Why Did PayPal Do This??

[W6JHB]

I have a question and a beef with PayPal. Here's the history:

On 2/13/2011 one of my auctions for US classic postage stamps closed. The winning buyer (who had zero feedback at the time), living in NYC, paid me via PayPal three days later, the grand sum of $3.38 (2.63 for the stamp plus .65 for shipping). I mailed his stamp out to him that same morning. Later in the day I got an email from PayPal saying that the transaction was being investigated. No reason why was given. They asked if I had sent the item, how I sent it, and to what address. I told them First Class mail, to the address I was given in the eBay sales record. Today, 2/19/2011, I get an email from PayPal saying that the transaction was being reversed, and that the buyer has been refunded his money. WTF?????? What is going on here? Why am I being **bleep**ed on this transaction? I've done nothing wrong. Never heard from the buyer saying he was unhappy. I am really, really **bleep** about this whole fiasco. Anyone from PayPal listening here............???

[Techcowboy77]

I have a similar issue to one of the previous posters. I have been a PayPal user for about 10 years or more and yesterday for no reason a purchase was blocked on ebay. The seller calls PayPal and they tell him that my account was restricted because I used a different form of payment or someone unauthorized used my account. On that note, I have had the same bank account and check card attached to it with the same numbers for over 10 years and the card does not expire for 2 more years, it was updated last year. I had used the same method of payment just a few days earlier with no problems. Of course the seller was freaking out and he sent me a message telling me what the PayPal reps told him and that PayPal sent me an email that I need to respond to. I get home and check my email and it says my account is limited and I need to reverify my account. I go to the PayPal site and login and it tells me I need to change my password, done. I get in and it says now I need to verify, which I can do by phone, but it must be a land line. I haven't had a land line in my home for 3 years now, only cell phones. Needless to say that made AT&T very happy because I had to resign up with them and they gave me back my old number, $$$ for payment and a contract of course. Went through phone verification and the account was restored to full access. Checked my transactions and it shows on my end that the money was pulled from my account and sent to the seller, but ebay showed it as paid before I did all this so I was a little confused anyway. Now I get a notice of an open Resolution Center case stating that PayPal is reviewing my transaction and it is on hold. The seller is getting ready to cancel my purchase which I'm sure will result in negative feedback for something that PayPal did to me for no reason.  What is going on here?

[PayPal_Andy]

Techcowboy77-  So here's what I think the situation is.  For whatever reason, our systems felt that someone had accessed your PayPal account without your permission.  When that happens we'll limit your account and hold whatever payment was being made until we can make sure there's nothing strange happening. 

In your case, you've resolved the limitation portion (and went to some pretty impressive steps because all you really needed to do was give us a call), but we're still holding the payment.  Normally this would be released to the seller once the limitation was gone, but sometimes not depending on what the seller has told us.  If they've shipped the item with tracking, the money would be released; if not it would be reversed back to you, since you can always make the payment again.  So you'll want to check the status of the case that was holding the payment; if it's reversed back to you you would need to make the payment (or check with the seller if they even want you to anymore), if it's completed then they have the money and you should be receiving your item.

Hope this sheds some light on things.

Andy

[Latestproblem]

Here's another example of paypal ignorance. An anti-American Frenchman got the Xbox 360 that my grandtwins outgrew. He stated I was deliberately cheating him by sending a Xbox1 and wanted his money back. The case, the guide manual and the CD all stated Xbox360. MY grandtwins stated it was the Xbox360. I sent the postage fee to "frenchie" to send it back. Only response? Paypal gave his US friend making the payment a full refund! Further more ALL PAYMENTS RECEIVED SINCE THEN SAY "ISSUE REFUND". No way am I sending 12 payments back for shipments received. This is their biggest mess since someone tried to sell computers in Europe using my account, and naturally Paypal closed my account. It took me 6 months to relist 1600 books. I complained, they said "you can always close your account".  Yahoo says Bank of America wants to use their system in their transactions! God help us all!!! janhamuze

[Fleckerl]

I have a question for a paypal representative:  I recently purchased something on ebay, but I did not have the option to make a direct payment from my checking.  Why did that happen?  I did not set any preferences other than to make direct payments to the merchants.  I need help in how to set my preferences back to direct payment.  Not echeck. not 'bill me later', etc.!  I'd appreciate the answer as soon as possible!

Thank you.

[PayPal_Andy]

Fleckerl-  That would be a great question for our customer service to answer if you wanted to give them a call!  The boards here are really about other members providing assistance; those of us from PayPal will try to answer questions when we can but if it's very account specific (like your question), you would want to call in so we can best assist you.

Andy 

[Kayomontai]

I'm trying to buy from a website, the bill is over $100, but my acct has well over $10 more than my bill even after the handling fee, but everytime I try checking out it tells me the site I'm buying from requires me to confirm my address and that the total exceeds my balance (which is false) and I need to put in a credit card, if I had a credit card, I wouldn't bother wasting the 5 days for my bank acct to put in my funds, so did I put the money into my acct for no reason since I can't use it to pay for what I originally put the money in for? I've had paypal for almost 10 yrs, same acct, same address, same bank account, obviously the address should be confirmed by now!

[threadsinthebed]

I have had many sales on Etsy, and this time I can't understand what is happening.  On September 24th at 6:30 a.m. Dorothee **** from Oldenburg, Germany purchased some items from me.  It said she chose Paypal but that the: Payment is pending.  Please wait to ship".  I have been waiting, there is nothing in my Paypal Account information to tell me that I even have anything pending.

I have had problems with my email address, and changed to another email address around the same time.  Troubles began Tuesday the 20th of September, switched email on Thursday the 22nd and Friday installed Windows 7 which knocked out my previous emails.  I had saved the one from Dorothee, and keep checking paypal directly to see where the confirmation is.  Any suggestions.  Are there any actual humans who could find this out for me at Paypal?

My new email address is how Etsy notified me of the sale, I also changed that address in paypal. 

[jth1344]

i sold a gift card on ebay: $100 to itunes..I got an email saying the buyer had paid and the buyer wanted me to email her the code on the back of the gift card. since the payment had been sent, I went ahead and emailed her the code on the ebay website. Two weeks later, I get an email from from paypal saying It was an unauthorized payment and there is a claim, and my money is gone!! help! am i **bleep**ed! (I am a first time seller)

[kookiemama]

Explain your problem to paypal and file a report. It happened to me and Paypal took care of it and I got my money back. It took about 3 weeks. They will work with you because they want you to be satisfied. Don't give UP!!!!!!

[Latestproblem]

Thanks!  I was told the "issue refund" was available and they were not going to take money from my account and give a refund. They also are holding the refund for the video game problem. The money isn't in my account, it's in limbo, so it's wait, wait, wait. janhamuze