posted on September 7, 2000 11:23:01 PM
We just had another customer send a payment to the wrong address.
According to her, she attempted to send the payment to our address and it was rejected so she altered the address slightly and the transaction went through. The problem is that the transaction went through to someone else. THIS IS GETTING FRUSTRATING!!
Isn't there some way that you can make this process foolproof?
My wife is threatening to quit using PayPal because of all the problems we have had with it. We are LOOSING SALES becaue of this problem and PayPals lack of quality customer service.
Why is it PayPal's fault that a buyer types the wrong sellers address?
What could they possibly do that would prevent anyone from making typos?
I have found their system flawless and their customer service outstanding, when it is used properly. But then I didn't start using them extensively and heavily until early last February.[s] I have called customer service twice for clarifications, and found them to be very efficient and helpful.
posted on September 8, 2000 07:06:26 AM
I really would be nice if PayPal would provide a link to a payment page with our correct e-mail addresses already filled out.
We could put this code in our EOAs and all that our buyers would have to do is click on the link and fill out the rest of the information.
It sure would cut down on the e-mail address problems.
posted on September 8, 2000 07:07:50 AM
I have come to the conclusion that Paypal's customer service must be better over the phone than via email. All I could ever got from email was nonsense answers and a lot of different people not understanding clearly typed emails. They also send back basic instructions after I have told them in email that I already tried that.
I have not had occasion to call yet, but if I should have another problem, I will try calling instead of emailing.
That being said, their system is far from flawless. It does work ok most of the time, and would most likely appear to be flawless if one doesn't have an email address that is easy to mess up. I have one customer that sent money to a non-existant email address and it went through as claimed anyway. As far as I know she never got it back. That is not right. I never got the money, she never got her item and is still out the money.
I particularly tell people to please cut and paste the email address from our EOA email to avoid this and it still happens consistantly.
Anyhow, enough griping. This has been my experience, your milage may vary.
posted on September 8, 2000 07:20:10 AM
Here is a possible "fix" for the "sending money to the wrong PayPal account" problem:
When the user sends money to another user, he/she has to verify by clicking "Send Money". On this screen, PayPal could list both the email address and the first and last names of the recipient (or the name of the company for a business account). That way the sender could verifiy that they are indeed sending the money into the correct account. This would not be a security concern for the recipient because the same information will show up on the transaction in the sender's History tab.
Right now, the verification screen shows the recipient's email address only. Why?
I'm sure there are other (and maybe better) solutions as well.
posted on September 8, 2000 08:08:50 AM
Whatever happened to the copy and paste days??? I believe I prefer to copy and paste the Email address of recipient, rather than to give yet another company my Ebay ID and password{?}, just for the convenience of a "link" between PayPal and Ebay...By filling page out, one has more control. But with it comes just a tiny little bit of effort: either know (minimally}, how to use a computer and and keyboard or learn to copy and paste...A very small investment for such a great reward...JMHO...
********************
Shosh http://www.oldandsold.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?justdisp&Rifkah
posted on September 8, 2000 08:20:04 AM
Why blame paypal. If one is dumb enough to alter someones email thinking it'll get to them doesn't have it together.
Do you have unusual characters in your email address that some folks would have a problem with it.
Perhaps with each email you send them is state clearly our email address is written like this i.e. lets say
by saying PAY ATTENTION TO THE underscore in our email address and the 1 is a # one not an l, letter L.
If you have unusual characters they may be getting confused.
It's not your fault if they can't send you money properly and dropping out of paypal you'll still lose out so I say stick with it and if necessary teach these folks how to send you money even if it means you send them a payment request thru paypal. Some folks need that sent to them to do it right.
posted on September 8, 2000 08:27:08 AM
I've been on paypal a while now and haven't had any problems with it. Did email them a couple times for clarification and got decent responses. I did have a lady once pay me three times and I never got the money. Found out it was in limbo because she typed it wrong. She wanted me to give her money I did not get. I had to walk her thru on how to contact paypal and get her money back which she did. I have found that a very large majority of paypal customers both sellers and buyers sign up and don't read anything about it and how it functions. Power sellers in particular are bad for it all they want is the money but I have been slowly convincing them to really learn paypal and it will be their friend and help them make alot of money. Most times I have found that loss of money on the internet is because of ignorance. Ignorance in not taking the time to learn a new system and how it operates and than when something goes wrong we tend to blame the business we are dealing with. We have to make a point to educate ourselves of the in's and out's of places like paypal if we want to use it effectively.
I wouldn't call these people dumb. They just, obviously, aren't paying attention to spelling (or in this case are making assumptions).
This person actually sent to our Ebay id which is similar but not the same as our email address. I belive the problem with this transaction as been straitened out now.
Our email address is just easy to mis-spell, I guess.
This problem would be easy to fix if PayPal would use some of the suggestions people on this board have been making.
posted on September 8, 2000 10:51:43 AMWhy is it PayPal's fault that a buyer types the wrong sellers address?
Because they set up a payment system which requires extraordinary attention to detail.
What could they possibly do that would prevent anyone from making typos?
For payment on auctions, they could have a form which begins "enter the auction number you are paying for". It then extracts, from the auction, the title (for confirmation), and the seller's email address. The form shows the bid amount, has a place to enter shipping, adds it all up on a form with all the information asking for final approval, and then sends it off.
If this seller has already paid for that auction, the form refuses to continue. If this buyer did not win that auction, the form refuses to continue. (the old error-prone method would remain to allow unusual kinds of payments)
Note that never in this story did buyer have to get seller's email address right. Mistakes of the kind described in this thread would disappear completely.
PayPal knows how to do this very well, but it does not fit their agenda.
