I'm getting pretty tired of Paypals bullsh it. A few months ago I got stung for $410 even though i had a tracking number. Now I am out another $61 because of another "fraudulent use of account" even though the transaction was covered by the swiss cheese they call "Seller Protection". As soon as I got the email I called in and they said that the address was confirmed so the transaction was covered. Now they want a tracking number. I replied saying that there was no issue of the item not being received, just fraud and I'm covered. They replied saying, no tracking, no money. An unfair monopoly was referred to in another thread about grading, this is worse. If I stop accepting paypal, I might as well close up shop on ebay. If I try to charge people spending $20 another $8 for shipping, I also should just close up shop. Jim.
This message has been edited by hockey_jim on Nov 6, 2006 8:58 PM
Jim, are you in the US or Canada? I hate it as a seller, because they royally screw us on the exchange rates, let alone the fees, in Canada. They may have changed their currency arrangement with Canadians as it has been so long since I've used them as a seller
If you were a retailer or full time dealer, then you are basically paying to be a credit card merchant. But they are getting it directly from my bank acccount now, and not a credit card.
It is convenient for smaller items, but as both a buyer and seller, for anything over $50 I deal in bank drafts or checks.
Dan. I'm in Toronto and the package was going to Vancouver. I have no doubt that it got there. Checking this guys recent feedback, he has been bouncing echecks and pulling other paypal scams.
I have been hearing more of this kind of story lately and I have become much more careful about accepting PayPal when selling. I'm still more of a buyer than a seller, so it doesn't affect my livelihood. For my last auctions I accepted PayPal, but stated that Canadian buyers would have to pay the actual shipping costs with tracking # and delivery confirmation. Each time the buyer threw a fit over the actual cost of shipping and the whole transaction was a complete pain in the butt.
I agree that not accepting PayPal will hurt your auctions, but is it possible to accept credit cards outside of PayPal? I know of 1 large seller who accepts credit cards through his business and this seems to work for him.
There has to be a balance between protecting the buyer and protecting the buyer. PayPal has a huge loophole in their operation and I can't believe that they aren't interested in fixing it.
Would it help to set a minimum requirement for your bidders of more expensive cards? What kind of feedback do these people have? I really hate to hear that you are having these problems with PayPal. I hope things turn around soom for the dealer's and the sake of the hobby!
I too have just recieved the same thing from a Vancouver buyer, for $150.00. Paypal just yanks the funds and says the transaction is under
investigation, without any seller recourse.
My status with this seller in Paypal is "placed", which I have no idea what that means with over 500 Paypal transaction!?
Can you list the name of the guy who ripped off both of you? Is that allowed Jim?
I would think that it would be OK to do this so that he doesn't get others.
If he is doing this to more than 1 person, wouldn't PayPal become suspicious? Also, if he didn't order the card, but you sent it to his address, shouldn't he have to return it? Regardless of who used his account, his actual address would have been the one that PayPal showed the seller.
PayPal really isn't trying to clean up their mess at all. They just seem to be ignoring the whole problem!
Not sure what he is doing, but he's gotten a whack of negatives. I was the last one to leave him a positive. DOH!! His ebay id is something like chade164 and the name on the paypal account is chad ellsworth.
Paypal is run by a bunch of chickensh it thugs and dickless wonders. If anyone wanted to know how many ebay bids they would lose if they do not take paypal, I'll let you know. There is no such thing as seller protection. I have had this dispute going for about a month when it should have been settled in 10 days. I provided everything they wanted, they stopped emailing me a couple of weeks ago and I go into my account today to see that I lost the dispute and they didn't even have the balls to email and tell me, just tried to sneak it through. We will now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast.
This message has been edited by hockey_jim on Nov 30, 2006 1:17 PM
I feel bad for you jim. My wife uses paypal on ebay and everything is ok I guess since everyone is on the up and up(she deals with small businesses). If your doing transactions on ebay I would complain to them too. I guess certified checks and wire transfers are too much money but what does paypal charge. Buyers do have a recourse if they don't get the item after the certified check or wire transfer. Signed Greg
It gets a little frustrating trying to deal with corporations like this. The only people you can ever talk to do not have the power to do anything and your emails seem to go to no mans land. My ebay and paypal fees combined are hitting 20%. I do mostly store items and it costs more for Canadians to withdraw money with the paypal card. As a business, assuming you double up on your product(which you don't) and pay all the other bills, how much do you walk away with? The 20% I am handing over is like having a 50/50 partner. I am working on my own site as we speak, I will not sell as much as I would on ebay, but who cares!! Between ebay and paypal I paid out over $500 this month, that is a lot of cards to give away. And for those ready to jump up and remind me the costs of operating a real store, save it. I am well aware of the costs and I don't have a real store and don't want one.
Jim, might be better if you get incorporated as long as its a small fee. That way you can demand payment by whatever means before delivery and customer's will feel better doing it. That's what all other dealers do(i think). Cards are small(work out of your house) in order to cut down on costs. Also write off expenses to go to shows,etc. Whether you want to sell on ebay is up to you.
You would think that PayPal would appreciate the money they make from sellers each month. I appreciate the fact that they take care of buyers, since I am primarily a buyer, but I sell occasionally too and I don't like seeing loopholes that allow honest sellers to be ripped off like this.
I think the online store is a great idea. You can still sell some of the smaller prices items on eBay, but save some of the more expensive stuff for your own store. I can say that I buy regularly from Gerry. Sometimes on eBay, but also from his website. Once you get the word out about your site, people will check it regularly and you could do quite well. You can still accept credit cards, but you can add your own seller protection, and any losses that you have will be deductible.
It sounds like PayPal has just ripped you off too many times!
I've been thinking for a while--Should I close my account as I haven't appreciated the way some buyers can make a claim sometimes without cause thus amking you look bad?
I haven't had it happen yet but am tired of the whole Paypal system.
They as an affliate of eBay charge you for using their system and take their little take on every incoming transaction BUT never seem to back up the seller--In the world of the customer is always right --NOT so in many cases.
Do you think you lose bidders as they advertise or are there "reasonable" people who conduct business the ole fashion way--snail mail?
I guess DAMNED if you do and DAMNED if you don't?
{ shaking head and shrugging shoulders--Head spinning }
I must admit that I have become spoiled with the speed and ease of PayPal. I like paying for auctions the same day that they close and getting my card with a few days! As a seller, I'm not in the same rush and I don't like the fees that much.
It seems like many bidders also like Paypal and some will avoid auctions that don't accept it. I can tell you that I sold some items back in September and I told all bidders that if they were from Canada and wished to use PayPal that I would have to charge them the cost of shipping with a tracking number and delivery verification. Even after making this clear to all bidders, I got a lot of crap from the winners of auctions from Canada. They wanted to use PayPal but didn't want to pay for shipping that would protect me from PayPal.
(I was trying to follow all of PayPal's rules.) I had to listen to numerous complaints and I was accused of trying to rip people off with the shipping costs. I told them that I could ship the card cheaply if they wanted to pay with a money order, but this didn't please them either. I was happy to get those transactions completed.
As long as I know the seller or his feedback is very solid, I will send a check or money order. (Especially if it is something that I really want.) PayPal is nice because I can use a credit card too! I don't know how much it would affect your sales, but I would suggest leaving your account open for now. Try listing some auctions without accepting PayPal to see how you do. You might still do OK, but I would bet that you would lose a few bidders.
