Comments on: How Paypal Condones Fraudulent Sellers

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:06:17 +0000

Gawd. I got charged four times in one month for two DVDs from Columbia House, via my debit card. One of the charges expired before it went through; three went through. Columbia House played dumb. With the last transaction they triggered some kind of internal alarm at PayPal, which promptly put a limitation on my account. I can receive funds there but not send or withdraw them. I took the steps they asked me to take to secure the account and prove I was who I said I was, and nothing, and it’s been since Feb. 20. I have emailed them twice now asking what else, if anything, I need to do. No response.

Fortunately I only have about a dollar and change in that account because I’m about to abandon it. If it’s got a limitation on it nobody can charge the debit card anyway.

It’s weird because they used to be a lot more responsive when I had a question or an issue. I’ve had an account with them for six or seven years now and they’ve made plenty of dough off me from my Premier account fees. I don’t know what they’ve got stuck up their nether regions but they need to get over themselves.

There’s at least one new competitor for PayPal now, but I forget what it’s called. Seems like half the PF blogosphere has its ads on their websites, though, and right now there’s a $25 bonus for signing up. Sending and receiving money is free. Darned if I know how they’re going to make any money at it.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:10:14 +0000

Sorry to hear about your loss. Paypal does seem to live in a strange no man’s land.

On the other hand, it can be almost as bad when such sites crack down too heavily in favour of protecting the buyer. I had problems recently when I opened a new eBay account to clear out some space in my office. Apparently, the goods I was selling (games, dvds, other pirateable goods) were flagged in its system as fraudulent (because I didn’t have a long history I guess) so they suspended the auctions immediately. There is a lengthy appeals procedure, but it seems quite time consuming just to make 100 bucks.

So getting the balance in this wired world of ours isn’t easy.

By: Hustle Strategy

Hustle Strategy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:14:31 +0000

Are there any real substitutes to paypal? BTW, there was some code floating around wickedfire for a while to do this, not sure if it is still there or if it worked either…

By: Dough Roller

Dough Roller — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:34:43 +0000

As frustrating as this situation is, I’m not sure what PayPal can really do about it. Are they in a position to judge the quality of code or anything else that’s bought and sold using their services?

By: Gareth

Gareth — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:15:21 +0000

Erik: Please don’t confuse Paypal with a credit card company.

Credit card companies are, for the most part, covered by some quite strict consumer laws. Although the merchant still gets screwed in a chargeback situation, the consumer is well protected and the CC companies have to answer to a regulatory body.

Paypal is an entirely unregulated beast who can do whatever they please.