PayPal is at it again

[John Fabre]

Over this last weekend, I purchased a tool and sent an instant payment through PayPal. My credit card was charged instantly so I know the seller's PayPal account had my money. Talking with the seller, his account showed instant payment received, but his money was pending. It said it was ok to ship, he shipped it out today. Has anyone had a problem with using PayPal?
He sent me this message.

Shipped Track (https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_track_package&info=gjhsm2dkwb95aioL3JCZzW4U3uP1DhZm1tpp59Uuo3Ce7 6AaDE4X0zNjMPe)

Payment Status: Completed - Funds not yet available



Estimated funds availability*
January 7, 2012

Seller Protection
Eligible
Protection for items not received

When you ship to the address on this page and provide proof that the item was delivered, you're protected against claims for items not received. For complete requirements, see terms (https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_spp#spp-policy).
Protection for unauthorized payments

When you ship to the address on this page and provide proof that the item was shipped, you're protected against claims for unauthorized payments. For complete requirement, see terms (https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_spp#spp-policy).
Tips to sell securely (https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing_CommandDriven/securitycenter/sell/TipsForSellers)
Seller Protection address

[Dave Ray]

Yes, when I sent my contribution this year into SMC, using PayPal, it took a week or more before SMC received it. The money was taken from my bank account within hours of my email to PayPal. Apparently they get to use your (our) money free for a week or more. When your looking at thousands of accounts per hour, this amounts to a lot of money. This in addition to charging the recipient a fee for service is a great deal FOR THEM.

[John McClanahan]

Paypal claims 3-4 business days to complete the transaction. I've had it take 5 days several times.

[Bryan Morgan]

This is normal. The more good feedbacks you get when selling the quicker the money is released. My friend has a small ebay business and uses Paypal. It makes him mad because he sells all kinds of stuff but until he gets something over 100 good feedbacks he has to wait about 5 days for each transaction before the money becomes available.

[John Fabre]

This is normal. The more good feedbacks you get when selling the quicker the money is released. My friend has a small ebay business and uses Paypal. It makes him mad because he sells all kinds of stuff but until he gets something over 100 good feedbacks he has to wait about 5 days for each transaction before the money becomes available.
Is this new, I never had to wait, maybe 30 seconds to transfer to my bank account.

[Derek Gilmer]

Is this new, I never had to wait, maybe 30 seconds to transfer to my bank account.
I bought a chuck of the classifieds here a week or two ago. The money went instantly.

[Bryan Morgan]

Is this new, I never had to wait, maybe 30 seconds to transfer to my bank account.

Don't know. They (or you) might be under investigation for something. When I send money it usually goes right away but I know receiving it takes some time for some folks.

[Bill Orbine]

I've been thru this before... it takes a couple days to transfer funds. I don't do EBAY often, but one time I bought an item and decide to pay by Pay Pal. While it all looks good on EBAY and the seller shipped the item, still pending was the transaction from my bank to Pay Pal. My bank refused even though the money was there... my bank had been trying to contact me (and they couldn't) to verify the transfer (they classified my account as dormnant at the time without ever letting me know). I got that straighten out. So, yes....Pay Pal sometimes approves before even having the moola.

[John Fabre]

I found out it's eBay, not PayPal, sounds like they want interest and fees. If you have Feedback under one hundred, your money will be place on hold. What's next?

[Norberto Coutinho]

enjoy.... http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/Paypal/97

[Brian Elfert]

I found out it's eBay, not PayPal, sounds like they want interest and fees. If you have Feedback under one hundred, your money will be place on hold. What's next?

You also have to have at least 25 selling transactions, or your money will be held until a minimum of three days after delivery. I sold something recently and had my money held.

Ebay is very slated towards the buyer these days. If a buyer complains they never got something, or it was broken or something, Ebay will most often side with the buyer and the seller is out the money even if the buyer is pulling a scam.

[Kevin W Johnson]

You also have to have at least 25 selling transactions, or your money will be held until a minimum of three days after delivery. I sold something recently and had my money held.

Ebay is very slated towards the buyer these days. If a buyer complains they never got something, or it was broken or something, Ebay will most often side with the buyer and the seller is out the money even if the buyer is pulling a scam.

Exactly the reason I attempt to sell stuff thru other avenues first and use ebay as a last resort. They have made WAY too easy for the buyers to scam the sellers. That and the excessive fees.

[Mike Henderson]

You also have to have at least 25 selling transactions, or your money will be held until a minimum of three days after delivery. I sold something recently and had my money held.

Ebay is very slated towards the buyer these days. If a buyer complains they never got something, or it was broken or something, Ebay will most often side with the buyer and the seller is out the money even if the buyer is pulling a scam.
I've had pretty good experiences with eBay, both buying and selling. When selling, you need to make sure you do a few things - describe accurately, pack well, ship quickly, put tracking on the package, and communicate with the buyer.

I also remember the "old days" of eBay. Sellers would not provide feedback until the buyer did and would threaten to give the buyer negative feedback (even though the buyer did nothing wrong) if the buyer complained or left less than glowing feedback for the seller. Also, once you sent payment to the seller (other than PayPal) you had no recourse against the seller. The seller had your money and would often blow off any complaints - and usually in a manner that was less than polite.

Most of the changes that eBay has made over the past few years have been quite positive. Those changes have forced sellers to do the things that retailers have been doing for a long time - deliver what was promised, ship quickly, respond to complaints and communicate in a polite manner. And PayPal, which all buyers now are forced to accept, will adjudicate complaints between buyers and sellers.

EBay is a LOT better than it used to be.

Mike

[Brian Elfert]

Yes, I agree that Ebay used to have a lot of bad sellers. The problems is the scales are now tipped totally in favor of the buyers. Sellers can't give negative feedback so now there is no recourse when a buyer never pays or makes a false claim. The seller is always guilty until proven innocent. A buyer can claim a broken item arrived even if it was in perfect condition upon arrival and Ebay will give their money back.

I know sellers who have had all their profit wiped out by one buyer who was given their money back by Ebay and the seller knows the buyer got the merchandise. My bother sold something recently on Ebay and the buyer claimed the package never arrived. It was a scam as the buyer opened an Ebay claim even before the package would have been delivered and never contacted my brother. My brother ultimately won the case, but it took him a lot of time.

[Mike Henderson]

Yes, I agree that Ebay used to have a lot of bad sellers. The problems is the scales are now tipped totally in favor of the buyers. Sellers can't give negative feedback so now there is no recourse when a buyer never pays or makes a false claim. The seller is always guilty until proven innocent. A buyer can claim a broken item arrived even if it was in perfect condition upon arrival and Ebay will give their money back.

I know sellers who have had all their profit wiped out by one buyer who was given their money back by Ebay and the seller knows the buyer got the merchandise. My bother sold something recently on Ebay and the buyer claimed the package never arrived. It was a scam as the buyer opened an Ebay claim even before the package would have been delivered and never contacted my brother. My brother ultimately won the case, but it took him a lot of time.
I agree that the scales have tipped the other way. But I'd like to point out a couple of things that are different from your quote, above.

1. Sellers can leave negative feedback, but only if the buyer does not pay. I forget the time period that the buyer has under eBay rules, but I always specify that payment must be made within three days via PayPal. If I didn't receive payment, I'd check the eBay allowed period before leaving negative feedback. And if a buyer makes false claims, you can always leave neutral feedback and describe your situation. Most eBay users know to look for neutral feedback as a sign of problems. And if you can't leave neutral feedback, leave positive feedback but describe the problem.
2. You must use some sort of tracking when sending a package. I use delivery confirmation with USPS and PayPal will accept that as proof of delivery. It's tough for a buyer to claim that they didn't receive the package when the post office has a record of delivery. Also, PayPal will not accept a claim for non-delivery until some time period has passed (I forget what that time period is but I remember it's fairly long - I was surprised at how long it is). If your brother's buyer filed a non-delivery claim, the package must have been delayed in transit.
3. I've not had problems with buyers claiming damaged merchandise but it seems that if someone was claiming damage on a regular basis, there would be a record of repeat claims with eBay/PayPal and they'd recognize the scam. EBay/PayPal does not want to drive away sellers or buyers. I've found them to be fair in any claims I've been involved in.

Mike

[Gary Hodgin]

3. I've not had problems with buyers claiming damaged merchandise but it seems that if someone was claiming damage on a regular basis, there would be a record of repeat claims with eBay/PayPal and they'd recognize the scam. EBay/PayPal does not want to drive away sellers or buyers. I've found them to be fair in any claims I've been involved in.

Mike

The last few things I've bought on ebay have been packaged to the hilt. I'm not a big ebay user but I've bought about 25-30 things over the years. I've bought 3 or 4 things over the last year and I don't think they could have been damaged if a UPS truck had run over them. No complaint, but I guess sellers had been getting some complaints about damaged goods.

[Mike Henderson]

The last few things I've bought on ebay have been packaged to the hilt. I'm not a big ebay user but I've bought about 25-30 things over the years. I've bought 3 or 4 things over the last year and I don't think they could have been damaged if a UPS truck had run over them. No complaint, but I guess sellers had been getting some complaints about damaged goods.
Yep, I've noticed that also.

Mike