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Who hates paypal? Looking for some advice.

octechgeek

octechgeek

Experienced Member
Joined
24 August 2004
Messages
474
I'll try and keep this short. Attempted to purchased and item on ebay, but was outbidded and a few days later, seller contacted me to see if I was still interested in purchasing the item since the winner flaked and backed out of the deal. I agreed and we did an out side of ebay transaction just using paypal.

2 weeks past and seller emails me saying that his house was burglarized and the thieves also took that time I purchased so he won't be able to send me the item and that he spent the money already on rent so he doesn't have any money to pay me back. I than immediately file a dispute claim with paypal and 30 days later, paypal sent me an email saying they favor my side but cannot refund me my money because they cannot get any money from the seller. So, that was the final verdict with paypal and they closed the case.

Now what? what would you guys do in this case? Here's some options i'm thinking about:

1. contact my credit card company and dispute the charges so my CC will do a drawback, but I've heard when the CC companies do this, paypal will lock out your account and make you pay take care of the funds otherwise your account remains lock and in a negative. I use paypal quite a bit for my business, so I don't need them locking me out...

2. file criminal charges on the "fool" a.k.a. seller. Now in the small amount of only $600, can criminal charges still be file?

3. is there any other options?


thanks in advance guys if you have an input.

h
 
Garbage, paypal acts like an escrow and holds money until buyer gets the item and gives feedback or 30days. At least for higher priced items. In your case I guess they didn't. Ebay should be able to refund your money though did you try filing with them? (Sadly they are the same company underneath) The seller totally shammed you though. Theft is one thing (prob bogus) but if they spent the money before mailing out the item that's lame. btw paypal does suck.
 
He's right. Paypal does hold that money, so somebody (or possibly both) is giving you the line. Depending on how much you use PayPal, I would do a chargeback from the credit card, and not worry about what PayPal does. We use Ebay for the business as well, but we do not accept PayPal payments because it's such a pain in the a$$. Good luck.
 
NathanMT01 said:
He's right. Paypal does hold that money, so somebody (or possibly both) is giving you the line. Depending on how much you use PayPal, I would do a chargeback from the credit card, and not worry about what PayPal does. We use Ebay for the business as well, but we do not accept PayPal payments because it's such a pain in the a$$. Good luck.
Click to expand...

How do you use ebay without using paypal? :confused:

Last time I tried to sell an item, it said I *ONLY* could accept paypal as a payment option.

I contacted customer service to see if that was true....it was....so I cancelled my account.
 
PayPal is just the middleman. Your dispute is with the seller; if you need to get the money back, he's the one you have to go after.
 
Just do the chargeback on your credit card and forget about what PayPal may do as a result. If you need to open a new account and start fresh with PayPal then so be it. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to recoup your loss.
 
I believe this is one of the main reasons ebay says to totally avoid sellers outside the confines of ebay. Sorry to hear you got taken.:frown:
Personally, I have never had a problem with paypal though.
 
Just another example of people ripping people off. Dispute the CC charge. If PayPal or eBay don't like it- tough. Finally, buyer beware. The OP completed a transaction outside of eBay and that should have been a warning.
 
... Just be sure to go back later, buy something cheap from the seller, and then mess with his feedback rating.

He can't do anything but leave a positive. Use eBay's screwed-upedness in your favor this time.
 
Ebay owns Paypal now.

They only provide protection for items through Ebay:

13.1 How am I protected if I have a problem with a purchase?

PayPal has two programs to help protect you:

* PayPal Buyer Protection (for eligible items purchased on eBay)
* PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy (for all other items purchased on or off eBay) <---- you're screwed
 
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Doesn't PayPal have some sort of duty of care to the OP as a customer? What happened to their Protection Policy?????

Bad situation, sorry to hear.
 
92NSX said:
I believe this is one of the main reasons ebay says to totally avoid sellers outside the confines of ebay. Sorry to hear you got taken.:frown:
Personally, I have never had a problem with paypal though.
Click to expand...

I agree but not sure how this would have been any different if they HAD used eBay, right?
 
osugrad97 said:
I agree but not sure how this would have been any different if they HAD used eBay, right?
Click to expand...

No - they provide buyer protection for items through eligible items on ebay. Everything else - you're screwed. You have no choice but to go to the CC company.
 
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Every time I have a paypal dispute I also file a claim with my credit card at the same time. Never had a problem yet. A few of my clients pay me with paypal every month and they have never been refused by paypal.

I just did a charge back with paypal for ~1600 for a ebay transaction that went bad. I also canceled the payment on my credit card at the same time. The dispute got pretty nasty and I figured the seller was going to try and screw me so I got ahead of the curve and blasted him with both barrels.
 
If paypal isnt going to give you your $600 back, file a credit card dispute. Most likely paypal isnt going to be very happy and will shut down your account. Who cares, just create a new one.
 
I use paypal all the time to buy stuff and receive payments. I have not run into any problems in 7 + years. Most of the payments I receive are not for EBay items. Buying things out side of Ebay after they have already been sold is a big No No it's a standard scam.

I just wish I could use paypal more places like actual stores.
 
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Agree with BrianK, sound like a scam. You did said that you purchased out side of ebay transaction. Sorry to hear your loss.
 
Why isn't the seller refunding you your money? His product was stolen - not yours. Until it's in the possesion of a third party shipping service, he still owns it and you have merely made payment to receive goods. He needs to legally refund you your money period. No product to ship - no money to collect. IF this doesn't happen, then it's pretty simple. You got scammed.

Assuming you did get scammed, there are some steps that might help your cause. Was all information merely via email? Did you talk with the seller via phone? Have you confirmed their address? Contact local authorities in the city the seller is located and have them confirm if a burglery report was filed by the seller. Contact your local police department and file a fraud charge there. None of these steps are likely to getting your money back, but it's worth a try.

Contact your CC as they are suppose to provide buyer protection for situations like this.

Tim
 
Just file the charge-back with your credit card company for item not received. I always buy with my CC in case PayPal flakes out. I did this before, and PayPal will sent me an email that I should follow their dispute process. I deleted the email of course. No action taken by PayPal. If you do this regular, then I don't know if PayPal will actually suspend you're account.

The PayPal dispute team is a few fries short of a happy meal at times. I don't hate PayPal, but I also would not endorse them either. Until there is competition, there is no need for PayPal create a buyer or seller satisfaction improvement program.
 
Go complain to the founder of Paypal and now CEO of Tesla.

arts-graphics-2007_1180433a.jpg


elon_musk.jpg


After Musk had confirmed an earlier report that Tesla Motors only had $9 million cash in bank, he was reported to hire an outside IT contractor go through the company's email and instant messages then had an investigator take fingerprints off a printout discarded near a copier used to leak the email. The email implicated employee Peng Zhou as the source of the company's status. Zhou had sought to frame other employees at Tesla by claiming in his leaked emails that he was a four year employee. Musk offered Zhou the option of apologizing to the company and resigning, which he did, rather than face prosecution.
After firing Zhou from Tesla Motors, Musk was reported attempting to catch employees who leak corporate secrets, without prior knowledge by other Tesla Motors executives, by sending each employee a slightly altered version of a memo which Musk expected would get sent to the media. The plan backfired when general counsel Craig Harding forwarded his own personalized copy of the memo along with a new, stricter nondisclosure agreement mentioned in the memo to other employees nullifying the entrapment plan.
On May 26, 2009, Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard sued Musk and the company for libel and slander related to Musk's public claims to have founded Tesla, and disparagement of Eberhard, in the Superior Court in San Mateo County, Calif. The complaint also states that Elon Musk purposefully mischaracterized his educational credentials and did not receive a second degree in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania nor did he attend graduate school at Stanford.
 
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CLCaptain said:
No - they provide buyer protection for items through eligible items on ebay. Everything else - you're screwed. You have no choice but to go to the CC company.
Click to expand...

In my case, they didn't. The 'resolution center' is little more than a sham to get you past the period to dispute claims with your credit card. I'm a long time ebayer, a long time paypaler and never had any problems or disputes prior to last fall. Fortunately, it wasn't much money. I got scammed and screwed as with paypal. Never again. File with the CC pronto and don't count on Paypal for anything.

I'll give it away or toss in the trash before I list anything on ebay again (and I have 100% feedback as both buyer and seller).
 

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