Expert: Marvinator - 1/28/2005

Question
Dear Sir,
As a young Nigerian graduate with only a phone number, a postal box, and an Email, could I be registered on Ebay even without a creditcard?
That is I want to be registered to have :
* Ebay username and password.-
* Paypal account.
Please, Sir, could you help me get ebay username and password as well as a paypal account in order to start buying items of interest on ebay , even for a token fees, please ???  

Answer
Before you signup for Ebay/Paypal, you must first understand the problems facing you.  You are in Nigeria.  This means heavy shipping costs.  In addition, it also means customs forms and extra packing to protect items.

I must also point out that Nigeria has a bad reputation of late due to the efforts of the 419 Scammers. There will be a lot of people who will be leary of dealing with you because of this.  

Ebay has very strict rules about sign up, in that you must have a credit card or a debit card from your bank account.  (I do not know if they have these in Nigerian banks.)  To learn more about what is needed for sign up at Ebay, go to the main page (www.ebay.com) and look for the Live Help Link in the top right area of the page.  They can direct you to the information you seek.

Paypal, on the other hand, will allow you to sign up using  just your bank account.  YOu can learn more by reading the sign up page at www.paypal.com.

I hope this has helped.