Paypal warning to all...

[Chickybaby]

My advice to anyone is not to put any bank account or other info on paypal that you don't want them to know forever. Even if an account is changed, in our case, they still had records of the previous account. Even if you don't keep money in the paypal linked account, if they want and feel you "owe", they will make your paypal account negative and or freeze your account or even take the money out of the bank account and possibly cause you to have bank fees out the ass for a negative balance. Ebay is also awful for freezing accounts and more often then not Ebay and Paypal team up to really wreck havoc on your life. Once Ebay froze our account for not having numbers in the password, no kidding .

[holygrailvideogames.com]

Curt,

 

I hate to hear stories like this. I am sorry that you are currently out $1,900.

 

I have some questions for you.

 

1. What shipping service did you use?

2. Was the signature confirmation that you used available online? I believe that this is a requirement of PayPal's seller protection for items $250 or more.

3. Did the buyer sign for the items or a 3rd party?

4. Did you insure the item?

 

$1,900 is a lot of money. If you are 100% sure that he received the item I would contact both the police in your jurisdiction as well as in Arizona. You might also want to contact the FBI Internet Fraud Division.

 

One other thing that you should be aware of. PayPal is known for hiring collection agencies. If PayPal cannot get the funds from your PayPal account or bank account they will go after you for collections. This can destroy someone's credit score.

 

Good luck.

[classics]

Oops I think the post above covers everything I said.

 

Sorry to hear you got screwed, I hope you go after this guy with the full court press.

 

Steve

Edited April 30, 2007 by classics

[Fighter17]

$1,900, damn!

 

For something like this I would order the fastest shipping possible with insurance, DC number, and other stuff to prove that the buyer receive the package.

 

When I order/sell stuff from overseas I would only do EMS (will always make it to its location, insurance, and you must sign the package in order to get it).

 

In the USA I use priority mail for games. Systems and stuff like that I use UPS five-day ground (I never lost anything from them).

 

Once again Curt I feel sorry for you, but Pay-Pal is just too useful for me.

 

Edit: Don't want to be mean Curt but why you want to transfer $1,900 by PayPal? To me that's waaay too much money for a company to tranfer funds to. Personally I would only go up to $500 max when I want to use PayPal (to buy/sell only to good people), but anything higher I would use Money Orders and Checks.

Edited May 2, 2007 by Fighter17

[Cubey]

I've been dealing with paypal for 5-6 years now and only ever had problems concerning buyers trying to get their money back. One time a buyer almost did but they suddenly dropped the case. It was partly my fault for not following the seller protection policy. Anyway since then I always follow it when it's available and the last time I can recall someone tried to get thier money back, paypal sided with me because I had tracking info. Phone support has been great to me.

 

On the other hand they've been a horrible pain to my mom in getting her lost password emailed, and mailed to her.

 

Never had such problems with my account so I guess it's just rotten luck certain people have I guess.

[Osbo]

Curt: I had kinda a similar problem, but with one of those "credit fix" scams. They kept taking money out of my account. I complained online in ... I wish I could remember, some consumre protection website. The North Carolina general attorney contacted me (I was in afghanistan) and he got me a good chunck of money back from those scammers.

 

Good luck!

[atarian1]

Back on topic I bought an atari item off a website (not ebay or atariage) and not everything was included as described in the listing, the seller did not reply to emails so I opened a case with paypal, after what felt like forever I was denied any money back because the seller told them he did send me a package. I wrote paypal back and said yes he did but it wasn't as described and their reply was "this case is closed" so I replied back with "So of I ordered a $2000.00 computer and received a pencil as long as SOMETHING was shipped thats all you care about" and the email I got back was "this case is closed".

 

I was finally able to reach the seller, he replied within 5 minutes of me emailing him using a different email address and asking a question like I was interested in buying something, and he did send the rest of the items as described no thanks to paypal.

 

You're lucky you got your items. I was sent a broken sampler and after opening a case with Paypal, they sided with the seller and case closed. Same reason too - as long as you receive something, that's it. Total BS! I left a negative feedback, but he replied to it saying he's working things out with me! Not true! But EBay won't allow me to reply to his lies in his feedback. More Total BS! :x

[shadow460]

I've had problems with automatic deductions, though not PayPal. I'll never repeat that mistake.

If money was meant to be electronic, the bills would have little circuits in them. If it were meant to be plastic, it would not be made of paper.

 

I deal in paper checks for personal stuff, and money orders for online trading. Three days isn't too long to wait for payment to arrive, is it?

They say PayPal is safer!? Not from what I'm hearing here, and certainly not from my experiences. It sucks when you go to the ATM to withdraw cash for a meal out, and you find that the $100 you had is now -$35.37. It's that amount because someone you authorized to make automatic withdrawals overdrew your account by 37 cents, and the bank tacked on the $35 overdraft protection fee.

Wanna avoid stuff like this? Hang on to your cash with both hands.

[BigO]

I've had problems with automatic deductions, though not PayPal. I'll never repeat that mistake.

If money was meant to be electronic, the bills would have little circuits in them. If it were meant to be plastic, it would not be made of paper.

 

I deal in paper checks for personal stuff, and money orders for online trading. Three days isn't too long to wait for payment to arrive, is it?

They say PayPal is safer!? Not from what I'm hearing here, and certainly not from my experiences. It sucks when you go to the ATM to withdraw cash for a meal out, and you find that the $100 you had is now -$35.37. It's that amount because someone you authorized to make automatic withdrawals overdrew your account by 37 cents, and the bank tacked on the $35 overdraft protection fee.

Wanna avoid stuff like this? Hang on to your cash with both hands.

 

In order to receive money through PayPal, do you have to be linked to a bank account? I've always assumed so but theoretically a credit card could receive credits. I don't generally sell things, so haven't checked into it.

 

If I do attach a bank account, it'll be one set up only for use with PayPal. Sounds like I'd need to be sure there was no overdraft protection on it.

[Cobra Kai]

I've used Paypal pretty much since I joined eBay, maybe shortly after and never had a single problem (over 7 years like Curt). But, I think I'm going to take Curts advice and open a seperate share draft account strictly for Paypal stuff, that's just too good an idea to pass, can't believe I never thought of that before.

 

Not using Paypal is out of the question, there's no other service that is as easy to use, let alone as ingrained into ebay. Paypal made eBay 100x better, I don't see how classic gamers could live without either service.

[Math You]

So I sell and ship a $1900 item, buyer receives, I have proof of receipt and he keeps it, 3 months later he does a chargeback with his credit card company, never returns what he bought and now I'm stuck with the bill and he's got the merchandise AND his money back, nice, real nice. Now I've gotta contact the local Arizona police to see if I can open a fraud/theft case as I obviously have no further assistance from Paypal.

 

 

Curt

Did the buyer leave any feedback? That would prove the item was received.

Edited May 7, 2007 by MRB

[+Andrew Davie]

... because sooner or later, like me, you will find yourself on the receiving end of Paypal's wraith.

 

Interesting Freudian slip. Wrath of the wraith?

Cheers

A

[Almost Rice]

I've used Paypal pretty much since I joined eBay, maybe shortly after and never had a single problem (over 7 years like Curt). But, I think I'm going to take Curts advice and open a seperate share draft account strictly for Paypal stuff, that's just too good an idea to pass, can't believe I never thought of that before.

 

Remember to make sure your account does not allow overdrafts. Having an account that is seperate is only the 1st step.

[NinjaWarrior]

I don't really have my Bank Accout atached to Paypal..I don't trust anyone

Edited May 8, 2007 by NinjaWarrior

[A2600]

Curt did you Contact the AZ General Attorney??

[Almost Rice]

I don't really have my Bank Accout atached to Paypal..I don't trust anyone

 

Thats how I am, but to receive payment you really need an account. My payment account does not have a bank account attached to it. That way my default payment method is my CC.

[Lauren Tyler]

I have a PayPal account, but I don't have a bank account attached to it. Don't ask me why, it's a long story.

 

As for this horror story, I'd better pass it along to my mother, since she's used it for several years and hasn't had any problems.

Edited May 9, 2007 by LarcenTyler

[Millipeder]

I've got my Paypal account connected to my checking account, and withdraw funds for ebay stuff whenever i need it. I do this on a regular basis, and have for the last 3 years or so w/o one problem whatsoever. I'm also pretty sure i will continue to do this for a while to come as well...

 

I'm really sorry you got ripped, but PP has been a godsend for me.

[Goochman]

I used to just have a credit card for Paypal - I dont buy alot and eventually they cut me off forcing me to attach a savings account to them, so I setup a minimum savings account to make them happy - its not my main account - I saw the paypalsucks site prior to doing this.

 

One funny side note is I usually use my credit card for purchases even though Paypal likes to default to my savings account - the one time I missed this my bank denied paypal in taking the funds so I dont think they can get to my money at all - Ive just satisfied their rules to use my CC for payment

[tregare]

Paypal froze my housemate's paypal account because someone they once received funds from had a negative balance on their paypal account.

 

Paypal then went so far as to claim that the accounts were linked by Physical address (ie that the other person's paypal account was tied to their home address) Paypal is still insisting that to this day, and was going to close out their paypal account (and release the funds in ti after 6 months) until they got in touch with the Washington State office of financial institutions (I think it was) and lo and behold, the day AFTER paypal received an official inquiry from the banking and financial admin officve for wash state, their account was cleared and active again.....

 

However they are still insisting that the other account is linked to theirs (even though it is not them)

[Hendra]

Hi Curt, is your buyer Paypal address confirmed? You should be protected against fraudulent charge back if your buyer has a confirmed address.

[+LS650]

I have had problems with PayPal. Unfortunately, PP is more-or-less a necessary evil if you want to buy and sell on eBay. I wish there were a better alternative.

[Rik]

Ive never had a problem with them in over 2 years dealing with them,in fact they once stopped a hacker from ripping me off .

I will still do business with them.

They do that to make themselves look good,they have to do that once in a while,much like the MAFIA who donate millions to childrens hospitals,to look like saints

Edited July 16, 2007 by Rik

[Curt Vendel]

We'll see how much longer that lasts...

 

I am more then certain that we'll soon see Ebay up on Monopolistic charges and a DoJ investigation. They are barring Google Checkout which is probably THE only company at this point that stands a decent chance of dethrowning the Ebay-Paypal monopoly.

 

Either Ebay is going to have to accept Google Checkouts soon or its most likely going to go under the microscope and with some many AG's flooded with paypal complaints and mounting issues against paypal, Ebay is NOT going to want paypal to be publicly examined as I'm sure their dirty little financial trickery will bubble to the surface and paypal will be completely exposed.

 

 

BTW - If you read paypals seller protection guarantee - try to put it to a realworld simulation, its designed to specifically fail for 99% of the legit sales. I have all of the freight documentation, signatures, receipts, etc... Paypal does not want to hear it whatsoever, there is no seller protection at all.

 

 

 

Curt

 

I have had problems with PayPal. Unfortunately, PP is more-or-less a necessary evil if you want to buy and sell on eBay. I wish there were a better alternative.

[Rik]

Paypal are SATAN'S ADVOCATES,as far as im concerned.If you read up on what kind of people run paypal,you'de never use it AGAIN,(IF YOU HAVE STRONG MORALS),that is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!STTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited July 23, 2007 by Rik