paypal issues affecting ability to pay? O/T
 

I recently sold a bunch of crap on ebay...for not much $$$$...and this is the response I've received from the buyer:

"Hi. My name is Terry and I contacted you before bidding on your camera. PayPal has updated their site over the past 3 weeks and the long time member were affected with errors. I have been on the phone with them over 15 hours the past few days as well as about 3 hours with eBay. PayPal said they have a work around that will help until they get part of their site programming corrected. The work around will allow me to pay some sellers in the next few days. They were supposed to call me back today, but haven't. I will call them tomorrow. I am a Verified PayPal member and I can assure you that I will pay for the camera. It may take me a few days to get that done. I hope that will be acceptable. If that is a problem, please let me know and I will see what PayPal can do when I call them. I can guarantee that it will be paid by midnight of Aug 27th. Sorry about all these problems. Please let me know if this is OK. Thanks."

This is the 2nd...or third similar note I've received from this seller...one of them mentioned he's a vet and is on fixed income.

Does this seem legit?

I had a similar situation a couple of weeks ago. The buyer sent me a note saying something is wrong with his PayPal account and if I'd like for him to send a check.

I replied that I'd like for him to pick up the phone and work out your issues with PayPal. Suddenly, he paid for his item and I shipped his card.

I'm kinda thinking it's just his excuse for deferring payment as he has made numerous payments in last week.

thanks jason.

I had an issue paying a seller a few months ago because Ebay had mysteriously unlinked my Paypal account from my Ebay account for some reason.

Took about 10 minutes to figure out the problem and rectify it though.

I'd guess the guy is either stalling for time, or he's been irresponsible with his Paypal account lately and they're limiting his transactions for some reason.

Maybe he's overdrawn on his "Bill Me Later" account.

I had to call Paypal the day before yesterday about a problem I had with a seller and was on hold for 102 minutes before anyone picked up the phone.

My only experience contacting paypal was very positive. Somehow I had linked an incorrect paypal adress to an auction and buyers attempt to pay me kept failing. I contatced paypal about my mistake. They answered immediately and fixed it for me on their end within 5 minutes

102 minutes...I think I'd have hung up after 100 or so!!!!:p

My last experience with them was more than satisfactory!!

Personally, I have a strict double-digit time limit......99 mintes.....I am gone:D

Pete, I've only had this happen to me one time and I later found the buyer to be a deadbeat. That's my personal experience, so I'm not saying that is the case for you but seems like a convenient excuse. Especially if he is saying he guarantees payment by the 27th? How can he guarantee it if he doesn't know what the problem is? Also, if he can guarantee payment by the 27th, why doesn't he just send the payment now by whatever method would have guaranteed it on the 27th?

Thank you for everyone's input. I sent him an Email telling him that if he did not pay by tomorrow evening I was going to cancel the transaction... I just received payment!!!!

I figured as much. :) Congrats!

And here is the lovely ebayer's response:

"First of all, I never said that I couldn't contact PayPal. I have spent over 17+ hours on the phone with them over the last 3 days and they did call me back this evening. My account as well as many others come up with errors when trying to pay with PayPal. They have been upgrading their web site and have some correcting to do with the site code. They found a work around for all the accounts that have errors created while upgrading PayPal. It is not a preferred method for them or me, but it works and I just paid you your PRECIOUS money. As far as your email, I have no control where emails go. I am a disabled Army combat vet, Vietnam, and I don't give a rat's ass what you believe or not. Part of my disability is low vision and I have great difficulty with eBay's messaging system and their "I'm not a monkey" letters you have to enter just to send the message. I usually get 2 to 4 errors in trying to send a message to anyone.
OK. The camera is paid for.......NEXT!!! And if you want to be a SHITTY seller, that is exactly the kind of feedback you will get. SHITTY! If that is the kind of person you are, I pity anyone that has to be around you."

I guess my stellar feedback is about to be tarnished?!?!!?

Shame on you, Pete, for expecting payment.

Please block me from bidding on any of your auctions, unless you will accept post dated third party checks.

lucky
 

Wow.....Knock on wood...I really have gotten lucky selling.....knock wood again.

This is even more off topic, but something kind of amazing happened when a guy recently bought an old glass plate negative from me...he called a day or so after the end of the auction to ask if he could defer payment for two weeks...he is in Boston and he recognized my last name. It turns out that his wife is cousins with my cousin.

Some of us actually do have issues with Paypal. I recently sold an old iphone on ebay. Overseas. The guy paid using paypal. After he received the phone, he said it wasn't the model he wanted and asked for a refund. I agreed to a full refund. 15 minutes later he asked for a partial refund and he would just keep the phone. Which I agreed to. So after receiving my phone AND a refund, he advised ebay that he never receved the phone! Total scam. To make a long story short, I have no access to paypal until the dispute is resolved. Going on 6 months. So yes, I know firsthand that people can have problems with paypal. And yes, I have to pay everything in the meantime with a money order.

You can deal with this or you can deal with that.....do da dipity