PayPal Community

Consulting Paypal.   On hold for customer service right now...   got on hold at 9:15am, it's 9:22 now. We'll see how this goes...   This will either be a good or bad example for the boards of Paypal customer service...   I have a technical blog that takes a couple thousand views per month. I'll post my experience there as well.   Here you go Paypal, your opportunity to shine !!!   ***Edit***   An extremely helpful customer service representative, answered at 9:30am, and advised after reviewing the transaction that it will be safe to ship. I will be shipping FedEx, with signature confirmation and likely insured.   I'd call that a paypal win for intial customer service.    That said, I threatened to post it to my Blog, and I will follow through.   Thanks for the comments Snowshoe.         ... View more

And so, I will probably be refunding this person's payment after reading this on the E-bay forums (which have been unusable for the last week apparently. How does a company with practices like Ebay/paypal survive? I guess on pure monopoly power?) Majorly Flawed: PayPal's Seller Protection Ripoff Jun 29, 2013 06:40 PM I recently made a sale of $1200. As per stated in PayPal's seller protection policy, I purchased a shipping label directly through PayPal (buyer's address was PayPal verified), with signature confirmation, required for transactions over $250. The tracking information states that a notice was left for the buyer. However, the buyer has changed his mind about wanting the item, and because I said that all sales are final and that there would be no refunds, the buyer has refused to pick up the item. Moreover, the buyer has filed an "item not received" claim with PayPal. PayPal sided with the buyer and refunded the buyer the entire $1200, stating that I am not covered under their protection policy unless the buyer signs for the item. I've tried very hard to fight with them about this, have tried to appeal the case several times, and I keep getting the same response by different PayPal agents, that there needs to be signature confirmation that the buyer has picked up the item in order for me to be covered under their seller protection. Well, WTF??? How am I supposed to control that? I can't do much more on my end than purchase signature confirmation with my postage. I can't make the buyer sign for the item. So, not only did I lose out on the $1200, I didn't even get my original item returned to me. Hopefully, if the buyer keeps refusing the item, USPS will ship the item back to the return address (me). Re: Majorly Flawed: PayPal's Seller Protection Ripoff Jun 29, 2013 09:14 PM ym9854 wrote: Moreover, the buyer has filed an "item not received" claim with PayPal. Did your receive email saying Item Not Received dispute at PayPal? And then an email dispute has been escalated to a claim? If so, how much time between the two emails? Re: Majorly Flawed: PayPal's Seller Protection Ripoff Jun 30, 2013 04:11 AM As you have discovered the "hard way" the so called “seller protection” doesn't do much to protect you. Even when you sell according to their guidelines the policy is so filled with exceptions, most of which are beyond the sellers control, that unfortunately most transactions don’t truly qualify for protection. As a result Paypal will side with the buyer most of the time and the defenseless Seller is left with nothing. Ebay knows this but looks the other way. If you want true seller protection you need to open a merchant account with a reputable company. Re: Majorly Flawed: PayPal's Seller Protection Ripoff Jun 30, 2013 06:37 AM Why don't you contact the post office and have them return the package to you. Yes, it can be a pain but at least you won't be out the item. Re: Majorly Flawed: PayPal's Seller Protection Ripoff Jun 30, 2013 07:34 AM Seller Protection is a myth like Big Foot. ... View more

So the individual sent me two separate payments with these notes:   For ebay purchase of CCNA v2.0 CCNP certification study lab. Reference xxxxxxxxxxxxx Payment Part 1   For eBay purchase of: CCNA v2.0 CCNP certification study lab. Reference number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Payment part 2. Please mark ebay purchase as paid. Thank you. Once again sorry for all the messages and the non-standard payment method.   The transactions say I have seller protection and to ship the item.    I invoiced the individual with a single invoice, and he has sent payment to my paypal account by e-mail.   Can i trust any auto-generated Paypal statement ?   The address is confirmed, matches on both payments,  and the sender of the payment is verified.   If this really is going to be a likely scam, this is really more trouble than it's worth. I'll just start the Payment system afforded by my website provider and sell through that. ... View more

So, a dispute can be won with evidentiary e-mails from his E-bay account requesting me to do so ?   Wow, I may be seeing even more of peoples issues with paypal, if Ebay and Paypal work so poorly with one another when they are, in reality, two different divisions of the same company. Unless that is the intention...   This may not be a good place to sell my wares.   Thanks for the heads up.     ... View more

https://sanjose.app.bbb.org/     http://www.alternet.org/story/153474   Excerpt:   "What does PayPal do with the money it withholds? Beyond furnishing legitimate refunds, the high reserve percentages and long withholding periods provide the company capital it could build on, and money transmitter licensing laws are no obstacle to investment. There is ample reason to believe that this is precisely what PayPal is doing. Alongside fees that customers know about, eBay’s “other revenues are derived principally from interest earned on certain PayPal customer account balances” and two unrelated sources, according to the annual report. The report does not elaborate on which account balances are invested, and Hakes neither confirmed nor denied whether PayPal invests the earnings it denies merchants. However, since merchants are required by the user agreement to turn over interest on held accounts, it is fair to assume that their accounts are among the “certain” few." ... View more

So I guess at this point, I'm trying to guess what an "successful sales history" is.   I'm not sure I really care at this point. Every time I have payment held from here going forward, I'm going to file a BBB complaint.   I've sold 4 items of  " High Risk" nature, and they have all made it to the buyers without any issue. The total for those sales is $2492.   I have an E-bay 100% account, that is nearly 4 years old.    I feel justified in my actions and my feedback is you have take your lumps with policies like this, and the lumps from me are going to be BBB complaints.   Since Paypal is the only realistic option when using E-bay, I'm bound by what appears to be a money making scheme in holding cash as long as possible by Paypal for reasons, I can guess, and that I don't think have anything to do with safety for the buyer.   So I guess there are ups and downs to your policy. San Jose BBB website's my next stop.   To add, I'm starting a company and am using a website company with canned templates. I have two choices for accepting payments. Their merchant payment system, or a paypal button. I think you can guess which one I am not going to choose at this point. Too much bad publicity about accounts being held for strange reasons. Yes, I'll likely continue using E-bay, and paypal to process my purchase transactions as you have a virtual monopoly on this, but should my company do well, you will not be reaping any reward for it.   ***Edit***    Thank you for using the Better Business Bureau's Online Complaint System. Your complaint has been assigned case # 311173.   Hopefully we can help you create a better business than you have up to now.   ... View more

Is there a portion of Paypal that doesn't seem to involve them bandying their TOS as a way to make more money ?   I'm wondering what ways I'm going to be stuck with more charges as I close my account.         ... View more

@snowshoe wrote: Whose third-party network transactions must be reported?   Everyone's. provided that a payee’s reportable transactions exceed $20,000 and the aggregate number of those transactions exceeds 200.   unless the definition of de minimis has changed. ... View more

If they continually ignore contact requests then:   https://sanjose.app.bbb.org/complaint/new/210387?bbbID=1216   As much as they would like to push it off on the seller, you are their customer. ... View more