Another Paypal warning...

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Just to let folks know where they stand with this company:

I sold an item 3 months ago on eBay , and accepted payment by credit card via paypal. This was done in good faith.

They are now persuing me for the money, because it now turns out that the credit card was used fraudulently.
They accepted the card, and took their comission for the "service".

They were "kind" enough to include all their "small print" in the persual e-mail. Seems as if they have you by the "short and curlies".

There should be a new moto:

Let the seller beware.
 
Man that sucks.
Why don't we all get together and force this giant to smarten up.
Seems abuse is rampant.
I have heard that people have been threatened with lawsuits for posting things like this.
People have the power. If they took a fee then we should have purchased insurance in that fee.
 
I have heard that people have been threatened with lawsuits for posting things like this.

I have only posted the facts. I have no fear of litigation.*
People can make up their own minds.

If they took a fee then we should have purchased insurance in that fee.
Yes, but check the small print. And there's lots.:(

*However, I have respect for the Forum, and if requested, I will withdraw these posts.
 
PayPal blues and EBay blues

the "insurance" provision for fraud is problematic -- when you make a payment -- you only have 30 days -- so if an item is not shipped and the seller tells you that it was, you can easily get stuck.

I still take payments via PayPal, however.

Here's another thing to watch out for on EBay --- guys with a lot of positives for tiny purchases -- there's one guy who has bought stuff for under a buck in order to get his positives up -- then turns tail -- this was in the Wall Street Journal about 4 or 5 months ago.

lastly, be careful selling tubes into Asia -- a lot of "no-shows" over there. On the other hand, some of these guys send greenbacks (vernacular in the states for "folding" currency) for tubes. via ordinary airmail.
 
Re: PayPal blues and EBay blues

jackinnj said:
Here's another thing to watch out for on EBay --- guys with a lot of positives for tiny purchases -- there's one guy who has bought stuff for under a buck in order to get his positives up -- then turns tail -- this was in the Wall Street Journal about 4 or 5 months ago.

Ouch! One of my first ebay purchases, back about Dec, 1999, ended like that. I sent a certified cashier's check (as good as cash), and got an email from another person who won an auction from the same seller. Only he did his homework better than I. :( To make a long story short, the seller ripped off enough people via mail fraud that official charges were filed. I ended up getting my check back, since the seller didn't bother to pick it up from his PO Box. Have no clue whatever became of the seller. Don't much care, either.

I have since made numerous purchases via ebay with no problems. One of my closest friends has done tens of thousands of dollars worth of transactions via paypal with no significant issues. He even has a paypal credit card! :rolleyes:

Good luck, Dhaen,

Mark Broker
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Re: PayPal blues and EBay blues

jackinnj said:
lastly, be careful selling tubes into Asia -- a lot of "no-shows" over there. On the other hand, some of these guys send greenbacks (vernacular in the states for "folding" currency) for tubes. via ordinary airmail.

I sell a lot of stuff (usually alnico speakers) to the Far East. Their flake rate is no higher than the rest of the world. I also get cash from all over, the Asians usually send cash by registered mail. Americans, Canadians, and Europeans just send it by letter post -- some even with coins in them!

dave
 
SkinnyBoy said:
I bid on an item for $25 I get out big by 1 cent!!!! 1 CENT!!!! and this guy had a rating of like 500!!! I have ZERO!!! (my fault, I forgot to rate the people I bought stuff off before, and they returned the favour.. :D) BUT 1 CENT!!!! ITS THE SAME ANYWAY!!!

No, it's not the same, otherwise you would have the item.

...looking for the off topic button. :) :) :)

I was a little concerned about my first purchase via paypal on ebay. The guy took like a month to send the item. (Over $200 US). I started a claim with my credit card company, because they will battle for me, in the even that paypal won't. I use paypal, because I get my CC company's laywers for free.

In the end the item showed up, and I canceled the discrepency with the CC card company.

I'm still a little nervous about accepting $$ via paypal. Not to keen on giving out my bank account number. They can have the CC number because there's fraud protection on the card, but none with the bank...

-Dan
 
PayPal and EBay deadbeats

every once and a while you see the poison pen at work on the rec.radio.tubes or rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors newsgroups -- the problem is that you can't necessarily trust the bonafides of the complaintant.

It would be a good service, akin to Equifax or TRW for the web -- and you should be able to access the service easily -- and you should also be able to plow through multiple "aliases".

I am sure that there are all sorts of privacy issues -- probably can't be done in the US or Europe.
 
Here's my paypal story:

Sold a laptop on ebay several months ago. I was paid and sent the laptop with insurance via UPS ground with a tracking number and the works.

Roughly two months later during Thanksgiving at my mom's place, I checked email and saw that paypal was persuing the money back for the buyer because either the laptop was never received or it was damaged. They required that I send them the tracking number within 3 days of the email being sent to me (which was on Tuesday and this was Thursday) or the buyer would automatically get their money back. I sent an email to paypal stating that I was away from my home and couldn't get the tracking number to them until Sunday or Monday. I also sent an email to the buyer (whom I was very suspicious of) asking what was wrong and why they never emailed me about the problem.

By the time I got home, I had an email from paypal saying they returned the money (no biggie since I withdrew the money before... just have a neg balance now) and that I needed to give them $820! I tracked the package and saw that it was received, threatened the buyer with a lawsuit if they didn't talk (this was after 5 emails with no response), and they admitted they "stole" the money. I in the meantime filed a claim with the BBB about the situation and paypal is saying they can do nothing since I didn't give them the tracking number within 3 days. And the ironic part, the paypal rep took over a month to reply to me. Oh well, no problem since I have all my money.
 
it's business days, not days

for "notification" -- in most commercial agreements. Furthermore, providing someone notice via e-mail is not satisfactory -- for a whole variety of reasons.

I used to do swaps for a living (that's what happens when you are an undergrad science major -- you do derivative contracts) -- mostly buying debt and financing it. We incorporated into our swap documentation provisions that "notification" had to be confirmed -- elsewise you can have someone down at the county courthouse and you won't even be aware of it. All of the US,. Canadian and European investment banks had no problems with this. (since it was the reciprocal of their own terms.)

I think that this is an issue which should be brought before the California and New York attorneys general, as the consumer protections just aren't there.
 
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