I think this is one for Damon, because it is probably the first time for this scenerio.
I am a verified seller with Paypal. I generally ship my orders ahead of payment if to a regular customer. My bookkeeping was very sloppy in years past, so please do not chide me on this. I do have some serious problems to resolve as a result of my care-free dealing days.
It gets very complicated, but here are the important facts. I used several ID's to sell different types of merchandise, and I used different email addys for each ID to simplify matters. All this became too complex to deal with, so I did away with multiple addresses and deleted same from Paypal after a reasonable period of time. Got me so far?
I am now in the process of moving (to Hawaii!), so I will be switching ISP's. I went back to Yahoo so I could have a steady email addy during the transition. Naturally I took my old ID there, then re-registered it with Paypal. POOF, 3 payments made two years ago instantly appear in my Paypal account. I am not sure of the exact dates (they are not listed by Paypal), but ebay numbers are 232XXXXXX, so its long ago.
My question is this - I used auctionwatch as my email addy for several months ([email protected]). I stopped using this address as soon as AW announced termination of email service. Are there more payments due me to this address? I am wagering there probably are, but I cannot confirm that address with Paypal, so whatever funds may be due me will forever be lost in the Paypal system? Is there a way for me to claim these funds? Please let me know.
Sorry folks, I know I'm going to be blasted for my seemingly non-existant system, but for a while I was running 500 or more auctions a week. It was just me and it was just too much to handle. My system today is very well organized and all done with eBud software
posted on August 18, 2001 05:30:33 PM new
Since [email protected] isn't registered with PayPal and since it isn't a working email address anymore you'll never know. If you send payment to a non-registered email address it remains unclaimed till the receiver registers that email address, or sender cancels the payment or 30 days (which ever comes first.) An unclaimed payment can only lasts 30 days before the system automatically cancels it.
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[ edited by uaru on Aug 18, 2001 05:40 PM ]
posted on August 19, 2001 07:59:32 AM new
I have written Paypal an email and will post here when I response is received.
While I appreciate your responses uaru, your statement that unclaimed funds are canceled after 30 days is 100% false. The email addy I re-registered was not in use for over one year, and yet when this address was re-entered at Paypal the screen appeared saying there were payments made to this address. When I clicked on overview they were posted on August 18.
Since Paypal does not cancel pending payments after 30 days or even a year, my original question needs an answer. Who gets the payments that are lost in the system?
posted on August 19, 2001 09:18:01 AM new
My note to Paypal:
Hi,
I just re-registerd a very old email address and 3 payments immediately posted to my Paypal account. There is no dates on these payments, only the date they were received by me (Aug. 18). The ebay item numbers paid are 332908775, 318928034, 340443118. I had tried to sell different merchandise under different names with different emails a [long] while back. I deleted those from Paypal when bookkeeping became to complex.
My question is this: I had another email address attached to this account ([email protected]). I want to know if there are other payments due and this address is no longer in service. How can I do that?
It seems incredible that payments can be forever pending in your system. I started a thread on the AuctionWatch bulletin boards asking this question, it can be found here:
Please tell me if there are funds due me that were sent to [email protected] and, if so, how to claim them.
You can email me, but I would prefer you answer this querry in the above thread. There are some that insist payments are canceled after 30 days unclaimed. Please explain why this is not so and just how long you keep this pending money.
Ben
(please note, my original post and subsequent copy and paste contained a typo in the lot #, it was corrected in this note.)
posted on August 19, 2001 04:29:33 PM newpaypaldamon: May I assure you your policy change did NOT affect pending payments in your system. You may confirm this by checking my paypal account. I will send you user info. if you want.
I need my question answered: Are there funds sent to [email protected] that are unclaimed? There were to Yahoo.
posted on August 19, 2001 08:58:06 PM newyour statement that unclaimed funds are canceled after 30 days is 100% false.
Never speak in absolutes. Go read paypal's current TOS, it's very plainly stated that unclaimed payments are returned after 30 days. And it works fine, as I know from first hand experience (sent merch but forgot to "claim" the PP Payment and the person got a free widget.)
Now, as to any payments that may have been floating around before this change was made, all bets are off. (As PPD pointed out.) It's a little shocking to me that paypal did not run a sweep on any 30+-day-pending payments and try to resolve them when this new policy was implemented.
posted on August 20, 2001 10:57:26 AM new
Hi bennybbb,
I have no way of checking unclaimed payments, as they could be sent to non-registered email aliases. I would not expect, based on my experience, any other payments pending against that email address (unless the user had a typo when making payment).
posted on August 20, 2001 11:00:08 AM newIt's a little shocking to me that paypal did not run a sweep on any 30+-day-pending payments and try to resolve them when this new policy was implemented.
If you go back, way, way, back to some messages on EO you'll see some posts about emails of automatically canceled payments when the automatic cancelation were first swept on payments over 30 days. I remember them, but I'm not about to search through thousands of messages to provide a link.
When I re-registered [email protected] with Paypal I received 3 payments that were at least a year old. That address was not in existance and yet Paypal STILL had 3 payments for that address pending. So Paypal definitely has some sort of records of payments pending to bad email addresses.
Tell me this: Just how long would those payments made to [email protected] have stayed in your coffers had I not re-registered that address?
I want to know if there are funds due me at [email protected]. I know there is some way to check this. If you are unable to answer please send me to someone that can.
Ben
BTW - not even a receipt of my email by PP and 24 hrs. is quickly approaching.
posted on August 20, 2001 12:02:55 PM newI want to know if there are funds due me at [email protected]. I know there is some way to check this. If you are unable to answer please send me to someone that can.
You probably won't like this answer, but what the heck. Even if PayPal can identify payments are unclaimed for "[email protected]" how can you prove that is indeed you? You can't prove that is you via any secure method. The email isn't registered with a PayPal account and it can't be registered with a PayPal account because it no longer exists. Auctionwatch gave notice long before they canceled their web-based email, buyers can see if a payment is unclaimed, a seller should know which buyers haven't sent payment and would be able to contact them.
posted on August 20, 2001 12:17:24 PM new
You are a perceptive one uaru
That was a problem I was anticipating once it was confirmed there were payments pending.
I hope, since Paypal records are available since day 1, and there are payments sent to this address, that would suffice as proof. I may be wrong.
I also had been thinking that user information at AW might be able to provide adequate proof. I know any auctions with this address listed are long gone.
My first question is whether there are pending payments. If there are, why? Those 3 I received were in limbo for ages. What would have happened to that money had I never re-registered that address? I have a feeling there is substantial funds sitting at Paypal unclaimed.
posted on August 20, 2001 07:05:45 PM new
Damon, I had an old email ID that I no longer use and I think there may be some payments in there unclaimed. Could you please check for me? It's [email protected]. Thanks.
posted on August 21, 2001 06:01:44 AM new
I just added an email address to my PayPal that I just signed up for and suddenly there was a payment there for an auction that ended in JUNE (when I didn't take PayPal). It was never returned to the buyer and she's already sent me a check and the item was shipped in mid-July. So payments do float around in PayPal cyberspace unless the sender reclaims them. I was not given the opportunity to accept or deny this payment. It was just there, putting me over the $100 limit on my Personal account when it should NOT have been there at all! Now this woman will probably call her credit card company and claim I took her money and initiate a chargeback, which I did not! PayPal did!!
posted on August 21, 2001 07:14:31 AM new
How can that be? damon said, in this very thread:
The system was changed to make sure that unclaimed payments were returned several months ago.
Unless there is a PayPal-specific definition of "several" (or "changed" or "make sure" or "returned"...), one would expect that a payment for an auction that ended in June wouldn't have fallen into the "lost in limbo" period, and would have been returned if unclaimed after 30 days.
Never speak in absolutes. Go read paypal's current TOS, it's very plainly stated that unclaimed payments are returned after 30 days.
Never?
It appears from the post by paintpower that, although it's very plainly stated that unclaimed payments are returned after 30 days, the fact that it is stated doesn't necessarily indicate that PayPal is actually doing that in every case.
