Paypal sucks
As I was looking through my feed reader this morning one of them caught my eye. It was from Turk Hit Box who is having problems with paypal. Personally I have a love-hate relationship with Paypal.
Over the course of time I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with Paypal’s staff on multiple occasions regarding several issues. Each time I was treated as a valued customer with the problems addressed quickly and effectively. And if you believe that I’m the King of England too.
- Where’d my money go?
- A few years ago I bought a product called Fraps used for recording online video game play using Paypal. I received the product (instant download), my paypal account was charged the cost and I immediately setup a transfer of funds from my bank account to my paypal account to cover the money that had come out.
Long story short paypal claimed I never had the money in the paypal account in the first place to make a transaction (but still it went through) and that I had never transfered money from my bank. They finally after over a year of back and forth gave in about the money having been in the paypal account. It took them another 8 months to finally acknowedge that they had in fact received a transfer from my bank account. Then only after the bank president sent them proof over the course of 18 months. The best part is that during that entire time my account was frozen and they were making interest off of my money!
- Stop taking my money damn it!
- This is the latest incident I’ve been dealing with. Like an idiot I signed up for Paypal’s Payment Pro/Virtual terminal. The plan was to just try it out. Every month they charge me $30.00 and I can’t get them to stop. They take $30.00 out of my paypal account and if I haven’t left it in the paypal account they go directly into my checking account tied into the paypal account. Which almost always hits me for a $30.00 bank overdraft fee because that account I only keep $5.00 in and do my banking from another account.
The first time around shame on me for not having been more aware, but after 6 months of requesting them to remove Payment Pro from my account I’ve finally had to go to the bank to file an affidavit so the bank will refuse to consider their claims for money and cause me all kinds of overdraft fees.
By no means am I the only person who has ever had issues with Paypal. If you want to see a whole host of problems go take a look at Paypalsucks.com and you’ll be reading for days. I especially encourage you to take a look at the Paypalsucks forums.
A few things to keep in mind if you’re dealing with paypal:
- Document everything you do so you can find the information easily later
- Keep copies of every transaction you make, both buy and sell via paypal
- Throughly read their Legal Agreements
- Make sure to pull your money out of the paypal account and put it into a real bank account as quickly as possible after every transaction
- Realize now and not later that paypal is NOT a bank. You have no consumer protection.
- Checkout other alternatives just in case. There are a lot out there, but I’ve heard (as in read) good things about Google Checkout (never used them personally)
- Be patient. Paypal takes their sweet time in resolving issues. And why wouldn’t they, the longer your money sits in their bank accounts the more money they make.
All that to say my Paypal account is still open. It has to be they owe me over $180.00 in bank overdraft fees not to mention the $180.00 for unauthorized withdraw they owe me for not shutting down payment pro. My bank has advised me not to shut down the account before the issue is resolved or it might cause just as much hassle. In the meanwhile they (the bank) are taking care of the fees, but who knows how long that will last. If you’re considering dealing with paypal be aware of the risks. When everything is going smoothly it is great, but when you run into issues they can get real ugly real fast.
Uh, you do realize that PayPalSucks is a clever affiliate marketing site for competing payment processing services, don’t you?
You are correct. It is important to understand that PayPal is not a bank, they’re a payment processor and are governed under a different set of laws and regulations. They essentially offer a sub-prime, low volume, payment processing service to merchants and occasional sellers.
If you buy through PayPal, use a credit card, not your bank account. This allows you to put the dispute in the credit card issuers court and not in yours should there be a problem.
jfc’s last blog post..Akismet: Heading Toward Failure?
JFC – Yes I realize this. It wasn’t always a “disguised” affiliate site for Merchant Inc however. And regardless fact is that for the most part the information provided on the site is worthy of consideration.
This is a buyer beware article because so many people believe they have full banking protection when dealing with paypal and like you said, they don’t.
You also have to be careful using PayPal when selling through eBay. If the buyer claims not to have received goods paypay refunds and claims the money back from you.
I have been conned twice now by buyers claiming not receipt and getting money back – I now insist that buyers who use paypal pay the extra to have receipted delivery so I know they have received and they know I know – suddenly no more non-receipt claims.
Paypal sucks but is the only international money merchant that transfers to Australia with no hassles. Your right – you have to grab your $$ out and into your own account ASAP – never let it sit there.
the radical blogger
les’s last blog post..Google’s recent PPP actions questioned
In some cases you have no choice but to use Paypal. Some companies use them exclusively to pay you.
Thank you for this very informative post. I’ve only have used Paypal a few times (less than 20), as both a seller and buyer.
I am about to set up a membership service on my latest blog and I was going to use PayPal exclusively. Thank god for your post!
Have you noticed a difference with using it as a US user or Australian user? I’ve noticed someone commented on International funds.
Les – To be perfectly honest with you I’ve NEVER had an issue with Paypal when it comes to receiving funds. My issues have only arisen when it comes to making payments. But of course given the peculiarities of Paypal I’m surprised that it works both ways.
Gizmo – This is true
Lucy – Don’t misunderstand. I’m NOT telling you or anyone else not to use Paypal. I’m simply advising caution in doing so because they aren’t a traditional bank and you don’t have the same protections in place as you would with a bank.
As far as international vs US users I’m not aware of any differences. Of course I don’t know a single thing about Australian finance laws so I wouldn’t know a difference if it spit in my face.
Regarding Paypal, i never leave any money in my paypal account, i use it to purchase online through certain sites but the cash comes straight off my card via paypal.. using it in the UK for ME has been fine but its good to make people aware of potential problems.. thanks for the info
Serenity – No problem. I hope it continues to be fine for you. I’ve never had a problem getting payments, but I’ve had several with making them and with money getting tied up while people were “investigating” issues.
FYI, Paypalsucks.com was created by Marshall Golub whois affiliated with Charge.com who is a reseller for Cardservices International. Cardservices International are the biggest crooks on the internet and nickle and dime merchants to death. So as far as the *WORST*, I mean absolute, beyond a shadow of a doubt, *WORST* merchant account provider on the internet, it’s hands down Cardservices International. I can’t begin to explain how horrible their customer service is. They bill you $10 just to send you a paper statement but they neglect to tell you that they *DO NOT* have an online interface to check your billing. To make matters worse, they *DO NOT* provide any real contact information, the only way I got their mailing address was by blocking them from charging my bank account and getting put on their collections list, then an employee who called me told me the company is a huge scam and she was quitting because she was sick of all the complaints from poor people she was calling. She then gave me a list of phone numbers and their snail mail address.
Stay away from PaypalSucks.com, merchantinc.com and anything related to CardServices International or you will regret it.
Frank’s last blog post..Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank (UK) – Overview
Frank – Thanks for taking the time to comment. I disagree with you to a certain extent.
What does that have to do with the fact that paypal is complete crap as well? I don’t recall making an advertising pitch for any of those places other than to say that you can find more stories of why pay pal is garbage. Or are you going to tell us that all of the forum posts on there (and other places) about paypal problems are written by hired hands?
I have to say your claim that “an employee who called me told me the company is a huge scam and she was quitting because she was sick of all the complaints from poor people she was calling” sounds a little suspicious. Wouldn’t you agree.
Supposing it is true what kind of a person except a vindictive little bitch calls a client of their company up just to bad mouth the company?
As far as their customer service goes I’m sure we can all agree that if you weren’t smart enough to check what you’d get for CS before signing up you have no reason to complain about services that aren’t there. Right?
Re: the merchant endorsements on charge.com — do a search for “Michael Berkowitz, Bravo Rewards, Cherry Hill, New Jersey,” “David Nixon, Chancellor Vaporizers, West Palm Beach, Florida,” or “John Long, Professional One Limousine, Valparaiso, Indiana.”
None of these “businesses” are in the phone book or have a website. In Google, the only hits are the charge.com endorsements or a shill under the guise of a “merchant guide” for same.
Paypalsucks, charge.com, and all their related sites are a pyramid scheme. How do you know anything on the paypalsucks Forum isn’t scripted?
“Vindictive little bitch” or that rare, honest whistle blower who got scammed into working there in the first place.
Toto – I’m pretty sure that there’s at least something that is scripted on paypal sucks. Just like I’m pretty sure that somewhere in my town there is a thief. That doesn’t make every resident of the town a thief and someone “scripting” what they post on paypal sucks doesn’t make every entry a script.
[...] It is not a big problem for case 1 you have many option maybe you will like my idea if it is faster or cheaper &if you hate pay pal &don’t want connect your bank to it to protect yourself from some issue as my friend Brook Durant mention in his post Pay pal sucks [...]
[...] for everybody and trying to fulfill every niche they can, large companies can’t but help tick off somebody in the world. It’s practically a law of consumerism that people “hate” [...]
Do Not Use Paypal! I just conned by a buyer who used my stuff for one months and tell me that she wants the money back for no reason, and Paypal automatically took money out my account. Also, Paypal put hold on payments on anyone who has 5% neg. rating which means if you have 22 positive rating, some moron post one neg. rating on you, you are screwed! Paypal will hold your money, also they will put hold on paymenta on anyone who has less than 100 positive feedback and selling items more than $100. Which means Paypal wants to weed out small sellers!!! USE MONEYBOOOKERS and ProPay!!!! You will be a lot happier! If we sellers all fight together, then we will win, otherwise Paypal will always be the “only” payment method for the buyers. I will start to offer discount to anyone who uses Moneybookers or credit cards with my merchant account.
I got 550 bucks yesterday from a buyer. And of course like an idiot I let it sit there…
I just added a bank so It will take 3 days for me to xfer the cash.
What I’m wondering is if I deposited the money from my paypal account into my bank and account, can he recall the cash? Or is it set in stone?
Got scammed by buyer who said goods arrived damaged – I insured the package but he wouldn’t call DHL to make a claim- Pay Pal debited my accout and gave the buyer 15 days to return the item. Pay Pal gave him until Sep 29- he never performed – They e mailed me that his claim would be closed and my account credited – On Sep 30 , they decided to give the scammer ANOTHER 3 days to return the packaage- I spent hours on the phone – no one would give me a straight answer – They are promoting scammers to take advantage of their flawed system- STAY FAR AWAY FRM PAY PAL- YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!!
Hey I used to work for PayPal. I took these calls from people that PayPal was holding their money for 180 days. How does PayPal get away with so much? The number #1 answer by them and they will quote to you that you agreed to the terms of the User Agreement. One must do so to use PayPal. If you dont you will not be able to use their services.
Should you elect to do business with PayPal use a different checking account!! Use a credit card so if there is a problem go to your credit card company cause PayPal can do nothing for you and will do nothing for you. They are point blank in no way want to help you unless you are this HUGE seller that makes money for PayPal. One last point to consider. Have you ever tried to call eBay(they own PayPal)? They list NO phone #!!
Hi, I have filed a small claims case against PayPal – the first court hearing was yesterday, November 24th. They did not appear but filed a motion to dismiss and sent a copy of the user agreement – an adjournment was given and the next court date hearing is set on January 6th. I think they have to be there then.
I’ve created a website documenting the case. Please help me to spread the word about the website!!
I’ve decided to make this website into a blog documenting my problems with PayPal rather than just this one case.
http://www.sarahvspaypal.com
Sarahs last blog post..PayPal suddenly withholds $250 less than 48 hours after court hearing
Beware of Paypal holding funds. I recently sold an item and now have to ship the item without being paid. This is not the Buyers fault since the money was received on April 2nd and Paypal took their fee the same day. I would advise anyone who excepts Paypal to note that items will only be shipped when payments have cleared and been credited to your account.
So here’s the thing, and i mean it with all my being. Paypal is by far the most retarded thing anyone has ever come up with. They have answers for everything but the crap you ask them. My account is limited for the sole reason that i was getting paied to work. Now i ask them why they need my social security number to verify it’s me when they didn’t need one for me to start it. I mean that’s retarded and i won’t give it to them, first off and secondly i wanted to know how long the limitation would last and the only thing that damn “smart” program of theirs could tell me was “I don’t understand the question.” I have talked to them more in the past six months than i have my own family. good news though, i have a month to go before the limitation is lifted. Six months just incase my employer decided he didn’t want to pay me for working for him.
saw a HDTV on craigslist but seller was in GA (i’m in Dallas). i had never used Paypal but was told it was a secure way to do business. i wired the money, the TV never showed, and i disputed. Paypal saw in my favor but only RF’d me 248.28 out of 1247.00. i was outraged when they said there was nothing they could do since i didn’t buy through e-bay. they wouldn’t even tell me what they were going to do with their “best effort”. i’ve got a mb number, two e-mail addresses and two (probably phony) names. IS THERE ANY THING I CAN DO? my e-mail is matt_matura@yahoo.com i will give all of this info if someone can help me get my 962.72 back.
How do I “uninstall” PayPal? That is,
remove myself and all personal info
from PayPal’s reach?
I received a payment of $285 via PayPal. PayPal sent me an email saying that I needed to upgrade my account to a Premier or Business account before I could withdraw the funds. I just ignored this, and withdrew the funds anyway using my personal account. Don’t believe them if they tell you this – you don’t have to! They just want to get even more money out of you!
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! where is seller protection policy? the package has been shipped thru UPS tracking number and the buyer has been owned the item and payment now for $600. Who is responsible for my lost?
how about a translation on your complaint?!!!!!!?
PayPal Buyer Protection and Complaint Policy are real and many buyers have loss money. Good News People. We are offering Extended Paypal Buyer Protection Program to compliment on those PayPal policy limitations. Over 50,000 members now
Don’t use PayPal, they have a bad habit of going after other funding sources like your bank account without authorization. Have had 3 issues relating to this problem, I closed my account and will never use them again and STRONGLY DISCOURAGE from using them.
I am in the same love/hate situation, although it now leans heavily toward the latter. PayPal has about a month ago started holding 20% of every payment I recieve in a floating reserve for 60 days. They stated to me that it was for my protection. I have used them since 2005 and have never had a dispute, chargeback or any type of problem that would have caused them to do this. They simply started this on their own. I also do not get any interest on this held cash. I run vacation rentals and sometimes get last minute bookings. Now, I am unable to access 20% of the payments for no reason, and my guests have come and gone. As of right now, they are holding about 2K of my hard earned money.
I am now looking to change my payment processor in earnest, as I have had enough of PayPal.
Thanks for letting me vent.
I went to pay two items on ebay and suddenly PayPal takes the money from my bank and won’t pay them until I give them my Social Security Number. Now I have money sitting in PayPal they won’t return to me unless I give them private information! And when I contact them they keep quoting policy…which never says they have the right to not return my money if I don’t give them my social.
I am finding a lawyer, this is ridiculous. I will NEVER use PayPal again, or ebay since they won’t accept any other payment.
SELLERS BEWARE!!!!
I have recently sold an item valued just under AUD 1000.00 to a buyer in Honolulu calling himself
alohamahalo,
he really is
EDITED OUT BY ADMIN – No need for personal names addresses and phone numbers here. Use a little common sense please.
1703229587482006 RED BACK SPIDER 1oz SILVER PROOF COIN
After receiving the funds on my PayPal account, I thoroughly packaged and dispatched the item as registered mail as I always do.
Before I knew, this buyer escalated a claim with PayPal claiming that the merchandise was not meeting the description of my advertisement and that what he received was a different item of much lesser value.
PayPal using its discretionary powers, immediately took the funds previously paid for this item out of my account and paid this money back to this deceiving buyers account. All Steven Lee had to do was to proof to PayPal that he dispatched back to me what he claims to have received and he got his money back!!!
Me the SELLER am now extremely angry and out of pocket with no funds and no merchandise. I call this a fraud on a big scale in the name of Buyers Protection funded by the sellers.
Buyers Protection in eBay with Paypal support really works!!!!!!
Hello i sold an item on ebay buyer deposited in to paypall when i told him not too. i excepted money but paypall won’t let me have it because i was scammed by paypall and a buyer a while ago. paypal gave buyer a reversal refund with out hearing my side of the story, reason i sent 6 emails they would not return one of them, buyer wants his money back because i won’t send item until i have received money, but paypal want me to refund it out of my own pocket i can tell you there is no way i will be giving it back out of my own pocket when paypal has the buyers money. very wild.
Warning don’t ever give Paypal your bank details they will take your money to refund buyer.
Paypal absolutely sucks and I’m waiting for any kind of alternative payment method that can be used with Ebay. I’m amazed that they take what the buyer says as absolute truth and yet it’s the Sellers that pay them. I’m waiting for that alternative so that Paypal can die a slow agonizing death!!!
Hi, I’ve recently been a victim of a scam through Paypal and I’m doing everything I can through Internet and legal procedures with the British FSA.
After selling an item on eBay the buyer of my camera made a deposit on my account of the agreed amount. With that in hand I sent the item to the person’s address.
After making sure the parcel had left the UK (and knowing there would be no stopping of the shipping) the user managed through some loophole in Paypal’s agreement to withdraw the transaction, getting their money back AND receiving the camera anyway.
Through the phone I was told by Paypal that there would be nothing to be done.
I demand to have my money back, and for the schemer to be procecuted for online Scam and theft.
Never ship a product to anyone as your customer until you get your money first, and do not use PayPal whether you’re a buyer or a seller. They have a new policy in effect which will rip you off for your money. By allowing your buyers to use that method, you are giving PayPal a chance to take control of your money and you will have to pay an extra fees for the item you sold on Ebay. Remember that PayPal is the middleman between you and your customer, it’s not recognized by FDIC, nor does not have an automatic or a gateway payment setup for your bank. So if PayPal holds your money and you ships the product right away, your buyer can file a dispute or chargeback claim, and PayPal reserve a right to refund the money for any reasons while your buyer takes or keeps the product. When this happens, you will lose your money plus you will have to pay a chargeback fee.