chime in PayPal stories of woe, but I think they are an invaluable aid to electronic commerce.

[JohnR]

I used Paypal to buy speakers from PartsExpress off my Australian credit card with no problems. Some of the Paypal issues I've read seem to me to do with sellers that you don't trust. I guess all I could say there is, if you don't trust 'em don't buy from them

[TheChairGuy]

I should add that I never keep a balance in Paypal, I have them use my credit card to pay the other side.  That way, I have both PayPal acting as a sentinal on the transaction to the other party...and my credit card company guarding me to some extent from PayPal.

I have multiple places to appeal to if we get bogged down with bad folks.

[audioengr]

PayPal has always worked for me for Australia, Europe and Asia.  Some folks use wire-transfers from their bank to mine as well.

[WerTicus]

thanks for your feedback guys!

I think its healthy to be weary of these things