I love Paypal...not

[Dreamstalker]

I sold a Sanrio doodad on a not-ebay site back in September. Buyer takes their sweet time to pay with various excuses, and finally does pay a few days ago when I'm not at home. I send them an email that I will ship within one week. There is now no actual invoice attached to this payment, they just sent the money directly.

I wake up to a Paypal notification that a buyer dispute (which I never received any notification of at all) has been 'escalated' to a claim. Five days after payment. I didn't think you could file a claim that fast (even if the buyer filed it using my original invoice, it's way past the claim window as that was sent back in September sometime). I'll send Paypal what I have....I will be pissed if they force a refund. It's only $10, I'm blocking this buyer for being a PITA. I can probably get my site fees back for the sale.

TL,DR: Sale made four months ago, buyer finally pays by sending money that is now not attached to a sales invoice. Files claim a few days after paying, hasn't even received item yet.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

You boned. Sorry.

[Kittish]

They probably waited til they figured you'd shipped it, figure on getting the item AND their money back.

[XCashier]

It really sucks that PayPest is totally buyer-oriented, even if it's blatantly obvious that they're scamming. There's got to be a better way.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Don't know what auction site we're talking about or what their policies are, but there's no way in hell I'd let somebody have "dibs" on something I sold them for four months before they paid. There should be some mechanism for sellers to file disputes against buyers who don't pay in a timely manner. If there isn't, well then that auction site exists solely to allow scammers to flimflam buyers.

Because the payment isn't tied to any invoice, the OP can't prove it was for the item the scammer bought four months ago, so even if there is proof of delivery she still loses.

Seems like the buyer knew the right way to work the system.

[Dreamstalker]

While there's no 'official' invoice, the buyer did put a note what it was for. Not like that's going to help much...at least it was only $10 (unless I'm docked an additional fee for the buyer's 'inconvenience' which Paypal seems to like doing).

The auction site knows about the buyer now, and I probably will get the fees back. Not gonna leave FB for this one unless they do (then only a response).

[MoonCat]

Why do they allow so much time for the person to pay? Until you pay, you technically haven't bought! Is there any way to set up a time limit when you sell something - they have to pay within X amount of time or the sale is cancelled?

When I buy stuff online via Paypal, if the item is back ordered and the order isn't fulfilled within 29 days, Paypal cancels the order. There should be something in reverse for the seller - if you haven't paid within a month, the item goes back up for sale.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm only familiar with ebay and I stopped selling there years ago. IIRC they gave 7 or 10 days for the buyer to pay before the seller could start a dispute for nonpayment.

And the seller would need to go through the entire dispute process and have it end in their favor before they could relist.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I'm only familiar with ebay and I stopped selling there years ago. IIRC they gave 7 or 10 days for the buyer to pay before the seller could start a dispute for nonpayment.

And the seller would need to go through the entire dispute process and have it end in their favor before they could relist.

And the number of times this happened is approximately the same as the number of times Irv has had competent coworkers.

[eltf177]

From everything I've heard about PayPal it totally favors the buyer, even when it's blatantly obvious the buyer is a scammer. If I was a seller I would absolutely refuse to do business with them, although I doubt that's practical...

[XCashier]

If I was a seller I would absolutely refuse to do business with them, although I doubt that's practical...

Sadly, it isn't. Everybody and their aunt uses PayPest for online transactions. We tried for the longest time to not have to use it, until we realized that "you can't fight City Hall". Once we set up Paypal, our sales tripled.

Scammers, fortunately, are fairly rare, but the very idea is irksome.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Sadly, it isn't. Everybody and their aunt uses PayPest for online transactions. We tried for the longest time to not have to use it, until we realized that "you can't fight City Hall". Once we set up Paypal, our sales tripled.

Scammers, fortunately, are fairly rare, but the very idea is irksome.

I set up a PayPest account years ago and glad I did for what few eBay transactions I've done . . . seems as if every seller now only accepts PayPest.

So far (and I've had this account over a decade now) I've not had any issues with them *knocks on wood.*

[Teskeria]

If you have the emails and you have a tracking or delivery confirmation number you may still be protected as the seller. But I highly recommend not sending something 4 months later without making them buy it again. protect yourself. If they sent it as a personal payment, they may be the one who loses since a personal payment isn't the same as a purchase and they look very severely on a buyer trying to scam them by bypassing the goods/service payment system.

[icmedia]

I had a similar issue with Paypal a few years ago, and I refuse to ever use them again.

I used to have a very expensive watch, which I purchased from a jewelry store to reward myself when I graduated from college with all of my student loans paid off. But, 14 years later, I now had a lot of watches and decided to sell this particular watch in order to have money to buy an engagement ring.

I tried selling the watch on eBay, but nobody met my reserve, and I refused to sell it for less than half of what I paid (even used, this particular brand generally keeps its full value and has even been known to appreciate). However, after the auction ended, I got an email from one of the bidders asking what my bottom dollar was. We haggled a bit, but finally they agreed to pay what I wanted.

Now, I knew not to accept any sketchy forms of payment, so the agreement was for their PayPal payment to clear completely before I sent the watch. They paid, I waited until it had cleared, withdrew the money, and shipped the watch off to their address in California. They emailed me when they received it, confirmed that it was as expected and they were satisfied...so, I thought everything was done and over.

A month later, I got an email from PayPal saying that the buyer had filed a claim against the payment. Why? Because the watch was supposedly "counterfeit." Now, as I said, I had purchased this watch at full price from a jeweler who was an authorized seller of this brand. The buyer claimed that he had taken the watch to a jewelry store in New York and received an appraisal that stated the watch was a counterfeit. That was a huge red flag, since I had sent the watch to California, but the buyer made up a BS story about "living in both places."

In any case, PayPal refused to take my receipt for the watch showing that I paid for it from an authorized dealer, and ultimately gave the guy back his money. No problem, because I'd get my watch back and just be able to try selling it again, right? Nope. They told the guy to destroy the watch because of its "counterfeit" status.

So, I was without the watch, PayPal claimed that I owed them for the money they gave him back, and-without even giving me a chance to refute this guy's super sketchy story-treated me like I was a criminal. When they finally got around to calling me to try and collect the money, I told them that I would gladly pay them...once I got the watch back. Eventually, they gave up and I'll continue to tell everyone I know to avoid them like the plague.

[notalwaysright]

So far (and I've had this account over a decade now) I've not had any issues with them *knocks on wood.*

If you're the buyer, you're probably okay. Pretty much all the bad stories I've heard are from sellers. I'm just spitballing here, but here's how it seemed to happen. Back in the day ebay (another other small sites) wasn't very trusted. Buyers got scammed, a lot. So as time went on, things like paypal sprung up to safeguard buyers. It seemed safer than just typing in your credit card number. And here we are today, where sellers are pretty much at the mercy of the type of assholes who have been described here.

icmedia, that story is infuriating, and it didn't even happen to me.