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March 10, 2008
Why I'm Done With PayPal
Posted by Hannah Clark Steiman at 1:06 PM
I've never been the victim of an online security breach. I've never had my identity stolen. That's partly because I'm lucky, and partly because I'm conscientious. Every year, I get a free copy of my credit report and scan it for errors (last year, there were eight or nine mistakes, and I managed to fix all but one before giving up).
In the last week, however, I have become a victim--not of an online security breach, but of a company's overheated reaction to what may or may not have been an online security breach. The company is PayPal, and this is probably the last time I will ever use it as a place to park my cash.
A week ago, I got an email from PayPal saying that access to my account had been limited, because an "issue" that had been discovered during a routine screening. To lift this restriction, I had to log on, change my password and security questions--oh, and enter in my credit card information. Quick question for the brilliant bigwigs at PayPal: why on earth would I give my credit card information to a company that has just told me that there has been some sort of security breach?
First, I thought it was one of those fake emails that isn't really from PayPal. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I called PayPal, and complained about the request for credit card information. Thankfully, they lifted the restrictions without requiring me to hand over any credit card information (I had to change my password and security questions). I then decided to withdraw the $189 in the account since, well, I could use a new pair of shoes. This was a Monday, and PayPal said the transfer would take three or four days. On Saturday, I logged into PayPal again ... and found that my access had been limited. Again. And without notifying me, PayPal had canceled the transfer.
So I changed my password and security questions again. (There are only four security questions, so I changed the questions back to what they were a week ago.) Then, over the phone, another call center representative lifted the restriction. (He also, inexplicably, denied that PayPal ever emailed me to notify me of the account restrictions. Don't you love it when customer service reps basically tell you that you're lying?)
I have since tried, once again, to transfer the money to my regular bank account. We'll see if it works. But the whole experience raised a number of questions. No bank has ever restricted access to one of my accounts due to an "issue" before. Does this mean that PayPal has more "issues"? Or does this mean that PayPal is simply more cautious? In other words, should I feel more or less secure in my PayPal account?
Also, it's clear to me that companies have to walk a fine line: they must protect customers' security and without annoying them so much they walk out the door. How many more times will I have to call PayPal before I can access my $189.02? And why, after all this, would I ever use PayPal again?
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I agree 100%. I had the same issue several years ago, and it took me almost 6 months to get my money transferred from PayPal to my Bank. I hope you get your money sooner, but I am convinced that when PayPal needs to hold on to some cash for internal purposes. They will lock accounts to make sure you cannot move your money until they are finished using it.
Maybe you just dont know how to use paypal. You need to stick to cash sweetheart.
They just locked my account to, for no apparent reason. I just sold a lot of stuff on ebay using Paypal and now I can't transfer the money to my bank account. After this round of selling I am quitting Paypal and probably ebay, their partner in this dubious business practice. Time for a class action suit?
Hello. Just so you know that PaYPal is making some new changes at the corporate leval. This affects the whole company. As for them and ebay. Its not there fault ebay purchased them. It was a great move on ebay because PayPal offers some real good security features. That said, I think everyone gets upset because they want there money fast like going to your bank. But its not like that at all, PayPal is not a Bank they process transactions and they do a pretty good job doing it. Why are you surprised about the 3-4 day wait period. It tells you this when you sign up to use PayPal! Hello....Please read guidelines! Im done here.
I am not a fan of PayPal. On two separate occasions, some one managed to get into my account and make unauthorized charges. I have never shared my login/password with anyone. The second incident happened early this year. Thanks to Paypal's increased security measures, they flagged the transaction and in the end, the $100 that was used to pay for an online gaming service was returned to my bank account in 3 days. I keep saying I am "quitting Paypal" but what are my options? Google checkout?
I think anyone who has done business on ebay at some point has had a run in with pay pay. I don't understand how there still in business and successful. I had a customer to dispute payment after I sent the good and they put a freeze on my account. When I called I was on hold for hrs only for an employee to tell me she understands my situation and this was a commom practicefor them to do this. If you have a profitable business you'll risk everything dealing with paypal. BEWARE!!!
I could not agree more. I signed up for PayPal and it's evil twin eBay to sell a few higher priced items I was trying to get rid of. I never knew that selling things you owned online that were worth more than $10 made you a wanted criminal. The PayPal police tied up my funds for six months even though all of my buyers gave me glowing reviews. No one complained, everyone received there stuff, but PayPal treated me like a wanted criminal until they deposited my money six months later and sent me an email saying "We can no longer have you as a customer of this site." They also make it so no one in customer service can actually give you an answer. The only service I've ever had more problems with is Vonage. SAY NO TO PAYPAL!
Paypal has double standards depending on the Buyer, the country AND/OR the situation. Lord help you if you get cheated by a Power Seller, they bring money to eBay therefore, don't even complain or dispute that a clearly paid item($150!!!!!)has never been received. The complaint drags for months and ends in the crooked Seller's favour. YOU however, end up with a lame explanation of the "you filed your complaint 2 hours after the "due date" therefore it is invalid. Even when dozens of cheated Buyers complain at the same time!
Legal issues are bended to suit Paypal and eBay. Paypal is a MONEY TRANSFER service, should stay there and charge their huge fees per transaction, currency exchange and so on. But when Paypal interferes in a mediation process of who sent a damaged item and who has to be compensated, when decisions are claerly made by UNQUALIFIED mediators deciding cases at their whim and daily disposition, Paypal extends BEYOND the statute of limitations of a money transfer company. Does anyone care about that? No, because PP is a proud EBay company. Good luck using Paypal!
It is time to educate your buyers. If you want to get paid ask for
Personal checks, money orders, for credit cards use google check out
They are half the price and much more reliable.
Paypal froze my account a few years ago: why? They told me buyer Fraud
They did not allow me to call my buyer they said “THEY WILL HANDEL IT”
CHARGE WAS FOR $2,600.00 How would you like to be out that much money?
I let paypal handle it my item was shipped. I was doomed to be out
A $2,600.00 piece. 30 days latter I got the money: with an apology of
Or paypal is sorry we made a mistake. They did not give me any interest On my $2,600.00 either. But they used the funds. 30 days is a long time to hold someone’s money.
Another incident: ebay buyer bought an item paid me thew paypal I had the item ready to ship. It was an $800.00 item. Luckily I had not shipped yet emailed told me the buyer’s payment was fraud: but the buyer paid directly from there bank there account go figure that on one out?? I had to give paypal back the money. Ebay still has this buyer bidding one stuff, who paypal took there money saying the buyer was frequent. Luckily I did not ship and I was not out the piece and the money. This was 3 days after the payment was made this happened.
So be very careful when you get your money this can happen to you.
I have opened up Google and they are much better and ½ the fees as
Paypal. We need a new marketing place to list and sell. Where the
Sellers go the buyers will to but it is time to move on and get away
From ebay but the other sites do not bring in the business. You should
Try ioffer. They have no listing fees and only selling fees if we can
Build that site more people will follow.
I highly - extrememly urge all paypal members who have had their monies held as stated on occasions as i have read above--- PLEASE ... PLEASE - GO TO YOUR LOCAL COUNCILMAN, CONGRESSMAN.. ETC... AND TELL THEM WHAT IS GOING ON...
AND YOU WISH TO HAVE PAYPAL INVESTIGATED BY THE FEDERAL GOV'T. PAYPAL IS USING YOUR MONEY AS A FLOAT... TO PLAY WITH - TO BALANCE THIER OTHER INVESTMENTS- SCHEMES... ETC...
ALSO - CONTINUE TO TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW THAT HAS A PAYPAL ACCOUNT.. TO DO THE SAME.....
A FEDERAL INESTIGATION NEEDS TO BE DONE.... SO PUT YOUR LOCAL COUNCILMAN AND CONGRESSMAN TO WORK...
AND LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU AND MANY OTHERS WILL BE GOING TO THE MEDIA WITH THIS MATTER SHORTLY- AND THAT YOU'D LIKE TO KNOW THAT THEY (YOUR COUNCILMAN & CONGRESSMAN)
IS AVAILABLE WHEN THIS BECOMES NATIONAL...
I really love the Google Checkout. They don't allow you to use it on eBay since eBay owns Paypal and doesn't want to lose out on a single cent!
I moved my stuff all from eBay over to OLA - onlineauction.com and have been doing very well there! It's growing every day and there ARE a lot of buyers coming in - more and more every day. The list of sellers is also growing daily!
It's a place where you can get PERSONAL (as in talking to a human being in the U.S.) customer service!
OLA, Ya'll!
I am having my first problem with PayPal right now. A buyer claims they did not receive their item....same as everyone else. I am closing my account with PayPal and already stopped selling on Ebay. I have had enough. I now use Google Checkout and have a store at onlineauction.com/store/kryseemac where no matter how many items you list it is $8 a month period! I have almost 3000 items on at all times for $8...you can't beat that. I am not paying those high fees or getting my account frozen ever again. Good riddance to both of them.
I just received an e-mail from Paypal that they have once again froze my account. It was for an Ebay transaction from 2 months ago. The buyer has already received their item and has left me wonderful feedback. When I go into the resolution center to try and resolve it like the e-mail says to do I get this message
"Status: Being Reviewed By Paypal
Status Details: We are temporarily unable to determine the status of your case.
This is the second time this has happened lately. The other time they froze my account and when I asked about it I was told it was system generated(I was told by Paypal they didn't know what this was as they had never seen this happen before-Yeah right!!) and they couldn't do anything about it, that the system had to run it's course--The system takes 30 days and in that 30 days they keep your interest and you get nothing. I will be looking for somewhere else to do my business. Paypal is not to be trusted as you never know when you are going to be able to use your own money anymore. I feel like they are searching for ways to freeze people's accounts now.
I unloaded Ebay for a great place onlineauction.com. I actually love it there and I recommend to everyone who is looking to get rid of Ebay. I hope to also dump Paypal (Ebay owned) as soon as I look into Google.
I have used Paypal for the last 8 years, both as a buyer and seller. Not a single problem has ever come up. They usually transfer money in a single day, not to mention getting paid interest and rebates on debit card purchases. I've used Billpoint and Google checkout and the experience was average with the first and fine with the second. The complaining here is not representative of the typical Paypal user experience. I have had many problems with my local bank for which I had no recourse. Welcome to the age of the Patriot Act and Internet fraud!
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