Leaving eBay and Paypal after 20 years

loveandsmileys
New Community Member

I am an inaugural Paypal user who remembers the $5 sign-up bonuses (and got quite a few friends/relatives to sign up), sometime around 1999. Just to put this into perspective. I've been using ebay for a few years before that, so well over 20 years. I've bought a lot of things but seldom sold. Sold a car six months ago, no problem. Sold some collectibles earlier this year. No problems, because of good buyers. Then, I inherited a new unwanted iPhone and wanted to get rid of it. Put it up for sale. Got a couple bids during the week. At the last minute, someone jumped in and sniped it. This person had just created their ebay account, same day. They paid immediately. First message, also immediately, was "Can you please ship it to this alternate address? Thank you!"

 

That was the beginning of hell for me two days ago. Hell dealing with eBay and Paypal and their broken integration. I told the buyer, "Absolutely not" and clicked on the cancel sale link. Whoa!! My how things have changed! I'm a seller, a big bad BUSINESS, apparently, so I have no rights. First, Paypal refused to refund their fee. It had JUST been done, minutes earlier. A $20 fee, nonrefundable. Paypal acts like they're not part of the ebay family, that they aren't an essential service. What alternatives are there? I thought, damn, why do I have to eat $20 just to get rid of this potential fraud buyer? So I sat on it a while, to see if I was missing something. Meanwhile, I reported the user to ebay security. 

 

At that point, the buyer, who is sending me a dozen messages, opened a no-ship case against me. Remember, this is all THE SAME DAY, mere hours. The buyer's case takes precedent over the seller's case, so I'm required to refund the sale. Fine, okay, that's what I wanted. I finally gave up on the $20 and decided I would have to eat the cost (and then ragequit Paypal after it's done--after 20 years, yes, I will do that with a company that #*@#s me out of $20. When a sale is cancelled, it's cancelled, there's no funds delivered, so why in the hell do I pay a fee? 

 

But it gets better. I can't submit the refund! Because the buyer has opened a no-ship case! (2 hours after the sale ended). Now, I have to respond to the buyer. Okay, I do that, I click the refund option, and it fails. Fails a dozen times. So I contact ebay CS. That person is no help at all. I wait 2 days. Okay, here we are, 2 days later, nothing has happened, no movement. Funds still sitting in Paypal on hold. I chat with ebay CS again and explain the problem ALL OVER AGAIN. To resolve the problem, this person says, I have to deposit funds into my Paypal balance equal to the amount of the sale so that the refund can go through.

 

Wait. What??????????

 

I think my brain exploded. I can't remember much after that except I was incoherent and she left the chat. 

 

I have to deposit funds equal to the value of the sale, when the funds are ON HOLD in Paypal, waiting for the refund to be initiated. 

 

That's it, I'm out. Whatever is going to happen 3 business days afterward, apparently eBay will "force" me to refund the money. What does that even mean? I WANT it. The buyer WANTS it. but eBay and Paypal can't seem to figure out that to process a refund, you have to.....you know....release....the money....

 

I give up. When this is over, I'm closing both accounts. I don't trust either company. Paypal wasn't so bad, but I don't care, they're both gone after this is over. I won't trust companies that behave this way with my possessions and money. Paypal, you can take this as a suggestion if you want. If a 20-year account holder bails, there's a serious problem with your policies.

 

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1 REPLY 1

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@loveandsmileys 

 

Firstly if a buyer asked to ship to another address i would just politely refuse if they had paid, they may be quite happy to have it sent to their paypal registered address if you said no but were just asking.

 

If they had not paid then i would have told them to add that 'gift' address to their paypal account and select it during payment, then you would have seller protection. 

If they were scammers with a hijacked ebay account then they would not have  paid via paypal as scammers don't normally have paypal accounts.

 

Secondly Ebay and Paypal are 2 totally separate companies so Paypal are no more a 'part' of Ebay as your credit card or bank are. They are just a payment option that you can use on Ebay.

 

As for the fee, guess you don't read the policy updates that are emailed to you? Paypal no longer return the fee, you pay a fee to paypal for processing the buyers payment for you and then processing the refund as well. They are providing you with a service and like all companies charge for that service.

 

The buyer only opened a no ship case 2 hours after the auction ended because you cancelled the auction 2 hours after the auction ended and had not issued a refund.

 

Sadly you can't refund 'held' funds so you would need to have the full amount (including the fee amount) in your balance OR you can fund it from any linked bank account.

 

 


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