posted on October 11, 2000 06:00:52 AM new
PayPal, this item was listed among the "Policy Changes" on your website as late as yesterday (October 10) afternoon, now this morning I see it has been removed.
So what is it? Is PayPal implementing a charge for requesting a check from a PayPal account for which the account holder refuses to participate in the ill-conceived verification process that provides PayPal access to their bank accounts for withdrawals and/or reversals without cause or notification?
I have already alerted folks on my "mailing list" of the new fee, along with a recommendation that they close their PayPal accounts in favor of other less problematic online payment services, and want to keep them updated with the shenanighans going on at the PayPal website.
--- BEGIN QUOTE ---
Postage and Handling Fee for Check Withdrawals
Entry Date: October 9, 2000
Effective Date: October 16, 2000
In order to encourage our customers to withdraw funds by electronic
transfer rather than by check, as of Monday, October 16, there will be a
$1.50 postage and handling fee on check withdrawals. There is no fee for
electronic transfer, which usually requires only 3-4 days to complete
(compared to 1-2 weeks for check withdrawals).
--- END QUOTE ---
[ edited by dimview on Oct 11, 2000 06:13 AM ]
posted on October 11, 2000 06:08:33 AM new
Their verification scheme is a sham, everyone knows it and many are refusing to jump through the hoop. This is yet another tactic by PayPal to strongarm users into verifying a bank account so that PayPal can have easy access to your funds in case of a chargback. Nothing more, nothing less.
posted on October 11, 2000 08:55:01 AM new
I'd like to think that Paypal reacted to the posts here and elsewhere about the lack of two weeks notice, and either rescinded the policy or postponed it until they can give proper notice.
But given Paypal's absolute inability to publicly acknowledge, accept responsibility, and apologize for their mistakes (as, for instance, Andale and Honesty have recently done), I doubt that we'll ever know.
I have a few novel ideas that just might help reduce the number of checks requested from PayPal and slow the bleeding away of your core user base (sellers).
First, make your site and your company once again worthy of its' users trust. Then you won't have to take coercive steps to try to minimize the effects of your users pulling all of their money out of their accounts every day.
Second, come up with a viable verification process that doesn't involve giving PayPal access to a user's bank account.
Third, be up-front and honest about chargebacks, such as under what circumstances they are allowed, how a seller can protect him/herself against them in the first place, and how you plan to take back the money (which was supposed to be a mute point for verified sellers as per your own previous posts).
Trust is crucial for a company that handles other people's money. It should concern you that PayPal has managed to completely erase the trust and goodwill that your users (myself included) used to have toward PayPal. There is no future in the road that PayPal is taking.
