For all of you that use paypal be careful. I just got scammed out of $147.50 through Paypal.

Story is basically, somebody buys something on eBay from me. Pays for item on 10/21/02 via Paypal, gets item on 11/07/02. Informed him of the delay, he was fine with it. On 11/07/02 he files a chargeback with his credit card company after he gets the item. Claims I never sent it even though I have the tracking numbers to prove it. Paypal did not inform me of this until 11/21/02 at which point they simply took the money out of my account. I'm shocked because I had no idea somebody filed a chargeback. I appealed the chargeback with paypal because obviously I had proof everything shipped. They denied my appeal because I did not respond to the chargeback within 24 hours of the day it was filed, 11/07/02.

Of course since I had no idea of the chargeback, how was I supposed to appeal it. I call Paypal up and the customer service agent told me that I was correct, they never sent the email on 11/07/02 as they should have under their own user agreement. I refile my appeal. It gets denied again, and again, and again. I sent 8 emails to the chargeback department at Paypal and so far, 7 different people have responded to it. None of them has communicated with any of the others so I get the same answer which is basically "too bad." I tried explaining that Paypal violated their own agreement, but this point gets ignored.

A few days ago, I thought I was getting somewhere when the person responding to my emails actually started paying attention to what I was saying. But today I got another form letter from them rejecting my appeal. They keep telling me to collect my money from the buyer. And of course he's not returning any calls or emails.

So those of you who send a lot of money through Paypal be careful. They used to be decent, but ever since eBay bought them out, they have been an absolute nightmare to deal with.

And if never, ever do business with this guy.

Mohammed Elagamy
500 W. Pinhook Rd.
Lafayette, LA 70503

vtec93@***-internet.com

For the record, he filed the chargeback on 11/07 and on 11/11 and 11/12, we were still communicating via email because at that point I had no idea of the chargeback and he had some general questions. On 11/21/02, I found out about it, and this guy is nowhere to be found.

 

I got a charge back on Paypal from something I sold before. They sent me a warning about it, then completely ignored my response, and have continued to ignore my emails for a year now. I'll never use Paypal again...

 

I wish I could stop using it, but my customers insist on it. I'd give up like 30% of my business if I didn't take it unfortunately.

Ever since eBay bought them, here is what has happened to me.

Obviously this incident. But 2 months ago, I had 2 paypal accounts restricted and therefore unusable. Here's the story on those too.

1.) Back in April, somebody bought some diamond plate mats from us and payed paypal. We sent her Eclipse mats and she had a Miata so that's totally our fault. She didn't find out until 6 weeks later because she hadn't tried fitting them. First thing she does is file a Paypal complaint against us before contacting us. She then contacted us and we swapped the mats out and she's very happy. The Paypal complaint was closed on it's own because Paypal at the time automatically closed all cases where it had been over 30 days since payment. They sent me an email stating this case has been resolved to our satisfaction, or something like that.

All of a sudden in September, I get an email from Paypal stating that the case had been reopened and unless I could prove that she had received her mats, I couldn't unlock my account. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the tracking numbers from back then, it's been 6 months. I called them and they said the only way to open the account again otherwise is to refund her the $140, obviously I'm not going to do this because the customer had her product and everything. I tried calling this customer, but the phone is no longer hers as it's been so long.

2.) Same week, my other paypal account gets locked down over $9.00 Punk kid got his decals, files a complaint, which I can't figure out why. Paypal locks down the account because I have no tracking number. I call them, customer service guy says, "I understand that nobody uses a tracking number for an $8.00 item but I can't do anything unless you refund the buyer his money." I haven't done this yet. It's only $9.00, but it's the principle of the whole thing. If I refund the money, kid gets his decals and money.

 

I also lost money from paypal. Bought something from another org member (pimpedoutmax97 aka kyle7475). Never got the item, put in a dispute. They basically said they couldn't recovered the money so I'm out of luck. They suck big time.

 

It's funny how both buyers and sellers keep getting screwed by Paypal. Supposedly they're tough about fraud, but their actions don't seem to have any effect.

 

www.paypalsucks.com

more horror sotries - alot of people know about my whole issues last summer with them and the MEVI's - so I'm not going to even go into it - story be told, I almost lost $4,000 to those bastards.

 

I'm sure there are many people on this board that have never had anything go wrong with PayPal. I unfortunately am not one of those people. I had the same thing happen to me. I shipped my stock Y-Pipe to some idiot. Days later, the idiot files a chargeback. Of course, the rest is history. I no longer use PayPal.

 

I lost $20, when buying SDRAM. Never got it back. Paypal does suck, and I dont know why I still use it.

 

I haven't had any bad experiences with PayPal...yet...

It's sucks that I fully expect them to screw me at some point.



This is a good market where a little competition would help everyone.

 

I am in the same boat with Shadow, if I give up Paypal I will lose alot of my business. I still try to operate in the "good faith" theory and hope nothing goes wrong.

I havent had anything major happen to me....yet, but Im just trying to think positive and hope it wont. I have had several transactions where people sent amounts ranging from $500- $3000, I just immediately go to the ATM and withdraw my daily limit until it is all out. I mainly do this for the simple reason of Paypal not being insured. If they lose your money....simply put....your beat.

--Don

 

In all fairness to pimpedoutmax97, I just purchased a sunroof gaurd from him and that transaction went well.

 

In all fairness this is your first post.
In all fairness, he ripped me off and another member.
1 out of 3 is not something you want to brag about.

 

It sure isn't...but I told him I would leave him some feedback anyway for the good transaction he DID have. and it's not my first post but i'm glad you seem to care anyway

 

Not sure if anyone will actually read this but I figured I would share my paypal nightmare.

One day I recieved a string of emails from paypal that basically someone added an email account, changed their email address to the primary address, changed my password questions, and basically locked me out. Fortunately I had this account tied to my primary email account that I check several times a day.

I called up paypay and was like WTF?!

The searched for any transactions and found that this guy with a generic German email address hacked into my account and sent a credit card payment for 2.4K to some guy selling computers.

I wound up cancelling my credit card and getting all of the charges reversed. Was a major pain in the rear and I will never have an account with them again.

 

THe best solution is to find about 10-20 users who were scammed, Make sure the value is in the 5 figures and get a civil suit filed against Paypal.

 

[I call Paypal up and the customer service agent told me that I was correct, they never sent the email on 11/07/02 as they should have under their own user agreement. I refile my appeal.

Hey Jeff, could you give me paypals phone number so i can call them about my girlfriend getting scamed.

thanks
Brandon

 

I have never been scammed by PayPal. I'm in the same boat as mzmtg.

Anyway,

IMO it seems that Paypal is more on the BUYER's side than the seller's side. I had a bad transaction with trinity000 (he still posts) because he told me he would send my sunroof deflector before he went to France for a week, but he never did. During his trip I left him 2 or 3 messages and he never responded. Anyway, I filed a complaint a week after he arrived back from France and I got the money in less than 1 day.

I was very surprised that I got it that easily; have you seen the message they give to the seller? Basically its: send proof of shipment or we'll take the money from your bank account or credit card.

To Shadow, I think that's why that punk kid got $9 from you. He was being smart about it and knew you couldn't do anything.

I like the convenience of PayPal, and I've kinda ignorned the "why paypal sucks" reports, but after reading this thread I'm gonna be much more careful about transactions. BUt on the other hand....money orders suck even more...argh!!

anyway, does anyone have opinions on Paypal's "money back" guarantee fee? I've seen that new feature recently..

 

Ugh...those bastards! Same thing happened to me...I was selling a cell phone. The guy who bought it claims I never sent it and files a chargeback with his credit card company and paypal gives it back no questions asked!!! from my account!! I no longer can use paypayl and have to do EVERYTHING by money order...and nevermind trying to talk to paypal they always treat you like a criminal as long as you're selling something.

 

yea i had some 2 bad chargebacks....but what i've noticed is that everytime some pays u...'withdraw' that money ASAP just in case there is a chargeback afterwards they can pull funds out I now mostly ask people for United States Postal Money Order which convienent b/c you can cash it when your mailing the item out @ the post office

 

Withdrawing doesn't happen immediately, it take up to 7 days.

And they can stop a withdrawal mid-process, no problem.

happened to me.

 

That's where you guys are both wrong. USPS Money order is the worst way to do business. I got scammed $200 because a guy basically made a deal with me online, asked for a money order, and never sent the item. I tried to file a claim but the post office simply told me they couldn't get the money back. It took me persistent calling/messaging to get him to refund the money. Someone I knew actually found the guy's phone number in an online listing, and that's how I got contract. And also, he lived in Canada and I guess through the Autopia forums, I had some good connections with people who were willing to drive down to his place to ask for money. If you can tell, I had to go to a far extent to get my money back.

UGH...I will never send a money order again.

 

This is NOT true, I take the money out with minutes, or hours of the transaction.

--Don

 

Yes, it is true....

I had $200 sent to me for one transaction, and had withdrawn it 2 days bfore, still waiting for it to complete, and because I had $2000 from MEVI deals going, they got suspicious and they locked my account - even the $200 that was pending.

It even says so in their user agreement "Will take 3-5 days to process"

IanS

 

Being that you disagree with me.... maybe you can explain then for the past year or so I was able to instantly withdraw my money within minutes if I chose?

--Don

BTW...copied from my Paypal: Get cash out of an ATM Instant $1.00, this was in the fees category you may verify for yourself if still in doubt.

 

Hmmm....possibly it's something I wasn't aware of - I'll check that out.

All I know is that when withdrawing into my bank account, it takes somewhere between 4-7 days.

IanS

 

You should check out www.paypalsucks.com

 

Hey guys, on a related note, somebody just contacted me who got screwed by this guy through Paypal also. Same situation, eBay purchase, he sent the item, the scammer even left positive feedback, then 6 weeks later, he claims fraud and paypal refunds him the money. right now the seller is disputing with Paypal, but they're giving him the same lines they gave me.

Is there anything we can do about this scammer? I'm not sure who to report him to or anything. Especially now that I wasn't just the isolated incident anymore.

 

I thought Paypal refunds were only good up to 30 days.

--Don

 

there are a couple things you can do

1. email aristro@cableone.net These guys are private invetigators and they will get your money back!!

2. when www.auctionblacklist.com comes back online make a post on him.

3. check out www.badbusinessbureau.com before doing business with an online company