I want to send payment, but I can't?

[Aussie2B]

Has anyone run into this problem before? I won an eBay auction, but for the last few days, every time I attempt to pay, I get this message:

This recipient is currently unable to receive money.
Your purchase couldn't be completed
There's a problem with the merchant's PayPal account. Please try again later.

I sent the guy a message, but I haven't received a response. What else can I do at this point? I still want the item, and I don't want to get into any trouble with eBay for not paying. PayPal is the only payment option listed, and that's the only method I want to use anyway.

[Rickstilwell1]

Has anyone run into this problem before? I won an eBay auction, but for the last few days, every time I attempt to pay, I get this message:

This recipient is currently unable to receive money.
Your purchase couldn't be completed
There's a problem with the merchant's PayPal account. Please try again later.

I sent the guy a message, but I haven't received a response. What else can I do at this point? I still want the item, and I don't want to get into any trouble with eBay for not paying. PayPal is the only payment option listed, and that's the only method I want to use anyway.

I actually had that problem before. After I notifed the seller that he had to log into his paypal and get it straightened out it ended up working after all just after he told me I could just mail him a money order as I suggested if necessary. If you send a money order he/she could manually mark the payment as received once he/she got it (if he's honest).

As a buyer you have no risk opening a dispute either because buyers can't get bad feedback. You could dispute that they are being unresponsive/not letting you pay.

[Nesmaster]

Had this happen with a new seller. I had to wait a few days for him to sort it out but once he emailed me back that it was working I could pay no problem. I guess it had something to do with being able to accept funds after authenticating the account or something.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, if it was a new seller, I'd assume it was something like that, but the guy I'm dealing with has been on eBay since 2001 and has a feedback score of 97. His most recent feedback is from December, although his most recent feedback as a seller was way back in 2007, so maybe he does need to set up a new PayPal account or something.

[Bojay1997]

At times this can be a very big red flag. I had a situation last year where someone hacked into the sellers account and so Paypal locked it for a period of time. I got the same message when I tried to pay. Ebay and Paypal will not take action against you for not paying in a situation like this and if they do, it's pretty simple to give them a call and explain the situation. You might get an e-mail within the next week cancelling the auction completely because the seller's account was compromised. I've received that e-mail a couple of times in the past year or so.