• PayPal Practices Driving Sellers to Seek Alternatives
    24 replies, posted
[URL="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/205997/paypal_practices_driving_sellers_to_seek_alternatives.html?tk=hp_new"]Source[/URL] [quote=PC World]PayPal has established itself as the de facto method of transacting money on the Internet. It is ruffling some feathers, though, with business and [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/article/203942/complaints_of_bogus_itunes_charges_go_back_weeks.html"]dispute resolution practices[/URL] that seem to be focused on making sure PayPal gets to hang onto money as long as possible. Users need a reliable method of paying for online goods--especially from auction sites such as eBay, which is why eBay bought PayPal. More importantly, users want some level of assurance and protection against fraud--both from sellers not delivering or sending items that don't match the online description, or from buyers that receive goods and don't pay for them. With the sheer volume of [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/article/204340/paypal_app_lands_on_droid_x_youre_welcome.html"]transactions processed by PayPal[/URL], it is reasonable to assume that it receives a fair number of complaints and accusations on any given day. Understandably, PayPal has to be vigilant and act aggressively to investigate claims and resolve disputes. Some sellers, though, feel that the PayPal dispute resolution practices are biased in favor of the buyer in any given transaction. There are also some who believe that PayPal drags its feet intentionally when it comes to releasing money, because every day it can keep funds in its own accounts is another day it can generate interest income or leverage that money for profit. One recent case had PayPal sitting on nearly a million dollars that belonged to a PayPal seller. A game developer who goes by the name Notch [URL="http://notch.tumblr.com/post/1096322756/working-on-a-friday-update-crying-over-paypal"]wrote a blog post[/URL] on September 10 stating, "They limited my account for unspecified reasons (a suspicious withdrawal or deposit! wow, thank you for that amazingly detailed information), and asked me for a bunch of vague documents. I did my best to give them what they asked for." The blog post goes on to explain, "My account is still limited. I've called them three times, they keep telling me it's being reviewed. Most recently they told me it'd take up to two more weeks for it to get resolved, and that if they decide something bad's being going on, they're going to keep the money." In PayPal's defense, this is an unusual case. It seems reasonable for PayPal to red-flag an account that has a sudden inexplicable spike in income in order to protect all parties--including PayPal. Few PayPal sellers keep that kind of cash floating around in a PayPal account. In fact, Notch also explains that it has been his practice to withdraw his funds each week, but that PayPal froze the account right as sales of his game spiked--allowing the balance to climb rapidly while the matter was sorted out. But, even on a smaller scale, sellers that use PayPal to conduct business rely on that income and don't appreciate having funds that belong to them held indefinitely at PayPal's mercy. That is why some businesses are exploring PayPal alternatives, such as [URL="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=sierra&continue=https://checkout.google.com/main?upgrade%3Dtrue&hl=en_US&nui=1&ltmpl=default"]Google Checkout[/URL] or [URL="https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/personal/money"]Amazon Payments[/URL] to transact money online.[/quote] Please, for the love of god, I hope Google Checkout or anything one day will become more popular then PayPal. It's a fraud. This has been happening way before Notch got his account frozen and he was lucky enough to be freed but that's probably because he's famous and well known. Regardless, PayPal has avoided and dodged all attempts to make PayPal as a bank so they can abuse their status as a "non-bank" system as they have [B]NO federal restrictions[/B], giving them the ability to freeze and lock funds indefinitely thus building up interest or to do anything what they want with your account. And as always, they side with the buyer which is a pain in the ass. The only reason why I still use PayPal is since it is the most popular payment processor, but if Google Checkout gains popularity, I'm switching instantly. Fuck PayPal.
Recently lost £105 or so after PayPal froze it because of "suspicious" shit and they haven't done anything since.
you know, in my eyes the suspicious deposit is bullshit. in my eyes, its actually "this guy is doing well! lets freeze his account and get his profit! :downs:"
paypal is fine for small transactions.
Wow, I had no idea about any of this. :crossarms:
Paypal froze my account after I received a dollar.
Is it not possible to sue them for the money? It's theft in my book...
I don't like what PayPal is doing, but I like what Google is doing a whole lot less. I would prefer a third alternative that (for now) isn't being an evil corporation.
[QUOTE=Master117;25003501]Is it not possible to sue them for the money? It's theft in my book...[/QUOTE] A lawsuit was filed in 2002 by two people but unfortunately PayPal decided to settle it outside of court for $9.5 million dollars so they could still continue their fraudulent practices.
I only use paypal for the off-chance of buying a steam game or something from ebay. Bigger transactions can be handled by western-union or your bank
Paypal are a useless bunch of dicks, never going to use them again.
Are PayPal seriously that bad? Wow, I can't believe this.
Paypal is pretty good, don't bitch if they have disabled your account and you are not old enough to verify it.
They also take a percentage of money from every transaction, as does when you sell on ebay. I sold a $800 item and lost $75 between ebay and paypal, just for a bit of HTML they put on their stupid website.
[QUOTE=wndash;25004271]Paypal is pretty good, don't bitch if they have disabled your account and you are not old enough to verify it.[/QUOTE] What about notch then
[QUOTE=Jimpy;25004394]They also take a percentage of money from every transaction, as does when you sell on ebay. I sold a $800 item and lost $75 between ebay and paypal, just for a bit of HTML they put on their stupid website.[/QUOTE] You expect them to run their service for free?
Paypal sucks my dick'
Notch made $1M+ off minecraft? Holy crap, pretty impressive for a java based game.
[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;25007795]Notch made $1M+ off minecraft? Holy crap, pretty impressive for a java based game.[/QUOTE] Going off of the current number of sales, £1.7 million.
Fuck paypal.
I stopped using PayPal all together, it is ridiculous that I have to wait 21 days or in till the lazy bastard that bought my item to give me positive feedback. That money goes in to the paypal account and paypal INSTANTLY take their fucking seller fee. On top of that I have to ship the item and be out of pocket because I can't access the money I just earned. Someone bought a item off of me for 100UDS. It took me 21 days to get that fucking money because the guy didn't bother with feedback. Despite my polite reminders to do so after I saw it was delivered. (I used delivery confirmation with required signatures. So i know he gets it, and it isn't just sitting in a mail box)
I hate paypal, I try to use amazon, because they've got a direct method
It's stupid of me to even think of something like this but... Internet Vigilantism anyone?
[QUOTE=SinjinOmega;25008543]It's stupid of me to even think of something like this but... Internet Vigilantism anyone?[/QUOTE] How could that help anyone in any way
[QUOTE=MR-X;25008326]I stopped using PayPal all together, it is ridiculous that I have to wait 21 days or in till the lazy bastard that bought my item to give me positive feedback. That money goes in to the paypal account and paypal INSTANTLY take their fucking seller fee. On top of that I have to ship the item and be out of pocket because I can't access the money I just earned. Someone bought a item off of me for 100UDS. It took me 21 days to get that fucking money because the guy didn't bother with feedback. Despite my polite reminders to do so after I saw it was delivered. (I used delivery confirmation with required signatures. So i know he gets it, and it isn't just sitting in a mail box)[/QUOTE] I don't get what you mean, sure paypal can be hassle but I've sold things on E-bay and used the funds almost instantly as they've entered my paypal, or moved them straight to my bank, maybe because you're not bank verified or something?
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