QUESTION 1 PAYPAL : We noticed that you only accept Paypal payments from confirmed US buyers , I live in Italy, why do you not accept Paypal International payments ?

ANSWER. Due to Paypal polices, Paypal will not verify or confirm Paypal payments outside the US which they will do for US members. While they do not tell their members this unless they ask, this means that there is no way for sellers to valiadate nor have a 3rd party confirmation of the payment. Paypal will tell you "only accept Paypal payment for as much as you are prepared to lose". Secure payment is a safeguard for both the buyer and seller. With account hijacking , internet fraud, and ID thief on the rise, it only makes common sense that both parties engage in a secure transaction. Buyers need to understand that Paypal is a unregulated US Corporation unlike banks or Credit card companies.

a. I understand that eBay owns Paypal, so why is Paypal International not secure.

ANSWER: In order to have a totally secure payment system, there needs to be a 3rd party verification system. Since eBay owns Paypal is there is natural conflict of interest due to common ownership. Too be secure, a 3rd party must be able to verify and confirm the applicant's payment information. In many converstaions with buyers, they fully understand if we tell them that if they were paying in person and used a credit card or check as payment, for example, they understood it if we asked to see their ID. This is the same process, except that we are not there, but we would still expect somebody to check their ID. EBay will not do this and neither will Paypal.

b. Will you be accepting Paypal International payment in the future.

ANSWER: Our understanding is that Paypal is working on the verfication and confirmation process and there is limited programs in place in countries like Canada and the UK. However, right now, Paypal Internaional is accepted only on a take all basis. That is the sellers must accept all Paypal payment from all 45 International counties if they accept 1. This take all or take none policy is a problem. The are other issues beyond just security such as language issues. There is a language issue in mnay non-English speaking countries and buyers that will not read the item descriptions before purchasing. There may be valid reasons why a seller may only sell to a particular country. Without an edit fuction, there are just too many problems to a universal Paypal payment program. We have had International buyers try to pay incorrect amounts and just plain ignore the payment and shipping terms in our item description.

QUESTION 2 SHIPPING: I am from th the UK and noticed that while you include a shipping amount for buyers with the 48 states, you do not have a shipping amount for Interntional buyers, why not ?

ANSWER: International shipping costs varies from country to country and there is also often more than 1 method of shipping. In addition, there are insurance costs along with different shipping methods. It would be impossible to calculate all of the possibilites which why we ask the buyer to ask the seller for the shipping and payment options to his country for the item. Also, buying multiple items often saves on total shipping, if even if we we put international shipping in with each item the total on multiple items would not be accurate.