AM I BEING SCAMMED HERE?

[PatrickHMS]

If there is a payment made to your PayPal account with not yet collected funds, your PayPal account will still at least show a transaction as pending, then will change to completed when fully funded to your account and completed. Doesn't matter what they say that their account says, you refer to your acount pages. If your PayPal account does not show any kind of a transaction (either pending or completed), then there isn't one involving your account.

NO way should anyone expect you to ship anything you are selling before the funds are fully collected into your account.

I had an instance a few years ago, where an eBay customer wanted a refund. They claimed the item was damaged when they got it, but they would not send it back to me, nor would they even send photos of the damaged item. They would not even take it to their USPS to begin the process of an insurance refund until later. They sent me nasty threatening emails about what would happen to me if I didn't refund.

PayPal took their word for it, didn't even want to hear what I had to say other than answers to a short questionaire. PayPal didn't want to see the pages and pages of documentation that I had. PayPal wouldn't even allow me to talk to a human person to tell my side of the story. PayPal showed me that they didn't give a damn about my side of the issue.

Several weeks later, on their local Craigslist, there was a photo of my item, fully intact, listed for sale by them.

Both the eBay and PayPal folks are all on the same pirate ship if you ask me.

If you do have an issue with either eBay or PayPal, just try to talk to a real person customer service rep from either one.

As far as those eBay customers go, I have a friend who happens to be a USPS Inspector. I sent the customer the USPS Insurance information for when I had mailed the item to them, which they used to make an insurance claim (including the serial # of the item), for replacement of the damaged item. Then, we helped USPS Inspectors catch them selling the same item, same serial #, on their local Craigslist.

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk...

 

[Josh66]

I had an instance a few years ago, where an eBay customer wanted a refund. They claimed the item was damaged when they got it, but they would not send it back to me, nor would they even send photos of the damaged item. They would not even take it to their USPS to begin the process of an insurance refund until later. They sent me nasty threatening emails about what would happen to me if I didn't refund.

PayPal took their word for it, didn't even want to hear what I had to say other than answers to a short questionaire. PayPal didn't want to see the pages and pages of documentation that I had. PayPal wouldn't even allow me to talk to a human person to tell my side of the story. PayPal showed me that they didn't give a damn about my side of the issue.

Same thing happened to me several years ago. I have never used PayPal since.

READ THE ToS!!!

They don't give a **** about the seller. All the buyer has to do is say that the package never arrived, or was damaged. PayPal will automatically refund their money, taking it out of your account. If there are not sufficient funds in you account, they will SEIZE YOUR PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNT and take the money from that.

There is nothing you can do about this. You have already agreed to it by being a PayPal user.


Try closing your PayPal account. Even that is hard to do. They make sure that there is no contact information on their site, and that you will never get to talk to a real person.

edit
http://www.paypalsucks.com/

Check that site out.

 

[PatrickHMS]

Josh, I know several others who been screwed by eBay or PayPal, and the eBay PayPal people DON'T WANT to deal with you if you have a complaint.

First eBay took away sellers right to give any negative fb to a buyer, even if it was deserved. If I do sell anythng on eBay (once in awhile) I no longer give any feedback until I get some.

Then they limit your options for payment so you can't use money orders anymore.

And combined fees and costs seller pays eBay and PayPal almost makes it not worth selling there anymore.

 

[Antarctican]

^^^ Yeah, that's the kind of thing to which I was referring in my earlier post. I'd heard Paypal just takes the buyer's word and scoops the money from the seller. Thankfully I've never experienced it myself.

 

[jbylake]

I've never had a problem with Paypal, but have heard my share of the "nightmare's". It's just a necessary evil, as far as I'm concerned.

J.

 

[TJ K]

http://www.419eater.com love that site. Same thing happened to me all 4 times I tried to sell my D90 of ebay. First was nigeria then nigeria again then Italy then some other random place I can't remember. all of them were emailing me with other addresses to ship to and all that stuff. Oh I can give you 200 for shipping extra to my country. I don't really like ebay anymore but I don't have a choice when i'm going to try my camera again err.
TJ

 

[jbylake]

Welcome to the 419 Eater love that site. Same thing happened to me all 4 times I tried to sell my D90 of ebay. First was nigeria then nigeria again then Italy then some other random place I can't remember. all of them were emailing me with other addresses to ship to and all that stuff. Oh I can give you 200 for shipping extra to my country. I don't really like ebay anymore but I don't have a choice when i'm going to try my camera again err.
TJ

I just use the setting where you designate that you won't accept bids from. If they send you a PM, anyway, I normally just delete them. However, did get one from a young soldier, stationed in Germany. Needed some parts for his Harley. We asked for his First Sergeant's official address, and mailed them there, just to help him out. Also, going to a military base, no extra fee's, taxes. Plus I sold to him at "cost". He, if he could have ever found the stuff he wanted, he'd probably would have paid 4X or better for the parts. Oh, he paid by PayPal. Everything worked out just fine.

I've got the "Nigeran" scam about 3 or 4 from craigslist, just minutes after posting. I just laughed them off, and went on about my business.

J.:mrgreen:

 

[mostly sunny]

You sent it? = ) I am scared for you.

 

[Shelly1204]

They don't give a **** about the seller. All the buyer has to do is say that the package never arrived, or was damaged. PayPal will automatically refund their money, taking it out of your account. If there are not sufficient funds in you account, they will SEIZE YOUR PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNT and take the money from that.

This is misleading. Just to clarify, no one can seize your bank account unless a judgment has been issued against you by a court of law. They also cannot withdraw money from your personal bank account once the transfer has cleared. The only exceptions are if you authorized them to deduct paypal fees or payments directly from your account. They cannot withdraw money from your personal account solely for refunds. They CAN withdraw money from and seize your paypal account, so make sure your funds are transferred to your personal bank account before you ship.

 

[Muschnick]

I have had numerous bad experiences with PayPal. The worst being my account was frozen with 2K in it and the only transaction made was me transferring money from my personal account to my business account. The worst part is I had to pay 2.4% to get that done!

eBay is full of scams which is too bad as it is a good forum to sell equipment.

My bad experiences have led me to create a new site RutsCameras which is an auction site just like eBay but dedicated to photography equipment. The best part is it is FREE! It has 10 different payment options including the ability to do an offline payment such as a local cash transaction or trade of equipment. I just wanted to provide a forum that had the features of eBay at the price of Craigslist because I was sick of paying for something that was risky! Hopefully it is ok to mention the site as it is FREE and is not making me a penny. If you want to know more you can PM me.

 

[pcacj]

I sold an LCD Projector on Amazon that was in perfect condition. The buyer claimed it was broken and worn out and filed a claim through Amazon. Turns out they buy lots of projectors on Amazon so I am thinking they claim mine is crap and send in a piece of junk as proof. I disputed the claim and Amazon never took the money back so I suppose Amazon decided to bite the cost and let us both win.

 

[TiaS]

I suppose I am abit late in responding. There are ways you can get the money released. I bought a package from the US and the seller would not ship it until I gave positive feedback. The seller said that I was more than welcome to change the feedback later on, but that she needed positive to get the money released to her, upon when she would send it. Sounded off to me so I emailed paypal. Indeed, it was true. I gave the positive feedback. She got her money. I got the package at my door shortly after. And I did not know to ask for it as a gift and so when it came to my door, I had to pay taxes on it for crossing the boarder.

 

[matfoster]

i've sold items to Italy and the buyers have been as honest as anyone else..just sayin.

the money held back by paypal till the buyer leaves feedback seems like a recent change to how ebay operates. i noticed this last year after a break of several years from selling on ebay...

EDIT: ...for newbs

 

[JeffieLove]

So i just closed my paypal account (meant to do it weeks ago!) and it was like trying to cancel a credit card... they try to give you a million reasons to stay... Nope, sorry, hate paypal.. DONE!

 

[reaganalvin]

It is the minimum manditory for the paypal services and this should be continued.If you are the person bought the article you need to have some security about.So this should be done.