posted on December 6, 2001 09:16:01 PM new
I just wanted to give a little story of how I was stuck up by Paypal for almost a $1000.00 on a payment I received from an eBay auction. I had sold my brand new Laptop on eBay using a "Buy Now" feature.
The person contacted me and said they needed it for a business trip that weekend and
wanted me to ship it out overnight, which I agreed to after telling them they would be responsible for shipping charges. They had no problem. I got the notification of the auctions end from eBay with the buyers name and address, which eBay verifies with credit card information when signing up for the
service. I shipped the Laptop out via FedEX next day air, and made sure it was to be signed for.
The customer received my Laptop, and signed for it, which I have gotten verification online with a copy of their signature, and also verified through FedEX it was indeed delivered to their home residence.
The whole problem goes into effect because after a week, Paypal decided that I was paid with fraudulant funds, which I received automatically without having the option to accept or deny the money. Seeing how the person had a P.O. Box listed for their "business" on Paypal, yet they wanted the Laptop delivered to their home, for which the information matched the same name & address provided to me through eBay, I figured it was safe. The person hadn't
confirmed their address yet, but considering it was a Post Office box they had listed, they may not have checked it recently, and I could not ship FedEx to the P.O. Box, so I went with the home address which I felt was the safest bet, considering it was an actual residence.
So they tell me this person paid me with fraudulant funds, and I wasn't protected
under the seller's reversal protection because I didn't send to their confirmed address, yet when I argued they didn't have a confirmed address, how could I send it to their confirmed address, and I didn't choose to accept or deny, I was paid automatically through the auctions instant purchase option, I thought the money was good, since they transfered it automatically, and the
only way I could have denied it would to have sent them the money back, which
would have been less than what they sent me since Paypal automatically deducted
their fee's from it.
Paypal's only repeated robot like response was "you didn't send it to their confirmed address". When I asked how the money was fraudulant, if they transferred it to me
automatically, how did it happen? Was it from a stolen credit card? No. Was it from a phoney account? No. Then how did they send it to me I asked? Oh, they had the funds in their account, and they transferred them to you directly from their account, the money was there. WHAT!?!?!?!?!?
Then what is the problem? How is it fraudulant then I asked? They "sold"
something to someone else, and the person never received the product. So they transferred funds they had in their account that they had received from the other person.
Ok, so I have been a Paypal user for about 2 years in good standing, I'm confirmed & verified, I send out a $1000.00 Laptop which I know for fact has been guaranteed delivered to the customer, and yet someone who paid this person who wasn't confirmed or verified is protected, and I have the funds stripped from my account, and returned to them??? Yes.
If I'm not protected from the reversal from sending it to an unconfirmed address, how is it that someone else who sent payment to them, and knowing they were unconfirmed & unverified, how can they be protected, especially once they have received the payment and spent the money?
So now I don't have my laptop any longer,and then had funds from other sources in my account which I've received from other transactions are seized and I'm debited the rest of the money I was paid. Since I've already spent and taken out most of what I was paid for the Laptop, considering the reason for selling my Laptop was because I needed the money. Yet I'm told "you're still free to use the account for transactions", meaning any money I receive via the Paypal account goes directly to them.
This is basically theft in my eyes, and nothing short of a shakedown. Instead of them going after the criminal and because they obviously don't check creditials well enough and have holds on accounts until all information has been verified, they just decide to stick it to their everyday customers and users of their service.
posted on December 7, 2001 01:57:27 AM new
PayPal is just a big internet con game. I'm sure it was originally designed to be an honest company that had a faster way of completing iternet transactions. But as problems arose and business was booming, they lost control. It makes you wonder if you can trust anyone on-line that deals with your money unless they have a huge financial institution behind them that guarantees good customer service. I hope in the future, someone with half a brain either buys out PayPal or they just flat out close down.
