PayPal Took my money

neopn · 23-08-2008 5:50pm #1

Hi, i'm new to this so please forgive any mistakes.

I sold a gold coin on ebay and received payment through paypal and shipped the next day registered post. I tracked it as delivered. Paypal froze my account and when i contacted them they said that it was not a problem with me and that they were investagating where the funds where coming from so she told me all was well. Then all of a sudden the dispute is closed and the €170 was taken out of my paypal account by paypal. On contacting them they said that their was an issue with the transaction and that i should try to resolve the issue through ebay and ask for the funds again...the user is now not registered with ebay and i left thinking that i have been scre***.

Do i have any chance of getting my money back! If so what would be the best course of action. Thanks to anyone who can advise me on this its very fustrating.

Kind Regards,

Paul Nestor

jor el · 23-08-2008 6:10pm

Most likely the Paypal account that was used to buy was either hacked, or the card used on it was stolen. Either way, the money is gone and you're not likely to get any refund.

neopn · 23-08-2008 6:23pm

Whats rely weird is that i was in contact with the seller until recently. She said that paypal had no reason to do what they did. She hasnt replied to my emails in the last few days. What i cant understand is how paypal can give you the money and then take it away. Why cant they check this before they put the funds on your acount. If i cant get a refund this does not seem to be a secure way of trading at all. I'm fustrated and disgusted.

dragona · 23-08-2008 8:23pm

Quite honestly I have no faith in PayPal AT ALL. I know this is not helpfull to you, but I just HAD to say it......

A Dub in Glasgo · 23-08-2008 8:59pm

Paypal can do this because they do not confirm credit card addresses outside of UK and USA therefore they have no idea if the payments from credit card funded accouts are legit or not. If the card holder disputes the transaction, paypal will take the money off the seller. They still take their large fee for this incompetent service.

neopn · 24-08-2008 12:29pm

Is there an alternative to Paypal or is using Amazon better than using ebay.
Thanks for any help...and i agree i'd never recommend paypal

Fighting Irish · 24-08-2008 2:06pm

paypal is great for buying stuff

neopn · 27-08-2008 7:35am

Hi,

Just to update, thanks to some help i got a full refund. I'm happy for the short term but dont like the idea about this happening again. How can you protect yourself from this when using paypal as a seller?

Thanks

sunny2004 · 27-08-2008 8:58am

neopn wrote: »

Hi,

Just to update, thanks to some help i got a full refund. I'm happy for the short term but dont like the idea about this happening again. How can you protect yourself from this when using paypal as a seller?

Thanks

Maybe be more selective to where you will do business, or wait a little longer for funds to clear.. watch feedback etc..

PRAY !
p.s do you have any more gold ????

jor el · 27-08-2008 9:05am

neopn wrote: »

I'm happy for the short term but dont like the idea about this happening again. How can you protect yourself from this when using paypal as a seller?

How did you get your money back? That's pretty much all you can do with Paypal, apart from being selective about who you sell to.

neopn · 28-08-2008 7:22am

Thanks sunny2004, i like to post items as soon as funds arrive to my paypal account to keep fast shipping times, 100% positive feedback and five stars. This person was in the US and i thought that was OK and had 100% feedback for buying similar items. Would you have any suggestions as to which countries are the ones to stay well clear off?

Jor el, i wrote a very nice email explaining that i am a CEO for a Nationwide security company and that i was getting no answers to my questions and that the service wasn't what i though it should be. I told them that i heard of Paypal issues coming up in the media and i have contracts with radio stations and that i advertise with them now and again and that it would make for a great topic. Of course i sent it to the correct people. That was on Friday morning and by Tuesday i had two emails received and i had my funds refunded to my account.

I still think that the system is flawed. I don't mind if my funds are held and checked but don't give me money and take it away...imagine doing that in a shop!

jor el · 28-08-2008 8:48am

neopn wrote: »

Thanks sunny2004, i like to post items as soon as funds arrive to my paypal account to keep fast shipping times, 100% positive feedback and five stars. This person was in the US and i thought that was OK and had 100% feedback for buying similar items. Would you have any suggestions as to which countries are the ones to stay well clear off?

That's pretty much all you can do, look for good feedback, and not an obvious scammer. In this case, it was probably a compromised account, which you can't really do anything to detect.

neopn wrote: »

Jor el, i wrote a very nice email explaining that i am a CEO for a Nationwide security company and that i was getting no answers to my questions and that the service wasn't what i though it should be. I told them that i heard of Paypal issues coming up in the media and i have contracts with radio stations and that i advertise with them now and again and that it would make for a great topic. Of course i sent it to the correct people. That was on Friday morning and by Tuesday i had two emails received and i had my funds refunded to my account.

Then you were very lucky to be able to threaten them with something they weren't going to like. Normally, under this situation, you'd have been left high and dry. This is one of the major flaws with using Paypal (or any processing agent like them). You can't actually verify the identity of the buyer, like you could if you were processing the payments yourself. You can't verify the buyers address with the credit card, and you can't verify the CVV2 code. Paypal are supposed to do all this, an the seller pays all the fees to Paypal to make sure it is done, which is why they should be held liable for any fraud.

neopn wrote: »

I still think that the system is flawed. I don't mind if my funds are held and checked but don't give me money and take it away...imagine doing that in a shop!

Very flawed, but short of doing the processing yourself (if you are a business you can probably do this) there are few alternatives. People who buy in eBay like to use Paypal, because it's instant and it offers protection where cash, cheque or bank transfer, wouldn't.

PayPal Took my money

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