Seller on ebay picky about instant payment?

stman

I'm not sure I get this, seller states paypal accepted only if a feedback of 10 or more. Maybe I'm missing something but seller is getting paid instantly why would it matter? I've seen sellers stating if sending check if a lot of feedback they wouldn't wait for it to clear to ship otherwise check has to clear, which makes sense.

stman

newbiecollector

I would also be interested in what sellers can offer on this question. My only sensible option for paying is Paypal and I do not have feedbacks (I don't think).

Dog97

You can rip sellers off using PayPal and if a buyer has less than 10 feedbacks he really has no history in most cases.

Dog97

dp

newbiecollector

Thanks for the reply Dog97. To add stupidity to my part of this thread how could I possibly rip off a seller if I pay him immediately by Paypal?
In my few transactions as soon as I post my paypal payment it shows as registered as paid.
Maybe I am being thick headed here.

Russ

newbiecollector,

It's called a "chargeback". Take delivery of the merchandise, then file a bogus claim with Paypal; they yank the money from the seller's account and the seller is screwed. Happens all the time.

To make it even worse, if the seller has no money in their Paypal account, Paypal will reach in and grab it from their checking account. One of many reasons I refuse to use them.

Russ, NCNE

epicrecipe

Sheesh, does paypal not investigate? All the bad press lately re: online auctions discusses buyers *not* being able to get a refund from paypal unless ebay's Safe Harbor pays the first $200.

What is a better alternative to paypal short of my own merchant account?

Russ

<< <i>What is a better alternative to paypal short of my own merchant account? >>



I have a merchant account, but I don't use it on eBay since I'm not in the coin business.

I'm hoping that once Paypal is merged in to eBay, their system will be improved to the point that I'll be willing to use it. The two biggest problems I have with them is the linking to a checking account, and their terrible financial situation. The latter should be taken care of with the merger; we'll see what happens with the former.

Russ, NCNE

stman

Thanks guys, I figured there was something I was missing. There is allways fraud going on with everything I guess. I think maybe I was quick to jump to conclusions due to some sellers I've dealt with on ebay lately, Grumpy, email them with a couple questions and get response like no no and no and thats it. Pay for item immediate, when item is received by me I leave feedback and they don't . But have dealt with some great sellers also. I don't sell anything but it seems like paypal can give a buyer a little extra protection?

stman

Petescorner

To make it even worse, if the seller has no money in their Paypal account, Paypal will reach in and grab it from their checking account. One of many reasons I refuse to use them.

Russ, I'm not sure this is correct. I had to file a PayPal dispute with a seller a couple months ago over an $80 item. PayPal sided with me and refunded around $50. When I called PayPal to dispute the amount of the refund, I was told that the most I could collect was what was currently in the seller's PayPal balance. When I told them that the seller currently had a dozen items up for sale, they told me that once they make a decision, they consider the case closed! Thank god the seller didn't have a balance of $1, or I could have been out $79 according to their rules. For this reason, I advise people to keep as low of a balance in your account as possible. This can protect sellers from a large bogus backcharge, and it protects buyers by forcing the payment to go through their credit card (instead of PP balance) which gives you much better recourse in case you get screwed.

The story did have a happy ending though, a month later the seller voluntarily refunded the extra $30, after I had already left negative feedback.

-Dan

Russ

Dan,

In your case, it is likely that the seller linked his Paypal account to a checking account in which he kept no balance.

Paypal can, and frequently does recover by attaching funds from bank accounts. They have also been known to accidentally freeze Paypal accounts with many thousands of dollars in them, based on chargebacks for small dollar amounts.

Beyond all that, they are an unregulated dot.bomb bank, with no protections, that is bleeding $millions every quarter.

Russ, NCNE

Clankeye

Russ--
Sorry, but you seem to know more about this than I do... I never keep a balance in my PayPal account. If I use it, I just figure they will ding my linked checking account and I make a note of it there. Am I missing anything? I'm I being charged any fees that I'm not seeing for this? I'm begining to wonder if I understand how PayPal really works.

newbiecollector

Russ......... Thanks for the reply and info. I have to admit most of that went right over my head. That's my ignorance not your comments.
I am only a buyer not a seller and use my Visa as backup for my Paypal account. I think I might have $5 in my account because a very nice guy on here sent it to me because he said I overpaid by Paupal for a purchase I made.

Confusing stuff to me.

Russ

Anybody's who's interested, should read through this site.

But, as I said earlier, my hope is that the merger with eBay will result in a cleanup of both Paypal's financials, and their predisposition to assume that the seller is always a crook.

As far as being only a buyer, there is really very little danger other then the potential of being hacked and having your checking account drained - which is not likely if you're careful.

Russ, NCNE

tompkins

My only dispute with Paypal, regarding a fraudulant sale, they ignored me and my evidence. The credit card company, however, agreed with me and did a chargeback to Paypal, who in turn, I presume, extracted it from the seller. It is easy for paypal to go into someone's bank account and extract money. anyone with access to the ACH system can do it. I recently had a payroll service take $3,000 out of someone's account ("oops! it was supposed to be a ledger adjustment, not a cash adjustment" was their explanation). It is frighteningly easy to do. And, frankly, Paypal is totally unregulated---they are (or have been at various times) under some level of examination to determine if they are operating as an unlicensed bank.

But you have to convince someone (either Paypal or the credit issuer) that you were defrauded. So I suppose that is a risk, but it would seem to be a much larger risk for a dishonest seller than for an honest one!

Pete

Petescorner

Russ, it seems we may both be right about whether or not PayPal can go into your checking account. According to their user agreement, it looks like you are protected from the checking account debit if you registered before October 11, 2001. Here is the information from their user agreement:

PayPal will seek to recover the funds from you by debiting your PayPal balance and, if there are not sufficient funds in your PayPal balance, PayPal reserves the right to collect your debt to PayPal by any other legal means. If you open a Premier or Business Account after October 11, 2001, you authorize PayPal to debit your bank account linked to that PayPal account for the amount that you owe PayPal on transactions which were not covered by the Seller Protection Policy and which were not recoverable from your PayPal balance.

-Dan

stman

<< <i>

As far as being only a buyer, there is really very little danger other then the potential of being hacked and having your checking account drained - which is not likely if you're careful.

Russ, NCNE >>

Russ, would you mind explaining this.

Russ

stman,

Use a strong alphanumeric password, change it regularly and don't visit any of the numerous scam sites that pop up.

Russ, NCNE

stman

Thanks Russ

stman