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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."
... when is /. going to re-enable the direct credit card payment option for those who want to subscribe? I was a subscriber for the longest time until this option went away. Not everybody is willing to do business with Paypal or has the ability to do so.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
I think I'm just going to close my Paypal now
My account was closed for me when I sold an item to someone on eBay who later claimed that he never received the item. Paypal locked my account over this dispute and claimed that I needed to provide them with a tracking number to get the block removed. I did so and then the buyer changed his story from "I never received it" to "he sent me an empty box"
In spite of the fact that his story changed once confronted with the tracking number they still sided with the him and permanently blocked my account until I "repay" them for the money they reimbursed him. If I hadn't already transferred the funds into my checking account I would have lost them and the item I was selling.
As far as I'm concerned Paypal can burn in hell.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
The ONLY way I pay though PayPal is via my American Express card.
One time I had a problem and PayPal was zero help. So I directed my
complaint through Amex. Good old American Express came down like a ton
of bricks on PayPal and REVERSED the transfer, which got PayPals attention quick!
All of a sudden, PayPal was in my court and got the seller to fix things.
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.
I found my notice from PayPal on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying
"Beware of the Leopard."
So wait, you got screwed by PayPal, so at the first available opportunity, you gave them your credit card details so you could continue to use their service? This kind of thing is exactly why corporations continue to screw people over - they know they can keep doing it time and time again, and people will just keep coming back for more.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Only if you explicitly say "Google Checkout", I put in my auctions That I DO NOT accept paypal but have 'my own' credit card processor. Of course all I do is send them a Google Checkout invoice via e-mail and they pay it.
I'm sure if I started selling to someone that worked for paypal/ebay I might get caught but 99.9% of people out there don't give a damn.
You're kidding, right? Paypal didn't send a mass e-mail to all its users saying "Dear Customers, We're jacking up our fees!". Instead, they sent out a mass mail that said "Dear Customers, We updated our Terms of Service. By doing nothing, you agree that you accept the changes."
Take a look at Paypal's legal page. The Paypal "Terms of Service" are actually 14 different agreements, all written in legalese, all saying that they can be changed at any time for any reason by Paypal. All together, the agreements add up 4000 lines, give or take. Not every user is subject to every agreement (some are for specific services), but many are.
So can you really say with a straight face that you believe it is reasonable to expect Paypal users to reread 4000 lines of legalese every time Paypal announces that they've made some change to the agreement? It's not like they're providing diffs. They do not want their customers to understand these agreements or how they have changed because they are dishonest. That's the crux of the issue - Paypal is acting in bad faith to screw their own customers and hiding behind legalese when called out on it.
So wait, you got screwed by PayPal, so at the first available opportunity, you gave them your credit card details so you could continue to use their service?
Unfortunately, Paypal has become a necessary evil if you want to use E-Bay. I try to avoid it if at all possible but many sellers (at least 30-40%) on E-Bay only take Paypal for electronic payments.
And yes, I'm trying to avoid E-Bay too but for hard-to-find or used items, you can't always find the stuff online or on Craigslist.
Sigh... basically, that's a problem of dealing with monopolies -- which is what Paypal and E-Bay are for all practical intents and purposes.
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.