Anyone had some PayPal troubles?

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robert_unknown

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Has anyone of you had troubles with paypal payments?

a friend of mine sold something via paypal. the buyer transfered more than €2000,- for the item on his account. my friend sent away the item, and the buyer told paypal, that he received not what he ordered. paypal locked down my friends acocunt and transfered the money back to the buyer. Now my friend has troubles to proof to paypal, that he is the victim of a trickster... 🙁
 
I think I've just been scammed on eBay... I hope I can get my funds returned as easily as the ******* that knackered your mate.
 
I know there a re lots of stories about PayPal horrors, but I've only had the best of luck. Almost all of my eBay purchases have been using PayPal for funds exchange. Not one problem.

A friend of mine had a problem where he bought a clock and the decorative glass was broken upon delivery. He contacted the seller, who basically said "too bad for you." My friend claimed poor packing in his PayPal dispute. They froze the amount of the sale (I think; maybe they transfered it back... I don't exactly remember) in the sellers account. Then Paypal asked for documentation, including testimony of the value by which the item had been diminished as a result of the damage. In this situation I am an expert enough in that field to provide written testimony that the item had been diminished to essentially "undesireable parts value." Within 3 or 4 days, PayPal resolved the situation with seller that my friend, the buyer, was to return the merchandise and would be reimbursed purchace and shipping costs. All in all, the documentation and process was a bit of a hassle but quite effective and as fair to both sides as possible.
 
I've never had an issue with another buyer/seller through Paypal. As with any transaction though, satisfaction is only has good at the people involved. There are certainly dodgy people using Paypal, probably on both ends occasionally. Hope your friend comes out OK in this...
 
sorry to hear of your friend's troubles 🙁

rules of Paypal

1) only ship to confirmed/verified address of your buyer's account (NEVER ship elsewhere unless you have a good history with the person already, or know them personally from prior contact)

2) always ship with tracking and insurance (NEVER save on shipping by not having tracking or insurance, no matter what the buyer tells you to do)

3) on international sales, always ship by USPS EMS (express mail service), it is the only one that has proof of tracking (albeit, rather primitive)

Problems usually arise when sellers fail to observe one of these rules.
 
Paypal screwed me once when I sold a fly fishing rod for $300.. the buyer paid with a credit card through Paypal, so I sent the merchandise.. he received it and left positive feedback for me in eb*y.. I did the same for him

a week later, Paypal reversed the payment saying he paid with an "unauthorized credit card".. which I assume means it was stolen or at least 'improperly borrowed'.. ie, his parents?

when I contacted Paypal, they told me I was covered under their Sellers Protection, provided I send them copies of all the shipping receipts, including the signed delivery confirmation.. I didn't have that.. in which case the friendly Paypal employee laughed to himself and told me "you're screwed"

I eventually got the money by threatening to: 1) sue the buyer.. 2) send a collection agency after him.. 3) file a criminal fraud case against him

I think he was just some dumb kid.. but if it were a true scam artist, I would still be out $300 because Paypal didn't even try to help.. what really got me tho, was that Paypal initially told me I had $300 in my account, and even let me withdraw it.. a week later they told me I had a $300 deficit and that it was all MY problem
 
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well - i subscribed to paypal only recently. mainly to pay things that i have ordered in the USA. but i offered paypal payment in the classified section, to pay the gear.
no my friend is screwed with paypal... well. there are other ways for payment... 🙂
 
Regarding the first post. Same happened to me. Lucky I got the item back an messed the buyer about enough that they never fully got a refund.* But I now no longer have paypal. They are the most ridiculous TW*TTISH company I have ever dealt with. And I've dealt with snobs down to very bad people even at my age!

I only use paypal through someone else, but I no longer buy from ebay using paypal, it's crippled my worldwide trade (especially on here) but hey. I don't want to use that selfish pathetic company ever again if I could help it!


*It was a £45 lens, so hardly much money, but being autofocus and having the camera in my hands testing it prior to the sale, I KNEW it worked perfectly, and was as described, so the buyer was rude and threatening during communication. I had no reason or incentive to refund.
 
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I've had good luck with paypal but only because no one has every tried to scam me. I think the key is to conduct transactions that are covered by Paypal's Seller Protection Policy. Only shipping to confirmed addresses is one of the requirements. There is a full list of requirements on the Seller's protection policy page. I think strictly adhering to those requirements is one way to protect yourself.
 
ferider said:
I had an interesting email this morning. Looked like somebody I didn't know had used my paypal account to buy a cell phone ... No transaction on my Paypal account though (thank god). Goal seems to be to have you click on the dispute link ...

Roland.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiousity, I googled "bill chang saco". Your guy seems to have a well-known history. 😱
 
ferider said:
I had an interesting email this morning. Looked like somebody I didn't know had used my paypal account to buy a cell phone ... No transaction on my Paypal account though (thank god). Goal seems to be to have you click on the dispute link ...

Roland.
Click to expand...

Roland,

Thanks for the heads-up.

The first big giveaway that it is a phishing email is that real Paypal emails always address you by your actual name, not as "Dear PayPal Member" 😉
 
robert_unknown said:
Has anyone of you had troubles with paypal payments?

a friend of mine sold something via paypal. the buyer transfered more than €2000,- for the item on his account. my friend sent away the item, and the buyer told paypal, that he received not what he ordered. paypal locked down my friends acocunt and transfered the money back to the buyer. Now my friend has troubles to proof to paypal, that he is the victim of a trickster... 🙁
Click to expand...
This is why many sellers on eBay refuse to accept PayPal. PayPal "Buyer Protection" works by taking the "protection" out of the hide of sellers.

To avoid losing your shirt with PayPal you need to provide tracking (e.g. UPS) or Delivery Confirmation (USPS) on all PayPal paid for transactions if the loss would be unacceptable (insurance is advised too). On international transactions the seller has no way to shift liability for a loss unless expensive package services like Global EMS are used that provide tracking. Knowing these rules and reversing the charges is one way PayPal eBay scammers work.

All the PayPal Buyer/Seller "protection" policies are setup to benfit PayPal and shift the cost of loses to the other parties. For buyers facing a loss, PayPal charges buyers something like $25 or $30 just to "investigate" their claim. Most PayPal users do not learn about these policies till they are in trouble -- PayPal is obviously not forthcoming with this information since their goal is to keep churning up as many transactions as they can.

See www.paypalsucks.com for all the details (a site that PayPal bullied and tried unsuccessfully to take down).

Despte all these problems, PayPal can still work, but great care is advised.
 
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What you have here is an email spoof. PayPal never actually sent you this communication. They only send email addressed to the username of the individual holding the account, such as in my case it would be sent to "dakotah", and not "Dear PayPal Member" as in your letter.

These scam artists are trying to get you to respond, and divulge your username, password, and or credit/debit card information.
 
What you have here is an email spoof. PayPal never actually sent you this communication. They only send email addressed to the username of the individual holding the account, such as in my case it would be sent to "dakotah", and not "Dear PayPal Member" as in your letter.

These scam artists are trying to get you to respond, and divulge your username, password, and or credit/debit card information.
 
Had someone try a Paypal scam on me recently. Sold a gold sovereign on ebay. This is something that has intrinsic value, as gold is sold on the world markets, its value is set and is pretty much near to cash. A couple of hours before the auction ended, someone in Denmark joined ebay and "won" the auction. I then received a paypal payment from New Jersey, which hadn't gone through the normal ebay channels so didn't show up as "payment received" on ebay. Then both the buyer and payer emailed me asking to send the item to a PO Box in Latvia. No way! I refunded the payment, informed Paypal and ebay, and am now going through the dispute procedure. Both these clowns then pleaded with me to send it, explaining that they are regular business people who buy items on behalf of Latvian customers. I offered to send the item to the buyer in Denmark if he joined paypal and paid me from his account. Then he can post it on to Latvia or wherever he wants. He's failed to respond, and is no longer a registered ebay user. Suprise suprise! If I had sent it to Latvia, and not to the paypal account in New Jersey, paypal wouldn't have done anything. Sellers beware!
 
Interesting observations about Paypal!
with over 300 transactions with Paypal I have had no problems at all. However, I have only used it as a buyer. I like the system because I can make payment sitting at my desk. The alternative often involves Bank Charges, or cash through the post. Living some distance out in the country anything other than Paypal costs me - in time, effort, and out of the pocket. On average I reckon Paypal saves me anything from £2 upwards per transaction. So at present that represents a 'saving' of £600 or so. Staggering that, I've just worked that out! If a Paypal transaction now ' goes wrong' I will probably just shrug my shoulders.
However, I do look at sellers feedback %age. and I do look at the written feedbacks if I haven't dealt wuth that seller before. There have been instances when I have decided not to 'trade'. Perhaps I have been lucky, but perhaps that is because I try to look before I leap into a deal. From what you guys tell me its the sellers that get any bum deal going, and not the buyers.
I'm just a fan of Paypal. I like the system because it works for me. If a seller doesn't offer Paypal I certainly think twice before bidding.
 
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I used to be happy with PayPal, but when you either have a problem as a seller or a buyer with PayPal they are impossible and provide no protection or even an effective way to communicate. They will channel you into saying things that only serve PayPal's interest. I have stopped, after over 500 transactions on eBay, using either PayPal or eBay. My credit card company protects me better then PayPal does. Over time I am sure that they will have to improve, but for now I am through with them.
 
I cancelled my PayPal account a couple of years ago and won't start another one. Never had a real problem, but heard enough horror stories to make me get out. I've seldom been sorry, but there are certainly times it would be nice.
Seems like there's room for a competitor, and a need for one. What happened to anti- monopoly law?
 
Paypal is fine for buying things, as long as you use a credit card for your protection.. I won a couple ebay auctions for items costing about $100 each, and found out a couple weeks later that the sellers were scammers racking up multiple sales on hacked accounts.. the hacked accounts showed a dozen other defrauded buyers who never received their product or had any emails returned by the sellers

in all cases, I used Paypal with a credit card.. Paypal refused to take any action, but my credit card providers immediately issued a refund, saying ebay/Paypal fraud is the number one problem they face
 
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