PayPal won't/can't answer a basic question.....

[frankfurter]

For several days now I've been playing back and forth with PayPal support. They refuse to answer my basic question, and I'm convinced that one of two things are happening:

1) There's a sinister plot to keep this flaw in their system hidden until they can figure out the solution

or 

2) The support staff is run by a bunch of inept and uncaring employees who can't look past the form responses they're given

My money is on #2, and not trying to be mean, but why else are they dragging this out for days on end?

It's like this. I recently sold something on Ebay, and as I always do (you're welcome, PayPal), I insist on PayPal payment. The buyer paid, and I got the notification email from PayPal. One problem - it said it was an unconfirmed address. I tell people in my auctions I won't accept payment from unconfirmed buyers, so this is an issue to me. 

I log in to the PayPal website, and was a little confused to see that when I view the transaction details, it shows a green 'confirmed'. I sent a note to support, and the fun began. They did the usual cut and paste from their help section, and it's been basically back and forth since. 

Thinking it may be because the buyer paid with an eCheck, I waited until it cleared. A few days later, it cleared, I got the email from PayPal, but it still showed a red 'unconfirmed'. Checked the website, a nice green 'confirmed'. 

I sent a second screenshot showing both screens side by side, and the reply I got this last time was, "Calm down, sir, I've checked and your shipping address is confirmed." He was referring to my PERSONAL address. Sigh. 

At this point I've given up and submitted to the fact that I'm dealing with college interns or the slower of the staff. Despite my numerous attempts at having the issue escalated, they are basically ignoring me now.

This was a $450 item, so whaddya do. Believe their website, or believe their emails.....

Does anyone have any suggestions, or know of a different escalation method? My patience has worn pretty thin, and I guess my only recourse is to now -refuse- to take PayPal on my auctions. 

[surplusdealdude · Accepted solution]

Buyers haven't been required to have confirmed addresses for more than a year now.  As long as the payment email says, "eligible" or  "partly eligible", you're covered.

And there is a glitch in Paypal right now - some confirmed addresses are showing up as "unconfirmed" - there's a thread about it on the Watercooler board in the Read-only section on top.

You're partly right about why the Paypal Help center was unable to answer your question.  I used to be a CSR for another, unrelated company, and this is how a Help system works.

Most Help centers use a "knowledge base", which is a fancy term for a computer-based set of questions and answers.  This allows specific information to be placed "in the system" for access by users, but only if they can ask the right question.  In the center where I used to work, we'd type in a question and get 150 possible answers - we had to decide what the correct answer was.

Knowledge Bases are notorious for not being kept up-to-date.  If the answer to a questin is new or a temporary situation, it's generally not added to the base, because once it's in there, it's in there to stay.

The issue with theunconfirmed/confirmed reports is very new ( 3-4 months old) and it's expected to be a temporary glitch AND the information is not relevant anymore anyway, strictly speaking, so it wouldn't get included in the knowledge base.  The poor souls trying to answer your question don't have THAT answer available.

[frankfurter]

Thanks, dude, for the thoughtful reply. While I understand knowledge bases and that kind of thing, nothing (NOTHING) replaces good old-fashioned READING. If they'd actually read my message, they would've said, "I don't know." Or, if they'd read my message, they -would- escalate it as I asked multiple times. The only impression they've left me with is that they are ignorant (which I'm sure most aren't), and their supervisors "can't be bothered". 

It's too bad. PayPal is (was) a great service, but I'm, afraid greed and size is becoming their main issues. Makes me wonder how bad my auctions would suffer if I refused PayPal but instead used a competitor, like Revolution MoneyExchange. 

Regardless, I'm glad (I guess?) to hear this is a known issue. Yeah, a quick "we know, and guarantee you will be protected on this transaction" and I would've moved merrily along my way. 

[profdata]

 Or, if they'd read my message, they -would- escalate it as I asked multiple times.

If you would have read the paypal useragreement you would have noticed a confirmed address is no longer needed

[frankfurter]

Yes, pouring through the "we've updated our policies" emails is a great way to spend the evening.

Here's a better idea - maybe stop POSTING whether or not it's confirmed on the details page if it doesn't matter. Or even better, they could stop recommending you check for confirmed addresses before shipping (https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing_CommandDriven/securitycenter/sell/TipsFor...).

But my ultimate suggestion would be that you could stop posting douchey and irrelevant comments. You're obviously one of those "why don't you check Google first" 'helpers' on forums. Go away.

[threedaysgrace]

ARE YOU EVEN ALLOWED TO NOT TAKE PAYPAL ANYMORE?

[bookersmine]

I am really trying to find that out !!

Laura

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi frankfurter,

I'm extremely sorry you have encountered difficulty getting answers when calling customer solutions. I'm very glad that surplusdealdude's answer was able to put your mind at ease with regard to the eligibility of payments for Seller Protection. He's correct, and the relevant information is the eligibility rather than the confirmed or unconfirmed status of the recipient's address.

Your suggestion regarding taking the irrelevant info off that page is a good one, and one that I will definitely pass along. The confusion that you experienced with this information is something others may experience as well.

Olivia

[piperfd]

I agree, your looking for help not smart alleck answers.

[bookersmine]

Thank you