Ebay / Paypal

[Peter 615]

Be warned and make sure that your Ebay/Paypal accounts are bomb proof.

My main selling account was randomly checked for money laundering.

The Email Address was my 16 yr old daughters and verified by my wife's bank account and my credit card.

It is illegal to use my daughters Email as she is under 18.

What I have had to do is end 15 listings without being able to apologise to bidders.Scan a passport of my daughter to paypal and hopefully when the funds in paypal can (hopefully) be transferred to my buying account...close my selling account down.(nearly £1,000 in obeyance )

I suppose it is a good thing that checks are made but it has been a right hassle since 17:30 to try and sort all this out.

Be wary and don't trust your kids to set up accounts.....although she makes the keyboard smoke with her quickness.

She hasn't lost her job as chief lister though.

[Colin G. 147]

Be warned and make sure that your Ebay/Paypal accounts are bomb proof.

My main selling account was randomly checked for money laundering.

The Email Address was my 16 yr old daughters and verified by my wife's bank account and my credit card.

It is illegal to use my daughters Email as she is under 18.

What I have had to do is end 15 listings without being able to apologise to bidders.Scan a passport of my daughter to paypal and hopefully when the funds in paypal can (hopefully) be transferred to my buying account...close my selling account down.(nearly £1,000 in obeyance )

I suppose it is a good thing that checks are made but it has been a right hassle since 17:30 to try and sort all this out.

Be wary and don't trust your kids to set up accounts.....although she makes the keyboard smoke with her quickness.

She hasn't lost her job as chief lister though.

Typical management blaming the workers

[azda 979]

I thought they stopped flogging in the 1800s NOTHING is bomb proof with EBAY or PAYPAL, remember ebay own PAYPAL, hence the reason you cannnot list ANYTHING without accepting paypal, personally i think thats an unfair monopoly and it should be seriously looked into by the Monopolys Commission, they did with Micrsosoft, why not Ebay?

Edited December 6, 2011 by azda

[Generic Lad 25]

PayPal is a pain, if eBay wasn't the easiest way to get my coins for my collection I certainly wouldn't use it. I saw a similar story online about a blog (Regretsy if anyone is curious, but beware strong language is everywhere) mistakenly used the "Donate" button to collect donations for a donations fund to provide toys for underprivileged kids. Instead PayPal requested the owner of the site to send lots of paperwork (while she was in Finland) from her (US based) banks because she is set up as a for profit company, only to e-mail her back and forced her to issue refunds to the thousands of people who had donated all the while they kept the fees! So now when she sets it back up for people to donate again (though she has to use the "Purchase It" button) PayPal gets yet /another/ cut of the fees.

[azda 979]

PayPal is a pain, if eBay wasn't the easiest way to get my coins for my collection I certainly wouldn't use it. I saw a similar story online about a blog (Regretsy if anyone is curious, but beware strong language is everywhere) mistakenly used the "Donate" button to collect donations for a donations fund to provide toys for underprivileged kids. Instead PayPal requested the owner of the site to send lots of paperwork (while she was in Finland) from her (US based) banks because she is set up as a for profit company, only to e-mail her back and forced her to issue refunds to the thousands of people who had donated all the while they kept the fees! So now when she sets it back up for people to donate again (though she has to use the "Purchase It" button) PayPal gets yet /another/ cut of the fees.

Hmmm that is a strange one, as Paypal don't normally keep the fees when refunding someone, although they may have changed something somewhere in their minute print

Edited December 6, 2011 by azda

[1949threepence 3,367]

I appreciate the need for paypal to be careful about fraud, but that zeal makes life exceedingly difficult for perfectly innocent users who make genuine errors.

[Rob 3,152]

Or like me with my dodgy bank account - the same one I have had for years, long before ebay was even a twinkle in Mr & Mrs eBay Snrs' eyes. I've still got my dodgy bank account long after ebay no longer have my business, and surprise, surprise, it still works. Just like the day it did when ebay transferred my blocked Paypal funds into the same dodgy bank account that they couldn't transfer to because they deemed it was suspect. Forget paying-in slips, use the ombudsman. And thank you Paypal for my compensatory P1258.

[Peter 615]

and we would of got away with it if it wasn't for those PESKIE kids....

Rob,nice P1258 please expand how you managed this.

I shall start again using my hotmail address,same bank account and card....no difference but hey I'm flexible.

Why can't they concentrate on the dodgy sellers who shill,knowingly clean,sell replica's and some of the untouchable buyers who make life a misery....I would like to use the "Clarkson" method.

I've been scammed 3x on the lost coin ruse,an idiot in India who bids/wins that is the last you hear from him(still 100% feedback despite about 20 of us complaining in our "positive" feedback) & a "Mad" cow I would love to take on a one way trip to see a nice Swiss Dr.

[Rob 3,152]

and we would of got away with it if it wasn't for those PESKIE kids....

Rob,nice P1258 please expand how you managed this.

I shall start again using my hotmail address,same bank account and card....no difference but hey I'm flexible.

Why can't they concentrate on the dodgy sellers who shill,knowingly clean,sell replica's and some of the untouchable buyers who make life a misery....I would like to use the "Clarkson" method.

I've been scammed 3x on the lost coin ruse,an idiot in India who bids/wins that is the last you hear from him(still 100% feedback despite about 20 of us complaining in our "positive" feedback) & a "Mad" cow I would love to take on a one way trip to see a nice Swiss Dr.

Simple. As you have noticed, Paypal do random checks to prevent fraud. I had a lot of money in the Paypal account which I wanted out. They deemed my bank account to be suspect and wanted further verification despite already having info that met their requirements and in fact the transfers had worked well for a few years prior to the problem. I explained the situation to them, but this fell on deaf ears. For 3 months emails traded back and forth (about 30 in total), but it proved impossible to speak to a human being to discuss the problem. Phoning Paypal transferred you to a call centre in India who said I had to email, which was ignored, who said I had to phone in,etc. etc. After 3 months have passed from the start of the process you can refer a dispute to the ombudsman. This I did and in addition sent a courtesy email to Paypal saying I had passed the case over as it wasn't in any danger of being resolved. Within 10 minutes, I had a call from Paypal (based in ireland at the time if I remember correctly) accusing me of not trying to resolve the problem. I pointed out that if he had bothered to read even a handful of the emails, the problem could have been resolved a few months previously. He said, as a goodwill gesture they were going to transfer the funds as I had requested and that I shouldn't post the letter (actually a parcel of a kg or two) to the ombudsman. I said too late, it's gone. 10 minutes later I had a call saying they were going to make an ex-gratia payment into the same dodgy bank account that hitherto was too suspect to use. So much for concern about security and fraud!! Basically, it looks like emails were filed in the bin on the assumption that you would back down, but I didn't believe in giving Paypal a one-off donation and just kept plodding away. All could have been resolved easily if Paypal did customer service by allowing you to speak to a human being. Given nobody sets up an intentionally useless business model, the only indication of service is how a problem gets resolved. In this they palpably failed. I still would have preferred a service that I could use with confidence as it means that I can't sell via ebay because I still use the same dodgy bank account and so presumably the problem would resurface if I tried to sell via ebay again. My wife still sells on ebay occasionally because it is unquestionably a good way to shift oddball things that would otherwise have to go to a car boot, but only at a level whereby the funds received are outweighed by the money we typically spend on ebay purchases. For our security and peace of mind, this is kept to a minimum.

[1949threepence 3,367]

and we would of got away with it if it wasn't for those PESKIE kids....

Rob,nice P1258 please expand how you managed this.

I shall start again using my hotmail address,same bank account and card....no difference but hey I'm flexible.

Why can't they concentrate on the dodgy sellers who shill,knowingly clean,sell replica's and some of the untouchable buyers who make life a misery....I would like to use the "Clarkson" method.

I've been scammed 3x on the lost coin ruse,an idiot in India who bids/wins that is the last you hear from him(still 100% feedback despite about 20 of us complaining in our "positive" feedback) & a "Mad" cow I would love to take on a one way trip to see a nice Swiss Dr.

Simple. As you have noticed, Paypal do random checks to prevent fraud. I had a lot of money in the Paypal account which I wanted out. They deemed my bank account to be suspect and wanted further verification despite already having info that met their requirements and in fact the transfers had worked well for a few years prior to the problem. I explained the situation to them, but this fell on deaf ears. For 3 months emails traded back and forth (about 30 in total), but it proved impossible to speak to a human being to discuss the problem. Phoning Paypal transferred you to a call centre in India who said I had to email, which was ignored, who said I had to phone in,etc. etc. After 3 months have passed from the start of the process you can refer a dispute to the ombudsman. This I did and in addition sent a courtesy email to Paypal saying I had passed the case over as it wasn't in any danger of being resolved. Within 10 minutes, I had a call from Paypal (based in ireland at the time if I remember correctly) accusing me of not trying to resolve the problem. I pointed out that if he had bothered to read even a handful of the emails, the problem could have been resolved a few months previously. He said, as a goodwill gesture they were going to transfer the funds as I had requested and that I shouldn't post the letter (actually a parcel of a kg or two) to the ombudsman. I said too late, it's gone. 10 minutes later I had a call saying they were going to make an ex-gratia payment into the same dodgy bank account that hitherto was too suspect to use. So much for concern about security and fraud!! Basically, it looks like emails were filed in the bin on the assumption that you would back down, but I didn't believe in giving Paypal a one-off donation and just kept plodding away. All could have been resolved easily if Paypal did customer service by allowing you to speak to a human being. Given nobody sets up an intentionally useless business model, the only indication of service is how a problem gets resolved. In this they palpably failed. I still would have preferred a service that I could use with confidence as it means that I can't sell via ebay because I still use the same dodgy bank account and so presumably the problem would resurface if I tried to sell via ebay again. My wife still sells on ebay occasionally because it is unquestionably a good way to shift oddball things that would otherwise have to go to a car boot, but only at a level whereby the funds received are outweighed by the money we typically spend on ebay purchases. For our security and peace of mind, this is kept to a minimum.

Did you ever get to find out why paypal considered your bank account to be dodgy ?

I would still have gone to the ombudsman, with that being question No 1.

[Rob 3,152]

Did you ever get to find out why paypal considered your bank account to be dodgy ?

I would still have gone to the ombudsman, with that being question No 1.

No, I didn't, but given they were asking for info they already had, the problem had to be internal administration. The fundamental problem though is their refusal to offer a facility for speaking directly with a person who can actually do something and rectify the problem. That is why the problem dragged on. If you stick two fingers up to your customers, a tit for tat is not unreasonable. They just think they are god and the whole world is wrong. Right product, shite company.

With hindsight I should have insisted they take back the compensation which was deposited in my account without me ever asking for it or considering it as an option and let the ombudsman fine them a much larger sum and have the added benefit of getting the details published. Public exposure for wrong-doing is the best way to make errant companies do something about it. All I wanted was a workable system that allowed me to use my money as and when I wanted to. Now accepting payments by Paypal isn't an option and will not be an option. Given their default attitude of buyer right & seller wrong irrespective of circumstances, not using Paypal for business purposes isn't likely to change in my lifetime.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Rob

[Colin G. 147]

Given their default attitude of buyer right & seller wrong irrespective of circumstances, not using Paypal for business purposes isn't likely to change in my lifetime.

I think this is slowly changing, I have had them defend me on a recent claim as the seller against a credit card company/buyer. They are still not angels, but the last couple of dealings I have had with them were positive.

[Rob 3,152]

Given their default attitude of buyer right & seller wrong irrespective of circumstances, not using Paypal for business purposes isn't likely to change in my lifetime.

I think this is slowly changing, I have had them defend me on a recent claim as the seller against a credit card company/buyer. They are still not angels, but the last couple of dealings I have had with them were positive.

The problem is still their digital contact rather than human interaction. Every situation is different and so problem solving is unlikely to happen if managing the problem is mechanical, such as multiple choice questions. It is clearly possible for human intervention to facilitate money transfers and override the blocking mechanism as was proven in my case. The problem lies in their unwillingness to discuss matters face to face so to speak. Having to speak to the other side means that you can't hide behind a digital facade and claim the email never reached you. In my case the excuse was a misunderstanding had happened, but that isn't sustainable over the course of a couple dozen emails or more. It's presumably policy as it's cheaper to hope that complainants will go away.

The question worth asking is whether anyone has ever been able to instigate a discussion with a capable, can-do Paypal rep rather than Bombay central switchboard? Not including anyone who may work for eBay or Paypal as they would be able to bypass the system.

[Peter 615]

Thanks for inspiring me on the likelyhood of a quick fix.

[Colin G. 147]

Given their default attitude of buyer right & seller wrong irrespective of circumstances, not using Paypal for business purposes isn't likely to change in my lifetime.

I think this is slowly changing, I have had them defend me on a recent claim as the seller against a credit card company/buyer. They are still not angels, but the last couple of dealings I have had with them were positive.

The problem is still their digital contact rather than human interaction. Every situation is different and so problem solving is unlikely to happen if managing the problem is mechanical, such as multiple choice questions. It is clearly possible for human intervention to facilitate money transfers and override the blocking mechanism as was proven in my case. The problem lies in their unwillingness to discuss matters face to face so to speak. Having to speak to the other side means that you can't hide behind a digital facade and claim the email never reached you. In my case the excuse was a misunderstanding had happened, but that isn't sustainable over the course of a couple dozen emails or more. It's presumably policy as it's cheaper to hope that complainants will go away.

The question worth asking is whether anyone has ever been able to instigate a discussion with a capable, can-do Paypal rep rather than Bombay central switchboard? Not including anyone who may work for eBay or Paypal as they would be able to bypass the system.

Well now you are just asking for the impossible you will be expecting them to be frielndly and polite next