After selling my product, an hour later, it was paid for (around 7 am.) At that time, Ebay's status changed from 'Awaiting Payment' to 'Print Shipping Label' and the $ icon changed from grayed out to have the usual blue color. If you hover over it, it says 'Paid with PayPal on Mar 8,2010'.
So what did I do? I did exactly what Ebay suggests a responsible seller does. I print the label, packaged it up and took it to the P.O. and shipping it out. Did it on my lunch hour. You would think, I was being a very good seller, right?
Then at 4:52 fem.. - around 8-9 hours later, I get an email from PayPal saying the transaction is under review as high risk and do not ship the item!!!! The status also explains that I'm not covered by Buyer Protection.
Well, I've written credit card fraud routines for a major credit card company and I know how they work (the scoring methods) and when. While I understand the service and that it can provide protection, the idea that the seller is notified 8 hours after the transaction is ridiculous. Especially stating that the seller is not covered (even though the purchaser and their address is confirmed) is just wrong.
The Ebay status should not change to suggest that all is okay. I suspect, if all of the transactions go through automated fraud routines, it should take only seconds to pass through. If they get kicked out into a fraud queue and are handled manually through a fraud protection department, it shouldn't take 8 hours. In any case, the status in Ebay should NOT be changed to suggest that all is well.
As soon as the transaction is kicked into the fraud review queue, the status in Ebay should be changed from 'Awaiting payment' to 'Do Not Ship' instead of 'Print Shipping Label'. Also, the grayed out $ should change to a red exclamation point that says 'Under Review' when it is hovered over. After the review process is completed and all is okay, then the Ebay status should change to 'Print Shipping Label' and the icon change to the blue $.
Don't tell me to review the seller agreement either. A casual user, like me, expects a simple and clean transaction process that ensure my security. The process should be bullet-proof. AND it should be covered by the buyer protection program.
