chistech

Not sure of where this should go but I use EBay and PayPal often to purchase items for my war birds and I'm sure almost everyone else does too. I use PP here on RCU often. Ok, I just got off the phone with EBay and PayPal after being on with them for over an hour. Turns out they are holding my money from a transaction citing bogus reasons. I have 100% positive feedback everywhere I do business. One of the criteria for them to now release your money through PayPal immediately is you have to be selling items for 90 days straight. Now, that makes you a business and not the "average guy" EBay was originally designed for. Dealing with PayPal is even worse. They have almost $300 dollars of mine, they've collected their 3% of course, the item has been delivered, positive feedback left, and yet they hold my money. A reason they gave is that I didn't enter the shipping info on the PayPal site. But I did enter it on the EBay site and turns out PayPal gets that info anyway. Of course it didn't take me long to figure out EBay and PayPal are the same company. They are strong arming their customers with their rules. I will no longer be using PayPal or EBay and their "commi" ways. I will only now accept cashier's checks and money order when I sell here on RCU because of their poor business policies and I'll be saving the 3% too.

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

I have had a bad experience with Pay Pal and dont use them for anything anymore. I dont need an outside source controlling my funds or having the ability to go into my accounts. My experience was a guy claimed he never receied the product even with my shipping ifo delivered to ebay, they went into my account and took the money out. I was out a jet and the cash.....Later the jet shows up on ebay....the guy removed it after I fronted him on ebay. Never again[:@]

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

Contact your state attorney genera'ls office and see what legal options you have. It could lead to a prosecution.

Dash7ATP

This I would definitely do!Good idea! Keep us informed please.

Dash

77chickenhawk

OMGoodness. !!! That is some very informative information that I did not know. Thank you very much. My oh my what is this country coming to?


I need to spread this info to my friends that use these. I bet they don't know about this

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

One other idea I'd like to share; If you use an American Express card, or their Optima card, YOU have the power to stop/reverse charges upon request. They side with their cardholders, not with the merchants. I don't work for them, but have used this policy several times when having dealt with an unscrupulous person or heavy-handed policies. For what it is worth.....

91zulu

My Feedback: (2)

It is getting worse every day. I don`t see how some could say it is getting better, especially when it involves big business. They have us by the balls and we need to fight back big time. One way is to stop dealing with the bad ones and only use the good ones. It will send a clear message. COME ON FOLKS WE REALLY NEED TO GET ON THE BALL HERE. What exactly are some of us waiting on?

deatonbt

I have always wondered about PayPal and the money that they move. While money is transferred, they have access to to a lot of money interest free while a fee is paid by the user; I don't know the law on that one or if it really happening.

- Brian

Chris Nicastro

My Feedback: (3)

Simple... Dont use any of them, deal direct with the customer and use cashiers checks, money orders, personal checks, credit cards,etc. and wait for funds to clear before shipping.
I used PP a couple times and didnt like it so I quite them. I was a heavy Ebay user but they have changed completely since the mid to late 90's so I stopped using them as well.
In both cases I dont miss either of them and see no need to use them in the future.

The loudest message these companies will hear is your lack of participation because it hits them in balance sheets.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Interesting,

Ted,
I'm Curious how you found out the hold was on? Did you try and make a payment? Or did you ask them to transfer the cash to your bank acct.? The 3 day hold to get cash sent to your bank account or for them to issue you a check has been their policy from the get go, I found that out 10 years ago. But, I've never not been able to immediately use the cash in my account to paypal someone else.

I agree with the Fact Ebay with their current fee structure has ruined what was a good thing. So much crap to file through to find what you're looking for it's not worth it anymore, and the high fees for sellers makes you not want to bother selling there.

Luftwaffe60

I too had exactly the same problem, my product however, was delivered and excepted by a buyer in Canada. 3 months later Paypal debited my account for the sale and I was informed that the buyer never received the package. I provided deliverey confirmation and everything and still they DID NOT help and I was out the money!!!

fw190

My Feedback: (37)

Your basically getting robbed by people without guns or knifes on the internet highway and without a police for help.

splais

My Feedback: (25)

I don't want to be a defender of eBay/PayPal but there are two sides to this story. Yes, if you use eBay and don't take the time to learn the fine print you will spend hours cursing eBay and PayPal just as I have in the past. The fact is neither does anything that you can't find out about if you look. eBay is seriously slanted in favor of the buyer. No need to get into the particulars of it, just take my word for it. You can also argue about the fees and money handling procedures, but they are what they are.

I am a heavy user of both eBay and PayPal, mostly as a buyer. The few times I've been seriously pissed or screwed was when I was a seller. I live in the middle of nowhere and everything I need for any sport/hobby pretty much needs to be ordered. If you take your time and search you can save as much as 40-60% on an item. You also can get free shipping in a lot of cases and you have no sales tax. That being said, I have found myself using Amazon a lot more lately, primarily because I like being able to read customer reviews.

Just my $0.02 worth.

da Rock

Guys,

EBay and PayPal really don't come close enough to the Forum purpose, which is warbirds. The OP said it up front, he doesn't know where it should go. So he vented and left.

There are a lot of these that don't have much about warbirds in them, but that do hit on warbirds a little. This ain't one of them.

It's being moved to where it should go.

fockewulf37

My Feedback: (102)

If you use Postal Money Orders its the Same as Cash. Also for those who sell a lot no money trail!!!! But you have to get the Postal Money orders cashed at a post Office. For those who sell into Canada. US postal service accepts the Canadian Postal money order without any fees. You just have to make sure the sender does it us currency...

Ty

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

I sold an iPhone through flee bay, delivery confirmation and all, the #%^* buyer said he didn't received it and puffff, I was out of my money.

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

Yeah, fee-bay and paypig are coming up with new ways to keep your money.

Hemikiller

My Feedback: (125)

Was it over $250? You need to elect Signature Confirmation over $250 to keep the Seller Protection. You got scammed by your buyer because he knew the rules better than you.

Guys, FWIW - 13 years on ebay, hundreds of transactions here and on RCG - zero issues with ebay or Paypal. I read the policies when they change and stick to it. 99% of the "problems" I see are because people either don't read or just plain abuse the policies and then get caught with their pants down. I remember when PP started the 21 day hold for certain accounts, you would have though the world ended, but there it was in black and white....

I may not agree with everything they do, but their service has worked very well for me.

fredscz

My Feedback: (47)

I lost $50 to a thief from Florida that went by the name "[email protected]" using a USPO money order. Earlier I lost $200 to a thief in San Deigo. If I had been able to use paypal chances are I would not have lost the money.
I am not a fan of fleabay or paypal but the two times over the years that I have filed a dispute I have eventually received a complete refund. And if your account is dormant for a specified length of time they may hold your funds for a while. No I do not like it but when they are the only game in town you have to play by their rules.
Fred

103/17

I stopped using E-bay and Pay Pal when e-bay PURCHASED Pay Pal. not a good relationship for consumers. I had very bad experiences with e-bay pressuring you into using Pay Pal as a seller. I was a power seller after a decade with e-bay. I no longer use the site. They hold your money for days just to collect a few extra percent on YUOR money while it sits in the bank. Its not right. E-bay used to be fun and Pay Pal when it started was a good service. No more.............

Giant_Scale_Gasser

My Feedback: (84)

Let me help you out here a little. I know a tad bit about ebay & Pay Pal. I do almost 6 figures a month is sales on ebay.

Feedback is absolutely meaningless in this situation so do not bother using that as any kind of leverage.


In order for your funds to be released, you have to follow the correct procedures. Putting tracking on eBay does not guarantee it automatically gets imported into Pay Pal and Vica Versa. eBay is the auction site, Pay Pal is the financial processor, you need to satisfy PP, not ebay for them to release your funds. Your money would have been released if you had provided tracking on the Pay Pal side. And if the item you sold is over $250 in value, you had better have gotten a signature on that. Yes, you are required to use sig confirmation on anything over $250. If you did not, they may hold your money until they get a response from the buyer. If the buyers chooses not to respond, they will return the payment to the buyer! This is Pay Pal policy and sadly many people open and ebay & Pay Pal account and just start selling without knowing how to protect themselves.

When does PP hold money in reserve on new users? Because of the millions and millions of dollars that were being stolen by scam artists that open an account, sell an expensive product, transfer the funds to their bank and poof... the product never gets shipped and they have removed the funds and stick the buyer.


Another common assumption, ebay and Pay Pal are NOT the same company. While the shareholders are involved in both entites, the two company act and are run complete individual from one another. I see so many people open an account, list some items and start complaining because they never bothered to educate themselves on the policies that are in place to protect both the buyer AND the seller.

Good luck on the cashiers checks too... I know of too many scams using those and I personally would NEVER take one, EVER. A fellow I know sold a vintage Hot Rod, buyer paid with a cashiers check. The car was long gone when the bank contacted the seller and told him they had just withdrawn $35,000 from his account because the cashiers check that they ACCEPTED.... was indeed a fake. This happended 5 days AFTER the check was accepted by his bank and his car was thousands of miles away.

eBay and Pay Pal are VERY safe to use, but you have to know the rules and procedures. They are not even close to "commis". But if you chose to sell, you should consider educating yourself on the policies of both companies. You wouldn't start any other business without investigating all of the neccesary rules, permits, laws, etc for legal operation, I cannot imagine why so many just get on ebay and think that ebay or Pay Pal is doing something wrong when the newbie seller does not follow the rules.

NOTHING you have discussed above is a problem or issue with eBay or PP. You just need to learn the ropes. Your money gets released the millisecond the tracking shows delivered. But of course you have to ensure that you use the proper delivery confirmation method....

Giant_Scale_Gasser

My Feedback: (84)

What service did you use that had delivery confirmation to Canada?

And any dispute / claim after 3 months was initiated by the buyers credit card company as a chargeback. A buyer can ONLY file a claim for non-receipt for up to 45 days following the sale. After that, they cannot file any dispute or claim.

bjbellino

My Feedback: (176)

At one time I had a ebay account and also used paypal so that buyers could send me money and get their item relatively quickly. Then I had heard that ebay bought paypal. It seemed that after that, by the time I payed ebay listing fees and paypal 3% fees, I, as with others didn't end up with much money in my pocket. Then, as was mentioned, ebay would, using paypal, put a hold on my money, saying my sales activity looked SUSPICIOUS, even though I had 100% positive feedback on ebay. I really think they were holding and investing my money, short term, until I gripped enough on the phone trying to rectify the problem that was bogus to start with. Had enough and closed my account with ebay, and opened a account at a local bank and only use it to transfer paypal funds into from sales on RCU. When I know the money is in the bank, I go and withdraw it except for a dollar or so, just enough to keep the account open. That way, I don't worry about someone trying to get money out of my account, because there is usually nothing in there. I have had NO problem with paypal, trying to hold any of my funds, so that tells me that that was all ebays doings. Don't care for the 3% handling fees, but you know that up front, but I also take money orders and my regular bank will cash them, no problem, and after waiting a week to make sure the mo clears, I send out the item, this has been working for me, whether I am buying warbird parts of just rc kits, also you do meet a lot of great people involved in this hobby, thanks, Bob.

vega406

My Feedback: (73)

sold a Turbine P-80 on E-bay with video of it flying and pic of GSU showing 1.5 hour old..guy in Netherland recieved it and his buddy on the phone said to send to JetCat for quick inspection..he did not send ECU in with it so JetCat assumed from old serial number it was the old Hammer turbine from 1999 and never updated so they wanted $1100 to do this so he filed claim as bad item and PayPal gave him $1350 back for original purchase since he was able to show repair invoice.. now at 1.5 hours old i am sure it was already done by the previous owner..now i don,t know if Jetcat over sea,s took it apart but Redman and Wilcox says that is what it would have cost to upgrade and i hear squealing noise from it and some more time added on ECU so i am sure he messed it up and is why ECU not sent in..PayPal are not Turbine savy and don,t care to be and i wasn,t going to try and get any proof from JetCat over sea,s cause Wilcox says he is not allowed to work on that old of a number..the end result is i had no money in my account so PayPal paid the buyer and HOPED to get it from me i quickly said BITE ME after 10 years of service and will not use them again..i didn,t get screwed out of my money but they tried to and the way they are acting now i am glad they dont care to lose sellers after we made them what they are they only care about the buyers coming back again and again

tardster

My Feedback: (2)

I had a bad deal with paypal a long time ago but thats the nature of the beast. I sold a transmitter on ebay, I shipped it, it had a tracking number and I even had proof of delievery with signature request. The buyer switched the form of delivery from signature to no signsture, which anyone can do if you send them the tracking number. So since there was no signature the buyer told paypal he never received the transmitter and paypal took the money out of my account. Even though I had proof the transmitter was delivered it was not enough because there was no signature, so long story short he got the transmitter for free. I can't blame paypal for this though, this person knew how to work the system. I still use paypal and ebay all the time to buy and sell stuff and I have had no issues with my money being put on hold or anything like that.
Basically it all comes down to communication with the person you are trying to buy or sell to, a few emails or calls with the person you are dealing with will give you the info or at least a feeling of how this person is. Right now I'm working with a guy from France who I bought a B17 cockpit kit and Canopy set from. Last month he shipped them through the French Postal system with a tracking number. Everytime I try to track it it says there is no information on the package. He is saying it is because it is in customs right now, I can accept that for now but in 2 days it will be a month now and I've already started the complaint process through paypal because I want to make sure that I don't go past the 45 days you have to file a complaint. I'm doing this no because I don't trust this guy but to make sure if needed the process was started just in case.