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"Hidden" PayPal Fees Inciting Community Unrest
Several sites are reporting on the addition of extra fees to PayPal that are just starting to become common knowledge. While PayPal has certainly had their fair share of controversy, the new "transaction fees" that promise to affect the entire customer base are already well on their way to becoming another. "For example, a personal account sending another personal account money for a one-time payment for, say, mowing your lawn was not previously charged any fees on either side, but is now charged the usual transaction fee (the sender gets to decide who pays). The only way to avoid this is by selecting 'gift' when making the transfer — something you can't do if you're following through on a purchase or invoice from someone. And, if you fall into this category (which many people do), it's likely that you had no idea about the changes until just now."
Did you pay for the item using your credit card through Paypal or using your checking account?
I did use a credit card. Unfortunately, I used the "Paypal"-branded credit card issued by GE Money Bank. They have in their fine print that any charge on the card through Paypal has to be resolved through paypal. They will just give you the run-around otherwise.
First thing I did after this was to tear up and cancel that card and then link my regular credit card to paypal which is a Citibank Card -- Citibank has always been *VERY* *GOOD* at dealing with any hint of fraud whether online or by phone / mail.
I'm out the $$$ but I've learned an important lesson which I can share with all of you. Don't use Paypal if you can't afford to be shafted -- and if you do use Paypal, whatever you do, don't get the Paypal Credit Card.
You went about it all wrong.
I tried to get a seller to pay for return shipping when he sent
the wrong item (his description was wrong). When the seller wouldn't
see things my way and PayPal wouldn't help, I just told Amex I had
a complaint and wanted the charges dropped from my account. Amex did
their OWN investigation and reversed the charges on PayPal. Finally the
seller issued me a refund AND paid the cost for return of the item, at which
point I shipped it back to him. I then told Amex that the problem was fixed and
they and PayPal finalized things.
NEVER use a bank account to fund a charge with PayPal. You give up too much
clout.
Often times the Paypal "Dispute Process" can be really messed up.
I used to sell a lot of stuff on EBAY when I was unemployed for a period of time. I'd buy things in bulk and sell them off on EBAY. It wasn't making me rich and it was a lot of work but it was helping me get by a hard time....until they started making things difficult for me.
The worst problem was a $27 transaction. The buyer paid and a day later my account was locked. The reason? Apparently at some time the buyer was a victim of credit card fraud so they decided it was fraud again....and because I was receiving the money I MUST be involved. Both of our accounts would be locked pending a paypal investigation.
I had about 60 packages I had to ship out very shortly and the money to do that was...in my Paypal account. Being poor and unemployed, I didn't have nearly enough money to cover it outside of that account. I talked to the guy with the $27 transaction on the phone and we decided to just call Paypal and get them to cancel it. No way. We were both under suspicion of criminal activity. In the meantime, I had another 70-80 auctions end but the Buyers could not send me money because of my frozen account. Obviously "Paypal froze my account" didn't inspire confidence so few of those people worked with me and I got stuck with EBAY seller fees.
I tried to explain the situation to the other people I owed goods. Some asked if I could just refund their money. I agreed to that but...guess what? I couldn't! As time wore on, they started getting mad and filing more complaints. By the time the original was cleared up 23 days later I had another 30 or so complaints where.....I couldn't refund the money. Ebay Fees hit (That money could come out) which left me with not enough money for all the refunds anyway. Of course, they started hammering my bank account after that. Luckily I got a job shortly after and was able to make sure everyone got their merchandise or money....but Paypal just destroyed me, my once spectacular Ebay reputation, and my bank account. It was absolutely ridiculous.