It was only a matter of time... finally got screwed out of $500 by Paypal.

[Shawn]

So I sold my car on ebay. One of the options when selling a car on ebay is to require a deposit through paypal within 24 hours after auction end. So I went that route. Auction ended, the guy paid the $500 through paypal. Transaction appeared to go through. He later came and paid the rest in cash and I figured the sale was complete...

that is until I tried to withdraw the money and discovered that my paypal balance was now $0. I look at the history and this is what comes up:

1
2

So apparently they took it upon themselves to place a hold on the money for absolutely no reason. Supposedly it's because the buyer moved from KY to FL and his bank account was located in KY. He told me he faxed them information proving his identity over a week ago and paypal still has not released their hold on the money.

I don't think that the buyer was intentionally trying to screw me. In fact I think the $500 has been withdrawn from his bank account and paypal is holding onto it, so he no longer has the money, and I don't have the money. I have called every day now for the past week with no progress being made.

The customer service reps are rude and have flat out lied about what is going on. Basically they are clueless so they just make stuff up. I talked one of the superiors and he told me there is no seller protection for deposits and that I would have to take the buyer to small claims court. WTF? I'm not sure what else I should do at this point. Thoughts?

 

[minendo]

Probably a Sprite drinker. Sierra Mist pwns j00.

 

[Shawn]

.

 

[Xylitol]

wait

 

[legoman666]

This is why I immediately withdraw any funds I have in PayPal. I got screwed out of $120 once and I learned my lesson.

 

[Xylitol]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: minendo
Probably a Sprite drinker. Sierra Mist pwns j00.

go troll elsewhere

forum administrator

 

[Twista]

Originally posted by: Xylitol

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: minendo
Probably a Sprite drinker. Sierra Mist pwns j00.

go troll elsewhere

forum administrator

:brokenheart:

 

[Pabster]

PayPal sucks the big one.

 

[bamacre]

Shawn, what was the total amount of money the car sold for, including the deposit?

Has the buyer told you that the $500 never went back to him? And PayPal is telling you that it has?

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: bamacre
Shawn, what was the total amount of money the car sold for, including the deposit?

Has the buyer told you that the $500 never went back to him? And PayPal is telling you that it has?

The total was $3550. Buyer paid $3050 in cash. The buyer claims that the $500 never went back to him which means paypal still has it.

 

[aphex]

Eeeek.... Is this part of that new 20 day hold policy that they have at their discretion? Are you new to paypal?

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: aphex
Eeeek.... Is this part of that new 20 day hold policy that they have at their discretion? Are you new to paypal?

Hmm... that account has been open since 2004 so I don't think so.

edit: the buyer's account was brand new though if that matters.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: bamacre
Shawn, what was the total amount of money the car sold for, including the deposit?

Has the buyer told you that the $500 never went back to him? And PayPal is telling you that it has?

The total was $3550. Buyer paid $3050 in cash. The buyer claims that the $500 never went back to him which means paypal still has it.

And have you relayed to PP his claim that he never got the $500 back?

First thing you gotta do is find out for sure who has the $500. And if both keep saying that they don't have it, I would file a small claims suit against PayPal, if you can do so in FL.

I'm reading through this now...
http://www.screw-paypal.com/resources/florida.html

If PayPal doesn't have the $500, they'll have to provide evidence. And if so, then you'd need to file suit against the buyer.

 

[IEC]

I closed my Ebay account 1.5 years ago. It may be time for me to close PayPal as well...

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: bamacre
Shawn, what was the total amount of money the car sold for, including the deposit?

Has the buyer told you that the $500 never went back to him? And PayPal is telling you that it has?

The total was $3550. Buyer paid $3050 in cash. The buyer claims that the $500 never went back to him which means paypal still has it.

And have you relayed to PP his claim that he never got the $500 back?

First thing you gotta do is find out for sure who has the $500. And if both keep saying that they don't have it, I would file a small claims suit against PayPal, if you can do so in FL.

I'm reading through this now...
http://www.screw-paypal.com/resources/florida.html

If PayPal doesn't have the $500, they'll have to provide evidence. And if so, then you'd need to file suit against the buyer.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. To be honest I have no idea who has the money, but at the moment I'm more inclined to believe the buyer.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Shawn
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. To be honest I have no idea who has the money, but at the moment I'm more inclined to believe the buyer.

Yeah, me too, considering that he showed up and gave you $3K in cash.

Consumer Affairs (searched for paypal)

Google search

Good luck! Keep us updated. I've been thinking about dropping PayPal myself, or moving away from it as much as possible at least.

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: legoman666
This is why I immediately withdraw any funds I have in PayPal. I got screwed out of $120 once and I learned my lesson.

I did that and I got burned worse.

Seller was pleased and happy with his merchandise. A few months later he claims he never got it. The paypal dispute was worthless and they rewarded him back his $400. Problem was, I had already moved and spent the funds. I had an attached bank account so I could direct deposit funds into my checkbook. Since my Paypal account was empty, they withdrew the funds from my bank account. My checkbook only had about $200 in it, so the transaction took me into overdraft ($35 charge). I didn't know about this until a day later, and I made about 10 purchases which were all overdrafts as well ($35 each). So, $400 lost due to the refund. $400 lost due to overdrafts. The bank gave me back all but the first overdraft charge as a courtesy, but still.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Leros

Originally posted by: legoman666
This is why I immediately withdraw any funds I have in PayPal. I got screwed out of $120 once and I learned my lesson.

I did that and I got burned worse.

Seller was pleased and happy with his merchandise. A few months later he claims he never got it. The paypal dispute was worthless and they rewarded him back his $400. Problem was, I had already moved and spent the funds. I had an attached bank account so I could direct deposit funds into my checkbook. Since my Paypal account was empty, they withdrew the funds from my bank account. My checkbook only had about $200 in it, so the transaction took me into overdraft ($35 charge). I didn't know about this until a day later, and I made about 10 purchases which were all overdrafts as well ($35 each). So, $400 lost due to the refund. $400 lost due to overdrafts. The bank gave me back all but the first overdraft charge as a courtesy, but still.

I wonder what happens if you tell your bank that you didn't authorize the $400 taken by PP, and demand it be taken back.

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Leros

Originally posted by: legoman666
This is why I immediately withdraw any funds I have in PayPal. I got screwed out of $120 once and I learned my lesson.

I did that and I got burned worse.

Seller was pleased and happy with his merchandise. A few months later he claims he never got it. The paypal dispute was worthless and they rewarded him back his $400. Problem was, I had already moved and spent the funds. I had an attached bank account so I could direct deposit funds into my checkbook. Since my Paypal account was empty, they withdrew the funds from my bank account. My checkbook only had about $200 in it, so the transaction took me into overdraft ($35 charge). I didn't know about this until a day later, and I made about 10 purchases which were all overdrafts as well ($35 each). So, $400 lost due to the refund. $400 lost due to overdrafts. The bank gave me back all but the first overdraft charge as a courtesy, but still.

I wonder what happens if you tell your bank that you didn't authorize the $400 taken by PP, and demand it be taken back.

I'm sure I authorized it when I agreed to PayPal's user agreement.

 

[jpeyton]

If the transaction gets reversed, have the guy send you a money order.

If it doesn't get reversed, withdraw it through PayPal.

 

[frostedflakes]

Wow, this is pretty messed up. I hadn't heard about PayPal being able to put a hold on funds at their own discretion, but sounds like it's a pretty common thing. Kind of messed up, but at least know that it should be released eventually (sounds like they hold for a few weeks max). It's probably because his account is new, maybe they're waiting to make sure everything clears, he might have been paying with an EFT.

As per usual eBay/PayPal policy, favor buyers and fuck over the sellers. Instead of making buyers wait a week or two to verify their info, let them create an account and get their goods immediately, and just hold the seller's money.

 

[AlienCraft]

Paypal sucks since 2004.
Providing criminal access to your money since day 1 !!

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Wow, this is pretty messed up. I hadn't heard about PayPal being able to put a hold on funds at their own discretion, but sounds like it's a pretty common thing. Kind of messed up, but at least know that it should be released eventually (sounds like they hold for a few weeks max). It's probably because his account is new, maybe they're waiting to make sure everything clears, he might have been paying with an EFT.

As per usual eBay/PayPal policy, favor buyers and fuck over the sellers. Instead of making buyers wait a week or two to verify their info, let them create an account and get their goods immediately, and just hold the seller's money.

I believe Paypal has lost two lawsuits around their shady money-holding practices.

 

[Shawn]

Paypal finally refunded the buyer his money. So now I have to hope that he'll send it to me seeing as he now has the car.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: Xylitol

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: minendo
Probably a Sprite drinker. Sierra Mist pwns j00.

go troll elsewhere

forum administrator

lmao