Cautionary Tale of Paypal

leatherman

leatherman

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Always keep a little balance in there "just in case"

I woke up to a Christmas present from Paypal in the form of a notification of a dispute of payment associated with a credit card, the funds are locked away and might have been withdrawn from my bank account if the funds in my paypal account had been insufficient. That would have been a painful thing right here in the holidays.

Odd thing is I know the fellow was happy with the product, I cant help but wonder if the CC statement might not have listed paypal as the creditor and he unknowingly disputed the charge?

I'm just happy I hadn't spent that money. :)

This is simply a cautionary statement and I am in no way upset with the customer yet, just waiting for an explanation. This is the first time in nearly nine years that I've had any issues with PP, so far its been ok.
 
Well, the fellow is still quiet since Christmas morning, hopefully he is away for vacation and will address this come Monday.

If Monday comes and goes without some communication, then I will think about letting everyone know who he is.
 
That is strange and exactly why I'm always a little worried about using paypal and understanding when certain people don't accept it. A dispute can be opened and money withdrawn from your account to cover it even if the items were delivered and the buyer expressed satisfaction with the sale. Providing adequate information or disputing any false claims seems rather difficult with the service. Please, correct me if I'm wrong here. Hopefully, this is not a big deal. Most people, even those I have sold to overseas from this and other forums, have been very nice, prompt, and upfront with everything. Keep us informed. On a side note have you thought about accepting visa or mastercard directly from your site? I'm not sure about the expenses for set up but it is another option.
 
Paypal doesn't just take money from your account without reason. If the item was delivered to the customer and they are happy with it, then the case is not going to be decided to refund to them. (they would have no basis for a case)They would have to return the item to you in order to get a refund from you and Paypal would only take the money from your account in that case, if you refused to refund on your own.
 
Hi Murdok, yea, we looked into the CC thing direct and the cost is just too much right now, our volume in credit just isnt large enough to justify it. We're just a Mom and Pop business.

Jill, No the money isnt gone, simply frozen till Paypal and sort this dispute out. They said that the CC charge was unauthorized, that's out of my hands unfortunately. Best I can figure his statement showed some other company besides mine or paypal and he jumped on it not realizing what it was about.

The fellow is still not answering me or paypal, so I hope he is simply still on vacation. Probably not going to see the money anytime soon.
 
Just heard from paypal, they asked for 90 days minimum to investigate the charge back. :(

Still no word from the fellow, and he hasn't been on BF since Dec 24th. I still have hopes that he is on vacation and will fix this when he returns.

If he shows up here and still doesn't address this, I will let y'all know.
 
Heard from the fellow today! Just what I feared that a fraudulent charge was done elsewhere and the whole thing got shut down. Hopefully I wont have to wait the full 90 days for my money.

Anyhow, communication has been re established! All is much better in the world. :)

But my caution is still in effect: always keep some cushion money in the account in case something like this happens.
 
Near the end of the year it is not unusual for companies that have your account Numbers to put a hold on a given amount say 135.00.
That is booked as an account receivable. Then you complain you did not buy from a certain vendor , or the amount was charged two times etc. They take care of it but large institutions such as Citi Bank
who received large TARP fund loans look better on paper. This has been going on a long time.
Make the numbers for the quarter. They not only lie , they are a lie.
Look at the massive bonus structure that was paid with TARP funds.
That is your money and your children's money.
 
Not surprising at all, CC companies seem to be going loopy right now, I'm glad I dont have one card.

Well, update on the issue at hand, this reminds me, the CC company issued a chargeback. Essentially yanking the funds out of the PP account. PP disputed said chargeback using the information I provided (proof that the product was delivered and recieved) But ended up calling it a loss and re establishing the funds in my account. Now PP is out the money and the CC company gets out scott free.

The main problem I have with this is now PP is going to simply pass on the loss in the guise of fee's and other charges in the future. This is not a trend that I want to support. I'm still going to keep trying to contact the buyer to make it right.

You know who you are, please make this right, your CC companies actions are what is making it difficult for small business to conduct their transactions without great difficulty.
 
Ay least your not the one taking the loss.

Good on you for persuing it though, most would wash their hands of it after the money was refunded.
 
revolution money exchange that is what you want to use. it is a bank and they have no fees. if you have a pp acount then you need to go to paypalsucks.com. just read the stories about them.
 
Well, the way PayPal stood behind me through all this, I'm kind of proud of them.

But

We also have Google checkout as an option.
 
PayPal is great, until all of a sudden, it isn't. It is pretty much a neccessary evil for the small Internet businessman, but it is a matter of WHEN, not IF it will bite you. I only lost $800 or so when it bit me, but still that hurts!
 
If you're a knifemaker or re-seller, I'd recommend a merchant processing account - I can PM anyone the cheapest available.

I run 3 e-commerce websites and wouldn't dream of using PP although do use it to pay for auctions and when someone requests it.

With a good, inexpensive merchant processing account you can accept any credit or debit card. Definetly the way to go if you have a "real" small buiness and not a once in awhile seller.

PP sucks IMHO - Control freaks, can't contact anyone and when you do it's usually from an outsourced call center. Things take months to resolve instead of days. :mad:
 
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