a paypal warning

[jtm6]

Since I wouldn't agree to sign up for Paypal's credit card or give them my bank info, they cut me off. Since then I have been buying on feeBay by using USPS money orders. Some sellers won't deal that way but I've found that most will. If they won't, I don't bid.

Wait a sec... USPS money orders? Do you live in the USA? I was under the impression that sellers could only use paypal to receive payments from sellers that won auctions on eBay. It wasn't always that way, of course. Maybe it changed back to being open to alternatives. I use it so rarely that it is always a learning experience to figure out the new hoops.

 

[navah]

Emraphoto,

I see you were in contact with Allison yesterday regarding the issue. The order was immediately declined, and you were not charged. However, what you are seeing as a charge is actually a pending authorization. Pending authorizations are created by your financial institution when an order is declined, just in case we are able to process the order.

After talking to you, Allison contacted our credit card processing company PayPal, in order to see what exactly was the problem. She emailed you, as well as called and left a voicemail, so she can help you get the hold completely removed. Please respond either to the email she sent, or call Allison back, so that we can assist you in this matter.

You can reach our Customer Service Department toll free at 1-888-284-4085 (+1-619-725-3150 outside of the US). Our office hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm PST.

Best Regards,
Navah
Nik Software Customer Support Specialist

 

[willie_901]

Could be. But it is not particularly likely, such a incident would have many victims, and their reactions would be quite public and very easy to google - and there is nothing like it audible on the net. It is more likely that John's computer/browser has been individually compromised - in which case other victims might have been hit at entirely different and unrelated webshops. Or he followed a link to some bogus site - in the past months I have received several spam mails of highly dubious origin offering Nik FX...

That's interesting and helpful. Thanks.

 

[emraphoto]

Emraphoto,

I see you were in contact with Allison yesterday regarding the issue. The order was immediately declined, and you were not charged. However, what you are seeing as a charge is actually a pending authorization. Pending authorizations are created by your financial institution when an order is declined, just in case we are able to process the order.

After talking to you, Allison contacted our credit card processing company PayPal, in order to see what exactly was the problem. She emailed you, as well as called and left a voicemail, so she can help you get the hold completely removed. Please respond either to the email she sent, or call Allison back, so that we can assist you in this matter.

You can reach our Customer Service Department toll free at 1-888-284-4085 (+1-619-725-3150 outside of the US). Our office hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm PST.

Best Regards,
Navah
Nik Software Customer Support Specialist

so a follow up to the debacle...

It appears a big thank you goes out to Allison from Nik Software as she has done all the work to get my money back in my hands.

Paypal on the other hand did nothing to communicate with me what was happening and I suspect that without Allison's work, I would have never received my funds back.

 

[paulfish4570]

huzzah!!!!

 

[David Murphy]

No the rules did not change back. Buyers and sellers on US eBay are still "required" to use credit cards or PayPal. Many sellers will take other forms of payment in violation of the eBay terms of service (TOS). Since eBay has a long history of treating sellers poorly and unethically (and it keeps getting worse), many sellers have no ethical problem violating the TOS. The eBay TOS are also sparsely enforced unless sellers really do something egregious like directly ripping-off customers.

I don't violate the eBay TOS, instead my response is to rarely sell there these days. The reason is that the very worst anti-seller development on eBay in recent years was to do away with feedback for buyers. The upshot has been a huge upsurge in the number of unpaid auctions since buyers always have positive feedback and cannot be sanctioned for bad behavior. Despite a seller not being paid, eBay still merrily collects the now very expensive final value fees on a seller. The charges can be recovered by following eBay's slow and cumbersome "Un-paid item process". This absurd "process" is designed not to help sellers, but to actually discourage them from collecting owed monies and impede the recovery of fees automatically charged to them by eBay not legitimately owed.

Too bad - as it once was a great marketplace for all.

Wait a sec... USPS money orders? Do you live in the USA? I was under the impression that sellers could only use paypal to receive payments from sellers that won auctions on eBay. It wasn't always that way, of course. Maybe it changed back to being open to alternatives. I use it so rarely that it is always a learning experience to figure out the new hoops.

 

[Paul T.]

No the rules did not change back. Buyers and sellers on US eBay are still "required" to use credit cards or PayPal. Many sellers will take other forms of payment in violation of the eBay terms of service (TOS).

IN the UK at least, this is incorrect. You are allowed to take other methods of payment - the restriction is simply that you have to accept Paypal, but not exclusively. Indeed, the listing software requires you to specify what other payments you take (Check, cash on delivery etc).

Of course, the distinction is fairly meaningless in that everyone is now used to paying with PayPal, only twice in my last 30 or 40 sales have I been asked to accept COD. And, honestly, I would rather take PayPal than a check.

 

[sanmich]

John, happy that your problem is solved.

The question remains for someone outside the US:
even if you don't use ebay (I prefer to stay away), is there an alternative to paypal to pay or get paid?

 

[John E Earley]

No the rules did not change back. Buyers and sellers on US eBay are still "required" to use credit cards or PayPal. Many sellers will take other forms of payment in violation of the eBay terms of service (TOS). Since eBay has a long history of treating sellers poorly and unethically (and it keeps getting worse), many sellers have no ethical problem violating the TOS. The eBay TOS are also sparsely enforced unless sellers really do something egregious like directly ripping-off customers.

I don't violate the eBay TOS, instead my response is to rarely sell there these days. The reason is that the very worst anti-seller development on eBay in recent years was to do away with feedback for buyers. The upshot has been a huge upsurge in the number of unpaid auctions since buyers always have positive feedback and cannot be sanctioned for bad behavior. Despite a seller not being paid, eBay still merrily collects the now very expensive final value fees on a seller. The charges can be recovered by following eBay's slow and cumbersome "Un-paid item process". This absurd "process" is designed not to help sellers, but to actually discourage them from collecting owed monies and impede the recovery of fees automatically charged to them by eBay not legitimately owed.

Too bad - as it once was a great marketplace for all.

This is not correct. Although eBay restricts the payment methods, it is done primarily as a way to keep sellers from "playing" with the "payment/fee" system. The restrictions are directed at sellers "requiring" payment other than PayPal or credit card. Payment by money order is acceptable as long as the seller reports the receipt and has a PayPal account or other method for eBay to extract their fee. The TOS may have changed previously but having just read it, those are the facts today.

 

[Teuthida]

PayPal is located in Omaha NE. call the Attorney General's Office in Nebraska and file a formal complaint. Works like a charm.

 

[Ken Ford]

...this is why I always bootleg software

Then you won't mind if I stop by when you're not home, kick your door in and "bootleg" your possessions?

 

[raid]

so a follow up to the debacle...

It appears a big thank you goes out to Allison from Nik Software as she has done all the work to get my money back in my hands.

Paypal on the other hand did nothing to communicate with me what was happening and I suspect that without Allison's work, I would have never received my funds back.

This is what counts. Good for you, John.

 

[Gumby]

Something seems off here... like we are missing key pieces of information about the situation.

How can you pay for something via paypal yet paypal is saying they have nothing to do with it? What did I miss?

That has been my thoughts EXACTLY. But it doesn't matter much anymore.

 

[gdi]

No the rules did not change back. Buyers and sellers on US eBay are still "required" to use credit cards or PayPal. Many sellers will take other forms of payment in violation of the eBay terms of service (TOS). Since eBay has a long history of treating sellers poorly and unethically (and it keeps getting worse), many sellers have no ethical problem violating the TOS. The eBay TOS are also sparsely enforced unless sellers really do something egregious like directly ripping-off customers.

I don't violate the eBay TOS, instead my response is to rarely sell there these days. The reason is that the very worst anti-seller development on eBay in recent years was to do away with feedback for buyers. The upshot has been a huge upsurge in the number of unpaid auctions since buyers always have positive feedback and cannot be sanctioned for bad behavior. Despite a seller not being paid, eBay still merrily collects the now very expensive final value fees on a seller. The charges can be recovered by following eBay's slow and cumbersome "Un-paid item process". This absurd "process" is designed not to help sellers, but to actually discourage them from collecting owed monies and impede the recovery of fees automatically charged to them by eBay not legitimately owed.

Too bad - as it once was a great marketplace for all.

The change to feedback has been a real pain for sellers. but I think it was a result of the sellers screwing it up themselves by using feedback extortion. It became very common that sellers would pester you to leave feedback first and only then would they leave positive in turn for positive.

Now feedback is largely meaningless.

 

[enasniearth]

PayPal

PayPal

I have a lot of gripes with PayPal over the years , they seem to have an iron fisted cold war mentality in dealing with customers .
On the other hand I have as a seller had the customer service be very helpful with problems . It is important to call during regular business hours so you can talk to someone located in the united states . If you call at other times you speak to someone overseas , they are very nice to you , unfortunately most times they can provide no help , other than to read back to you what you see on the website .
Even after you reach someone in the us
The downside is they can help with the process , however you still have to do the work , from putting tracers on shipped items to updating the process with them through calls and emails .
If you buy make sure you pay with a charge card through PayPal not a balance this allows you another avenue if some thing goes badly .

In the end you have a worldwide audience to sell an item , can probably get the best price for your item , and someone handles the money transfer for you .
The ebay fees have gotten very high from the 2.9 % 12 years ago to 9% currently , also PayPal I think has doubled fees since eBay purchased them .
Gone is the golden day of the postal money order and bid pay who arranged payment to you by western union money order .
Back then it was an auction site , I bought some clunkers I was stuck with .
Now it is an online store ,

Prices are way down since the crash .

 

[Dana B.]

I used Paypal for yeas until it demanded access to my bank account -- supposedly for security. Seems like once you hit a $5K limit, it wants a look-see. I told 'em no way, can't do it, won't do it. Perhaps it's trying to eliminate money laundring. If so, that's Uncle Sam's problem, not mine. It will not be given access to my accounts. So when my $5K limit is up, I'm done with Paypal -- and eBay.

 

[x-ray]

Both paypal and ebay are the biggest crooks in modern computer based companies. Nuff said.

+1 !!!!!

I'm winding down from selling my Canon system on Ebay. NEVER AGAIN!!! Ebay and paypal have made it a miserable experience to sell.

There's no protection for the seller. 20-25% 0f my sales wound up as non pay or some problem. As sellers we can no longer post negative feedback on buyers so we have no idea of whether there honest or not. One buyer bid up my 85 1.2 and had buyers remorse. I did detailed images inside and out and pointed out flaws with a ball point pen and in the description in large red type. When the buyer received it she had a moment of buyers remorse and wanted her money back. It's stated in my auctions no refunds. She filed a claim with ebay and lied about the condition. Ebay upheld her claim even though I had a detailed description and photos. paypal proceeded to lock my account until the case was closed. Five days after the bidder had her refund she made another bogus claim for another $1200. My account was locked again for a short while.

I sold my 1DsII to a fellow in Mexico. When he went to pay the money he transferred to tried to transfer to paypal from his bank never made it. Paypal said they didn't have it and his bank said they did. That's been three weeks and it still hasn't been resolved. The poor buyer is now out $1600.

I'm not certain selling through ebay and paying through paypal is a good deal. Between the two they charge about 10-15% of the final price. They even charge a fee on the shipping.

 

[David Murphy]

IN the UK at least, this is incorrect. You are allowed to take other methods of payment - the restriction is simply that you have to accept Paypal, but not exclusively. Indeed, the listing software requires you to specify what other payments you take (Check, cash on delivery etc).

Of course, the distinction is fairly meaningless in that everyone is now used to paying with PayPal, only twice in my last 30 or 40 sales have I been asked to accept COD. And, honestly, I would rather take PayPal than a check.

Paul you are right, the UK and some other countries have actually resisted these monopolistic practices, but not here in America - with certain exceptions only PayPal or credit cards can be used for payment, and that means PayPal for almost everyone, but merchants. Maybe I should move over there!

 

[David Murphy]

I used Paypal for yeas until it demanded access to my bank account -- supposedly for security. Seems like once you hit a $5K limit, it wants a look-see. I told 'em no way, can't do it, won't do it. Perhaps it's trying to eliminate money laundring. If so, that's Uncle Sam's problem, not mine. It will not be given access to my accounts. So when my $5K limit is up, I'm done with Paypal -- and eBay.

eBay also now requires all sellers to have a credit card or ATM card on file with them so they can use it to "protect buyers" as needed. This was one of the changes mandated in their wonderful Fall sellers update. Another words, "please connect me to your bank account and give me a blank check" - this is the dream of many large American businesses.

 

[David Murphy]

This is not correct. Although eBay restricts the payment methods, it is done primarily as a way to keep sellers from "playing" with the "payment/fee" system. The restrictions are directed at sellers "requiring" payment other than PayPal or credit card. Payment by money order is acceptable as long as the seller reports the receipt and has a PayPal account or other method for eBay to extract their fee. The TOS may have changed previously but having just read it, those are the facts today.

John, here are the accepted eBay Payment methods for American eBay. For the things we usually buy-and-sell only PayPal and credit cards are allowed:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html