Slight OT Paypal Story - Worth a quick read

[kylebicking]

Not on the topic of pre-war, but worth a quick minute read.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...3097330.column

[FUBAR]

this is the exact reason i refuse to use paypal any longer..... They only protect the buyer! and could two shits about the truth!

[jlynch1960]

Not sure why I'm supposed to feel sorry for a greedy seller who entered a ticket lottery for the purpose of scalping Super Bowl tickets, tripled his money and kept two fans out of the game who might otherwise have actually been able to afford to attend. Paypal sucks, but this guy's no saint either.

[sbfinley]

Originally Posted by jlynch1960

Not sure why I'm supposed to feel sorry for a greedy seller who entered a ticket lottery for the purpose of scalping Super Bowl tickets, tripled his money and kept two fans out of the game who might otherwise have actually been able to afford to attend. Paypal sucks, but this guy's no saint either.

I have to agree with this statement. I've missed out on concert and top game tickets moments after they go on sell. When I check stubhub or ebay 30 mins later they are 5x-10x face value. Want to make a buck, fine, get a degree. If you're not going to go, don't cheat someone who wants to.

[T206DK]

I found the site PAYPALSUCKS.com has a lot of information about scams that I didn't know about. Other than that tidbit, I don't feel sorry for a scalper that got stung by another scalper who knows how to use PAYPAL to their advantage. I think I posted ths story here about my brothers experiences last month with Ebay and PAYPAL siding with a buyer who made a false claim. The buyer not only got her money back, but kept the merchandise while PAYPAL withdrew the money from my brothers bank account without informing him it was happening. He then recieved an email stating the case had been closed and no further action could be taken.

** just a side note ** my brother had 2 auctions pulled from Ebay we think because he put that he would accept money orders as payment in his description. Ebay gave him no explanation as of yet, but the auctions were down the day after he listed the items.

[Jim VB]

Paypal can take money from your Paypal account balance, but their term do not allow them to deduct it from your bank account with your express permission, every time. There may be something missing from your brother's story.

[scottglevy]

In a nutshell that's the way that a heck of a lot of big companies work....

1. Set a policy that limits the company's risk for payouts (usually at the expense of the least powerful person in the transaction)

2. Brutally enforce an inflexible and often unfair policy

3. When public pressure or media scrutiny for one instance gets too intense - issue a single credit, denying any wrongdoing.

4. Resume business as usual.

Sad .... but true.

Need further evidence - check out just about any airline company.

[T206DK]

Jim, I don't think anything was missing. the buyer who filed the claim did so almost 40 days after the close fo the auction. After trying to get a hold of the buyer my brother discovered they were no longer a registered user of Ebay...so much for trying tio resolve the so-called dispute. I think a week or so went buy waiting for the other person to respond to my brother's response. No response ever came from the now unregistered user, so PAYPAL deducted the money from my brothers account the very next morning. He then received an email 24 hours later informing him of their decision to "close the case" and rule in favor of the buyer.....who now was no longer an ebay user. My brother initially found out through his bank as the PAYPAL withdrawl caused him to have overdraft penalties or something like that. Using PAYPAL is almost like shooting craps anymore as a buyer or a seller.

[Jim VB]

I'm not trying to start a fight, and I do feel bad for your brother that he got hosed, but this is from their User Agreement:

"10.3 Reimbursement for Your Liability. In the event that you are liable for any amounts owed to PayPal, PayPal may immediately remove such amounts from your Balance. If you do not have a Balance that is sufficient to cover your liability, your Account will have a negative Balance and you will be required to immediately add funds to your Balance to eliminate the negative Balance. If you do not do so, PayPal may engage in collection efforts to recover such amounts from you."



If they deducted money from his bank, without his express consent, he should contact an attorney. Now.

[T206DK]

thanks for that info Jim. I doubt my brother will call an attorney about this, but it does appear as though PAYPAL violated it's own terms. I know for a fact that the money was withdrawn and his paypal account was never taken into the negative. From what I've been reading online this sort of thing happens just about everyday to PAYPAL users. Isn't this the reason for some of the lawsuits that are currently out there involving PAYPAL. I wonder if the # of filed disputes has risen recently for Ebay or PAYPAL. Personally I have had to deal with 4 in the last 2 months. before that it might be one a year or two.

[egbeachley]

Years ago Paypal used to pull money out from the underlying bank account. But a legal ruling against them prevents that from happening anymore. If it did all you would do is go to your bank and say it wasn't authorized. They will get it back for you after you sign a form (I did it last year).

[timzcardz]

No one will look out for you the way that you will.

I am familiar with PayPal's terms, and have no personal reason not to trust them, but for peace of mind I have a dedicated checking account linked to PayPal, that I don't keep any more than $25 in.

Limiting the risk means limiting the worry. Actually, with only $25 at risk, I don't ever worry about it.

[T206DK]

I too went and set up a specific bank account to use for Paypal. I never keep more than $100 in it at any given time.