13Bay’s focus is to minimize costs wherever possible, so we do not use PayPal. We use Wise (formerly called Transferwise) which is much cheaper. You will need a bank account in order to use this form of payment, or at least a credit card to fund your balance.
Opening a WISE account is FREE, simple, and clearly described here: https://wise.com/invite/dic/johnnya288
If you happen to have friends or family overseas that you need to send money too, using the invite link above will give you a fee-free transfer of up to $800.
Features of WISE
- Free to open an account.
- Everything is done online.
- Free money transfers between members when using same currency
- Hold money in more than 50 currencies in your account (though transactions with 13Bay must be in US funds).
- Some of the cheapest rates for converting to practically any currency.
- All transactions on WISE show you the fee (if any) up front
- There are NO chargebacks. Once a transaction is done, it is done, so this is not a payment system for flakey people that frequently return things
When making a purchase of an item that is a fixed-price listing, or when winning an auction as the highest bidder (assuming any reserve price is met), you will be billed through WISE. This will arrive in the form of an email, where you will be given a link to click on. Once you click on the link you have two ways to pay: through bank transfer, or pay with WISE
With bank transfer, simply enter the banking information it requests and it will withdraw the money from the bank account you have specified. The WISE fee to do this is zero, but your bank may charge a small fee for the transfer from your bank account to WISE. My personal experience was it cost me 0.23%, but your bank may be different.
The other payment option is to pay with WISE. Opening a WISE account is free, and you can fund it from a variety of different sources (Direct debit, Interac {Canada}, domestic wire transfer, bill payment, debit card, and credit card). Once your account has a balance (US funds), payment to 13Bay is FREE. The only charges you might incur are those from your bank or credit card company, which are pretty much unavoidable regardless of what payment system you use.
Since WISE is very similar, if not the same, as a bank wire, that means ALL SALES ARE FINAL. THERE ARE NO RETURNS.
SELLERS
Sellers who have consigned items to be sold on 13Bay through either an auction of fixed price listing will be paid through WISE after a sale is made and the buyer has made their payment.
Receiving payment is incredibly easy. I will email you a link, and once you click that link it will ask for your bank account details (name, Account number, routing number, etc). All of this is done by WISE and I have zero visibility of these details. Once you have entered the information the money will be direct deposited to your account, usually within 24 hours. If you bank account is not in US funds you will be charged by your bank for currency conversion.
Note for Canadians: 13Bay can pay you in Canadian funds at a favorable conversion rate of 0.44%, but this fee would be deducted from the balance owed to you.