eBay seller wants PayPal payment outside of eBay

I contacted the seller of an eBay item. He has a store, not a private seller, listing various items for sale all run from 1000 to 1250 Euros. He's been on eBay since 2004. He responded that the particular item at 1250 Euro is the part I need for my car and would like to sell it outside of eBay. He requested I use PayPal and I would save 4% plus shipping. He is located in Leipzig.

The saving amounts to about 67 Euro. Is he trying to save on eBay commissions?

Should I just order thru eBay and PayPal to get my 500 Euro insurance policy? Or not use this seller at all?

I’ve only used eBay a few times and never for anything this expensive. I'm using eBay because I just don’t want to buy a brand new part with the dealer mark up.

Thanks

He saves the sales fee levied by eBay, but still has to pay both listing fees and PayPal fees. Paying outside of eBay is a risk because there's not a great deal you can do if you never receive the goods. There's also a small risk that the account has been hijacked and that you'll be sending the money to someone else's account. Given the sum of money involved, I would definitely stay within eBay. If he's that bothered about not paying fees, he'd be asking you to pay by Überweisung rather than PayPal, so I find this situation a little odd. If someone else is selling the same item for a similar price, I'd go there instead.

You could be trying to save on Ebay fees. However doing this (Selling Ebay item outside the ebay system) is against EBAY's TOS
and can get him booted off and his Ebay store closed.

This is also a "Watchout", as there is no ebay protection or tracking. Its also a big prob. in the US. Many times people
get taken and loose their money. Its up to you if you want to trust a complete stranger with 1k Eur of your money
but I sure as hell wouldn't. Hes willing to cheat the system, he might also cheat you..

The warnings of STB and DK are indeed apt. However, payments through PayPal (which eBay acquired but still serves for non-eBay transactions) are still traceable and insured. Keep copies of all emails between you and the seller. If you have a good feeling in your "gut" about this seller, I think it's fine. But only if you have enough written correspondence to prove your loss in court if things don't work out.

There was a thread here on TT about two months ago where someone also purchased a product from an EBayer in a similar manner and they had to file a police report here in Germany to get their money back- although that was ultimately effective.

I would also ask why cheat EBay. They make their revenue from these transactions, and you wouldn't have found the product in the first place without them. Ok they're a big evil multi billion corporation, but they're so rich because their service is no needed, liked, and used.

Order through e bay and keep your risks to a minimum

I've decided to go ahead and order thru eBay and play it safe. I've been looking for this part for 3 months so I'm stuck with this seller since this is the first one I found.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.