Seller can't receive my funds in Romania - true?

[frost16]

I tried to buy some art from an artist whose work I saw online. He lives in Romania. I told him I could send him the money using Paypal, because I didn't know any different. He said okay, but there was trouble right away.

First he complained that he had to pay 75 euros to open a Paypal account. I don't know what this means, unless he meant that he didn't have a bank account, so the 75 euros was a bank depost. But there's a language problem, so I'm not sure. Anyway, he thinks I'm responsible to pay him this amount, in addition to the fee for the art.

Next, I sent him 250 euros, 350 some dollars, via Paypal to pay for the art. (Was going to wait on the 75 euros, which I'll need to ask more about.) He's hysterical, tells me the money is frozen. I ask him for a screenshot of what he's looking at in Paypal, and sure enough, it says I sent him the funds, but they're being held.

I scoured the Internet for help - didn't find much, but I picked up some info that Paypal doesn't work in Romania. Is this true? I can't get a straight answer from the phone reps.

I tried to send him the money via Monegram online. My account set up didn't work, so I called them. Monegram told me they discourage the sending of money for goods, because there's no mediation process or recourse to recover lost funds if the transaction turns out to be fraudulent. The Moneygram guy recommended Paypal. (sigh)

I also tried to wire the money to the guy via my bank, but they said the info he provided wasn't complete.

So - does Paypal work in Romania or not?

Just want this nightmare to end...

[christopherf]

Tell him to do CoD to your local post office that should fix things although if he sends you something tottaly diffrent then ur **bleep**ed.

[bgarrett]

I noticed some of the countries I would like to establish online businesses are not in the listings to send money to..such as Belize or Panama.  Is this due to some kind of international banking code or what? Has anyone heard anything??

[profdata]

New seller fall under the 21 day hold policy.  Ebay/paypal holds the funds from the seller until he can prove delivery or the buyer leaves feedback, or 21 days which ever one happens 1st.

Also Romania paypal members can

Send. Receive. Withdraw to a U.S. Bank Account or a card.

Send and receive payments in these countries. Withdraw from your PayPal account to a U.S. bank account. In addition, withdraw to a credit, debit, or prepaid card in countries marked with a ().

link to list of countries https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-signup-countries-outside

Do not wire money to the seller.  You will have no buyer protection.

Report the seller to paypal.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi frost16,

The answer that profdata gave you is right on the money!

Hi bgarrett,

PayPal is not available in all countries. Whenever we add a market, that information is then listed on the page that profdata linked to. There are no current announcements regarding future plans, but you can check back on that page for any updates.

Hi profdata,

Thanks again for being a superstar. 🙂

Olivia

[frost16]

Thanks for these replies.

So Paypal holds the money until the seller ships the item? WHY on earth didn't anyone at Paypal mention that little piece? The  guy was going frickin' nuts because he couldn't receive his money. Why didn't they tell him what to do?

Instead I freaked out too, and had to initiate an "item not received" claimto get my funds back. Just insane.

I am so mad over this.

Thanks for the advice not to wire money to Romania. Monegram and Western Union have both refused to process my attempts to do just that. I was irritated, because my feeling is that the seller is trustworthy. But I realize that mistakes or actual fraud could happen anywhere  along the way -- maybe in transit, an unethical employee somewhere in there. So I can live with that.

I could try Paypal again, and tell the guy (who just barely understands anything I tell him) that the funds will be held until he submits a tracking order.

But I'm so annoyed by the crap I've been through over this, going on two months now, that I don't want to do this at all.

My seller is steamed -- says I've gone back on my promise to buy his art, yada yada. He's been pretty pricky over this. I'm a bit afraid of him.

Thank goodness he's in Romania. 😉