Jeff - as a seller on eBay for the past 10 years I have pretty much seen it all and it has become a scary place to sell something of higher value. Do you know that if you state in your auction that you will accept a money order or bank wire transfer that eBay will delete your auction (they scan the auctions for those words) without warning and send you a warning notice afterwards!
Here is a worst case scenario of selling say a $1000+ watch allowing bidders worldwide:
1. The high bidder/winner (from outside the US) has little or no feedback and pays by PayPal (confirmed address).
2. He receives the watch and files a complaint with eBay and PayPal that it is not as described and wants a refund. In the meantime he either damages it or swaps some parts out of it or even swaps the movement.
3. He sends it back with online tracking and as soon as he can prove it has arrived, PayPal sends him a refund (from your balance or CC or checking account in file).
4. You do not get all of the PayPal fees back from the original payment.
5. The seller posts negative feedback and you have not have the option to do the same.
In the end you have lost all the way around and trying to get an insurance claim for a damaged watch is nearly impossible - true story.
What I started doing this year is setting the auction up for US bidders only using a high starting price and a buy it now price.
I also state that I will consider selling it outside the US if the bidder pays the buy it now price and agrees with the rest of my terms. That way I can at least look at the bidders feedback and get some idea of who I might be dealing with. It has worked pretty good so far. However, that doesn't mean all of the problems will be gone. I have had a couple of bidder/buyers in the US who could barely read or write! Like in the original movie "Parenthood" - "you have to have a license to have a dog but any blank blanking blank can have a kid" That applies to a lot of bidders on eBay - they will let anyone from almost any country sign up to make money!
Regarding PayPal, check this out:
http://www.paypalsucks.com/
Craig

: I am happy to accept payments through PayPal from friends or
: even from strangers, in small dollar transactions.

: But the idea of putting a nice watch on eBay, having a stranger in
: another jurisdiction win it with a $3,000 to $5,000 bid, and
: then accepting PayPal, funded from a credit card, is a recipe
: for disaster. The buyer charges back, even for no reason at all,
: and you have probably lost your money. He claims that you
: shipped an empty box; there is no answer, and his credit card
: issuer will side with him.

: Jeff

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