AliExpress Purchase Coded as Cash Advance

[orrly]

RESOLVED/// 

I reached out to AliExpress, and they say they didn't change their payment methods on the backend so to take it up with PayPal, who is also not taking ownership. I called my credit card's affiliated bank (Chase) again, and the rep waived the fee for me this time--I have good credit history and have been a customer for 10 yrs so YMMV. Also, my previous call to Chase was unsuccessful so you might need to call a few times and hope to catch a nice rep. Good luck to everyone except PayPal, who NEEDS TO STEP UP WITH THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

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I'm in the US and recently purchased an item off of AliExpress for the first time. I couldn't find the item I was looking for elsewhere on the web, and since they had a PayPal payment option, I thought maybe it would be safe enough. I paid just shy of USD 7 for the item.

Fast forward a few days later, I noticed that the credit card affiliated my this PayPal purchase had a USD 10 transaction fee--I called my bank, and they said it's because it was coded as a Cash Advance.

I reached out to AliExpress and they said to talk to PayPal who processed it. I filed a dispute with PayPal under "billing issue" because none of the other choices seem any better--I included a copy of my purchase receipt and a screenshot of my credit card statement showing the extraneous fee. Today PayPal just denied my name because it's "not a billing issue". Could someone advise what I should do? Out of principle, I do not this it's right for me to be charged this fine because some weird billing on the back end.

[1kjp1]

My apologies. Still grappling with the fact that it’s December already. That was meant to say effective Dec 3rd (today).

[vj2050]

How has this been resolved?       Paypal hasn't exactly been forthcoming and I'd like to see something official.   My message to them was being forwarded to an "account specialist" but I never received a direct reply re: the cash advance charge - just a boilerplate denial ignoring it.    I'm not impressed with their approach to customer relations.   TD Visa in contrast were very transparent and helpful.

[KimSmith]

hello

i'm not sure if the issue is resolved between AliPay and PayPal

i have been charged for cash advance fees $5.00 twice on 2 significant AliExpress merchandise.

November 30 and December 1

Bank: TD Visa has refunded the 2 cash advance charges but MORE IMPORTANTLY have re-classified the purchases as MERCHANDISE - this is crucial as cash advance interest rates are MUCH higher than on merchandise.

PayPayl - need to stop this practice as it is incorrect and unauthorized.  the Banks needs to send a warning that there is potentially incorrect charges being submitted by AliPay and Paypal to the detriment of its clients.

i am quite peeved

[ChuckEF]

I was hit with 4 charges by my bank for cash advance fees on merchandise purchases.  It seems like if you use paypal to make purchases, they themselves won't charge you extra  service charges but they won't do anything to protect you from getting service charges by your bank and seem to indicate that they are not responsible for coding the transaction as cash advance.  I would think that if it was one of their partners creating this situation they would want it rectified, but there seems to be no desire on their part to do this, and no guarantee that whenever you use paypal to purchase merchandise that you won't get charged a cash advance fee.  They just suggest after you get nailed to find a different way of paying.   This for me I find not good enough to continue to comfortably continue to use the service.  I may not be alone in this and Paypal should take note.

[KimSmith]

I 100% agree

My bank has refunded the charges and corrected the purchases' classification however, like you, I am reluctant to use the service in the future if Paypal does not correct the issue and ensures it is no longer a systemic threat. 

[Jay75043]

It puzzles me that PayPal doesn't seem to care about this. From my perspective this is a problem for them.

If I was Aliexpress I would stop accepting PayPal since these cash advance fees will only serve to **bleep** off buyers.

As a buyer I have no choice but to stop using PayPal since I have no way of knowing if/when I'll get hit with a cash-advance fee.

My bank competes with PayPal.  If I stop using PayPal I'm sure they'll be fine with that.

The response I got from PayPal was basically - not our problem - contact your bank.  Unless their goal is to discourage people from using PayPal this does appear to be their problem.  Despite this, I've seen no evidence that PayPal cares about this or is taking any action to resolve it.

[leggatmagmaca]

TD Visa has had me running around for the last month, changing credit card numbers for security against fraud, when they were the ones collecting the $5 per transaction fee all along. Paypal claims innocence/ignorance re these odd transactions.

TD finally admitted that the 'Paypal *Alipaysinga' activity was automatically coded as a cash advance, though these transactions don't appear in the same statement as cash advances - cash advances; $0.00, Fees ; nx$5. No refund of these fees or the entailed interest on the entire balance, though all legitimate charges are paid on time.

I was buying RF connectors, one or two at a time from different Ali Express vendors - charges being greater than actual item purchased, in many instances.

Paypal must be responsible to advise customers re clients coding for credit card transactions, or at least supply a list of clients currently coded as cash-only payment receivers. Otherwise this lack of information costs their clients more money than they can estimate in unanticipated credit card charges and interest.

There are no issues with other off-shore vendors like Banggood, DealExtreme, CESdeals etc. Why Aliexpress overturns this arrangement through Alipaysingapore is curious. All purchases prior to Dec 03 (last bank charges Dec10).

If anyone has any better experience at some future date, please let me know by posting fee-free experience with Aliexpress.

[Chai67]

This fraudulent practice must stop. Reporting to FTC.

[klamchop]

I can't believe Paypal is letting it code as cash advance!

Called Chase twice and both representative dumped the fault on paypal, sending secured message to them and hopefully they will refund the fees.

Paypal is the worst thing created EVER! With absolutely NO CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT!!!

[vsrivatsa]

I have the same issue, I used Capital One as my credit card. Paypal does not seem to have a good category to file a dispute into, filing a dispute as a billing issue causes the case to be closed as "Not a Billing Issue".  

At no point during the transaction is it clear that you are transferring money to another financial institution and not simply paying a merchant. The least paypal could do is put a little warning when you are on the confirmation screen, their silence on this and the lack of action on this only tells me that they are not concerned about customers and how much money it is costing them in fees.

I have significantly reduced my paypal usage and will make a conscious choice to avoid them in the future for all transactions.