my struggle with eBay/PayPal

[Mikele]

hello there, thank Goodness for creating AmiBay!

I've noticed some people wondering how come commercial site is regarded as EvilBay. Well here's my story:

A week ago sold an A1200 on ebay, but this time using their original site (.com not .co.uk), the buyer was from US.
He chose economy class freight shipping, which takes about 2 months for delivery and paid me via PayPal. I was quite concerned to see the awaited payment blockade. Originally I thought "ok, after 21 days it will be gone", but did some research and what appalled me was it might take longer. Therefore I contacted PayPal contact person and she told be I had nothing to worry about. I just need to contact them after 3 days this package is delivered (2 months + 3 days) and they will be happy to unfreeze the funds. Niiice icard

Fine, I get the idea of Buyer's Protection Program, but hey I am there since 2002 and have 100% positive feedback including the ones received for the last 15 or more transactions in the last 2 months (ebay.co.uk and ebay.de). I am aware .com and .co.uk, .de are separate, but they use the same payment source (PayPal) and I am pretty sure there's some kind of data sharing (same feedback regardless to region, for example). So I am still potential scammer/con artist to them.

Am I crazy to think that in circumstances like these eB/PP uses Protection Program as an excuse to use my money as some kind of zero interest credit? I virtually have money I cannot use for over 2 months. Not cool.

 

[fitzsteve]

That's ridiculous. I would not sell under those conditions.

I'd cancel the transaction and sell to someone else.

 

[RED IMPACT]

That's ridiculous. I would not sell under those conditions.

I'd cancel the transaction and sell to someone else.

Agreed

 

[fitzsteve]

By the way, don't be offended if your thread gets closed (Amibay isn't eBay's complaints department and as such mods close down these types of threads.)

But I think it's good you've brought it to our attention, another barrier being put in the way of selling overseas! Personally I only offer fully tracked express delivery when I sell outside the UK on eBay but seldom sell on there anymore...

I really don't see why it's expected for sellers to bare all the risk when buyers want cheapo economy shipping.

 

[Merlin]

I'll allow this thread as a warning to others about the Buyer Protection Program and regarding Paypal refunds being held up, as per the original post. As long as it stays on that topic, then we're OK.

 

[NinjaRabbit]

Am I crazy to think that in circumstances like these eB/PP uses Protection Program as an excuse to use my money as some kind of zero interest credit? I virtually have money I cannot use for over 2 months. Not cool.

I seem to recall reading a few things to that effect on one of the websites that cover PayPal horror stories - this supposedly came from PayPal whistleblowers.

I can't remember the URL right now, but I don't imagine that the stories would be that difficult to find with a web search.

 

[RED IMPACT]

Is this due to the Global Shipping Program that they have opened up to everyone (unless you opt out?)

 

[Harrison]

AFAIK the global shipping program is something different whereby the seller ships their items to a central eBay distribution hub in their origin country, then eB ay ship the item themselves from their own distribution courier hub to it's destination. It's basically eBay removing courier and postal systems from the equation and handing the whole shipping process themselves.. to gain a complete monopoly. I can predict the day when they try to force sellers to use their own shipping services and won't allow third party shipping to be used. IMO that day will breach unfair trade competition regulations and laws.

 

[r0jaws]

This seems a little odd. Are they expecting you to ship the item without having received payment? A Credit in your account is not the same as actually having the funds available to you. I would contact PayPal and demand that they release the funds so that you can ship the item, otherwise the transaction should be cancelled.
It is not on for them to expect you to wait for 2+ months before releasing funds which are not theirs in the first place.

 

[-Acid-]

This seems a little odd. Are they expecting you to ship the item without having received payment? A Credit in your account is not the same as actually having the funds available to you. I would contact PayPal and demand that they release the funds so that you can ship the item, otherwise the transaction should be cancelled.
It is not on for them to expect you to wait for 2+ months before releasing funds which are not theirs in the first place.

This is assuming he didn't ship the computer before he realised... if he did then he has well and truly been bent over!

@ OP have you posted the A1200 or did you hold back? if you have not sent it yet I would cancel the sale, tell ebay where to shove it and apologise with an explanation to the buyer (or agree to sell him it again).

 

[DojoDan]

Can ask for a bit of advice here? My PS2 on ebay just sold, and it's someone in Nigeria with 0 feedback. They didn't even ask for a postage quote, and it's going to be around £120 postage. Am I asking for trouble shipping this?

 

[davideo]

Can ask for a bit of advice here? My PS2 on ebay just sold, and it's someone in Nigeria with 0 feedback. They didn't even ask for a postage quote, and it's going to be around £120 postage. Am I asking for trouble shipping this?

If you are asking a serious question - Yep

 

[NinjaRabbit]

Can ask for a bit of advice here? My PS2 on ebay just sold, and it's someone in Nigeria with 0 feedback. They didn't even ask for a postage quote, and it's going to be around £120 postage. Am I asking for trouble shipping this?

In all honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you got hit with a message leading into a typical overpayment scam, next. There's plenty of info on the sorts of things that get directed at unsuspecting sellers on eBay here.

EDIT: This and this are likely to be the most relevant, here.

 

[Aysel]

Can ask for a bit of advice here? My PS2 on ebay just sold, and it's someone in Nigeria with 0 feedback. They didn't even ask for a postage quote, and it's going to be around £120 postage. Am I asking for trouble shipping this?

This is generally the one where you receive a fake email saying you have received a PayPal payment for the full amount and they hope you ship it without actually checking your PayPal account balance mate

 

[Astral]

@OP

Being careful what to say here...but...

For PayPal to be able to hold the funds like that would not sit well with me at all. And without blabbing on for three paragraphs, you probably don't have any gaurantee that you will see the money either at the end of the 2 months - despite the PayPal respresentatives statements of "don't worry". I think that PayPal will base the funds handover date as the date the buyer reports that they have received the item - but what if they don't admit to receiving it and you can't "prove" that it was sent? If you haven't sent the item yet, I highly recommend that you don't send it.

It's things like that which make places like AmiBay a pleasure to use

And I too have an eBay/PayPal story to tell the members of AmiBay - one that I am still dumbfounded by. I have run it by a mod to let them know I will be posting it here and have their support to do so. As soon as I get a chance I will post it for all to see.

 

[Nick1977]

I'll allow this thread as a warning to others about the Buyer Protection Program and regarding Paypal refunds being held up, as per the original post. As long as it stays on that topic, then we're OK.

Good idea, because i was not aware of all these issues.thanks!

- - - Updated - - -

There's plenty of info on the sorts of things that get directed at unsuspecting sellers on eBay here.

EDIT: This and this are likely to be the most relevant, here.

thanks for the info&links. very helpful.

 

[BluesBrothers]

As someone with alot of experience dealing with overseas deliveries my advice is never, and I mean NEVER, offer a service which takes more than 3 weeks. Buyers are entitled to claim if an item is not received within a time period and that time period does not allow for the 5 weeks plus that goes with economy snail mail or surface mail as it is more commonly known. If the buyer decides to make a claim for non receipt the chances are they will be refunded whilst the item is still in transit. I'm not saying the buyer will do this but they can and there are plenty of unscrupulous people about so it's better to protect yourself.
The item you were selling was a popular item and it's not as though you'd struggle to sell it so there is no reason not to use a shipping service which offers yourself the best protection
ALWAYS make sure you cover yourself and leave no reason for complaint or claim because eventualy it WILL come back to bite you.

 

[ADz83]

Can ask for a bit of advice here? My PS2 on ebay just sold, and it's someone in Nigeria with 0 feedback. They didn't even ask for a postage quote, and it's going to be around £120 postage. Am I asking for trouble shipping this?

LMAO!

 

[Mikele]

thanks for replies, since the buyer seems to be a decent Amiga user I also thought about cancelling the deal, refunding and asking him to choose Buy It Now on private auction I would arrange for him on eBay.co.uk. Never had any similiar issues with payments received for items sold on ebay.co.uk, but what gave me a second thought was I had never dealt with US buyers on eBay.co.uk! What if this protection program extends to all US buyers regardless to evilBay region? Luckily, the buyer agreed to upgrade to airmail service.

 

[DojoDan]

Apologies Mikele, I'm not wanting to hijack the tread, but all of these issues are problems people should know about. Just to say I spoke to ebay via live chat about my concerns and they suggested requesting a transaction cancellation, which I have done. If I get bad feedback the customer service guy said they can help with that, but I'm not bothered really. I'm not stupid enough to fall for fake Paypal emails, so I suppose I could have waited for payment and see, but if he pays & I ship it, then he can just say it doesn't work and that's that..