Buying & Selling Online using Paypal

[ironman]

if you can, just pay the 4% fee associated with paying via regular payment. otherwise your only real means of recovering funds in the off chance that the seller is fraudulent would be to file a chargeback with your credit card company

[treasurehoard]

^^ you should pay with a credit card as merchandise ... not as a gift. Although you can file a chargeback with your credit card even if you pay as a gift you, it will take more time then if you file a paypal dispute, it also could be more difficult to file a chargeback depending on who issued your card. Also if you fund it with anything other than a credit card you will have no recourse if the seller scams you.

Another thing to consider is if the seller is accepting multiple gift payments their account could be put on hold(suspended) and the money could be held by paypal for up to 180 days. Paypal has been cracking down on this.

[CUTUP]

^^ you should pay with a credit card as merchandise ... not as a gift. Although you can file a chargeback with your credit card even if you pay as a gift you, it will take more time then if you file a paypal dispute, it also could be more difficult to file a chargeback depending on who issued your card. Also if you fund it with anything other than a credit card you will have no recourse if the seller scams you.

Another thing to consider is if the seller is accepting multiple gift payments their account could be put on hold(suspended) and the money could be held by paypal for up to 180 days. Paypal has been cracking down on this.

Yup...

Paypal is a fee based company, and when people are finding ways to avoid their fees, it was only a matter of time before they began to crack down.
Especially on those who accept payment like this often from all kinds of different people

[beardown]

I'm not trying to contradict but I spoke with a Paypal rep who told me it was perfectly fine to accept multiple gift payments with the understanding there was no protection for any transactions.

If you have a merchant account, they would definitely lock your account if they saw a pattern of payments in an attempt to avoid fees.

I think Paypal almost likes a certain amount of gift transactions because it keeps them from having to deal with any conflicts that arise. It's my understanding that that particular part of the business takes the most time and manpower.

Plus, most people who get gift payments, Paypal still makes interest off of holding that money and it sometimes goes out in the form of a legitimate payment from a merchant or Ebay or something.
It makes good business sense how I see it that it keeps customers coming back and it's a non-hassle part of what they do.

As long as money is flowing freely through the paypal system, they're making cash off of that money one way or another. Feel free to call support yourselves and inquire. I don't want to be responsible for any mixed signals but when I called, I described the types of transactions via a specialized forum. Keep in mind I've had an account for a decade or so and I have been filling their coffers for years so maybe that has some bearing on how they feel about it...on a case by case basis perhaps.

[ironman]

beardown is right, they probably save considerable time and money on dealing with conflicts. paypal still makes fees on gift payments by the way. 2.5% currency conversion fee for any payment, plus a small percentage fee, even if paying instant bank wire transfer. i think they still charge that same tiny fee for PayPal balance transfers too

not 100% sure on that last one

[Liquid]

effective nov 1, paypal buyer protection now also applies OFF-EBAY...

I know recently paypal holds ebay payments from the seller for 21 days (to give enough time for the buyer to receive/dispute the item).

Has this been extended to non-ebay transactions as well?

[beardown]

I know recently paypal holds ebay payments from the seller for 21 days (to give enough time for the buyer to receive/dispute the item).

Has this been extended to non-ebay transactions as well?

This has been official since 2008.

It only applies to new sellers and those with bad feedback overall and 'high risk' transactions.

It's weird how much disinformation gets out about Paypal. I am not a huge fan of them but a lot of what gets reported can be shot down with a quick google search.
They're kind of like the Federal Reserve in terms of what they can do.

I understand the concern for sure but I've never had funds held at any time in the past 2 years with transactions as recent as 3 days ago.

[diorowen]

same here, never get any transaction hold..well paypal give buyer a full protection though..I never had any problem as a buyer. but as a seller, sometimes paypal can become a nightmare as well.:(..buyer can blackmail seller.and the most important thing is they rarely take a deep consideration before deciding who's gonna win a claim..where mostly seller lost..but as someone said before, its a risk of online transaction. one time it can be beneficial, one time it can be the worst..
so? any other good method of selling things?

[jgan85]

one side effect of the new paypal/ebay amendments is that every single US seller on eBay now charges something like US$35 and up, even to ship a single button-down internationally, to cover their ass against those few buyers out to scam. off-putting.
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Free Fucktube

[Catfood]

So I recently bought a pair of jeans off of someone in the classifieds. What I failed to realize though was that the seller had tapered the jeans to the point where I can just get my foot through the hem and I've got relatively small feet.

In the title of the item in his classifieds he did list the item in a format along the lines of "designer name model size reworked" I probably should have taken note of the word reworked, but beyond that he didn't mention that they where altered, even when I PM'ed him for measurements (although I did just PM him for waist measurements as I was under assumption that the hem was the same as it always is for that particular cut).

Anyway, PM'ed him about 4-5 days ago and still no response. Am I in the wrong here for not paying good enough attention or should I just open a paypal claim?

Thanks for any advice.

[jgan85]

doubt a paypal claim will be any help - see Lowrey's difficulties earlier on in this thread wrt making an Item Not As Described claim - but it may elicit some response from the seller.

another one or two PMs, an email, and if all else fails, public shame on the Seller Feedback Thread might be more useful.
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[lowrey]

^ agreed

the seller should have mentioned how they were altered, but I also think that if its just vaguely mentioned, I personally would have asked what has been done to them.

[Catfood]

Thanks for the feedback.

I agree that I should have asked. It just didn't register with me that the word reworked was synonymous with altered in this case. I guess I just assumed that people would mention alterations in more detail than a single word in a heading.

Anyway, guess I learned my lesson.

[endersgame]

well, after getting screwed on fakes, i filed a claim with my bank and they got all my money back from my account and also the partial funds used from my paypal.

i should now be able to go through paypal for these things as they are offering not as described buyers protection outside of ebay..

but if i didn't use my bank account to partially fund the purchase, i wouldn't have been able to file a claim..

[suhlee]

What's the general etiquette/recommended amount of time to wait before filing a claim?

I bought a pair of pants two weeks ago but ever since I paid, the seller hasn't responded to any of my PMs requesting a tracking number.
It's international, so I figure I should give him one more week before filing a claim?

He's a pretty reputable member here with consistently great items for sale but it does seem a little a suspicious.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!