posted on February 17, 2001 08:35:32 PM
Anybody else have this problem??????? I just went through my auctions that ended 2 weeks ago. 6 of them, I havent' heard a thing from the buyer. 4 of those sent paypal payments, and then when I emailed them, telling them I don't take paypal, I never heard another thing from them!!! My TOS CLEARLY state, "I accept money orders or cashier's checks." Do buyers honestly think that if I don't take paypal, I won't do anything??????? I lose money when they don't pay, unless I file a NPB and get my credit. and YES, I will NEG them!!!!!!
Of course, 3 of them had ratings of 4 or less. But, what really irks me is, one of the deadbeats emailed me & wanted me to give him a quote on all my stuff. He wanted to buy all the stuff I had listed that week. Boy, am I glad I didn't!!!!!!!!!
posted on February 17, 2001 09:17:59 PM
Official rules are that if you have an item up for auction and your high bidder prefers paypal, which you don't take, then they don't have to pay for the item.
posted on February 17, 2001 09:18:10 PM
I don't have this problem because I offer many choices of payment acceptance to make it convenient for my customers to pay me. If you don't accept PayPal, how about BillPoint? As a new seller, I only chose to accept money orders & cashiers check. Now, as I am becoming an experienced seller, I accept all forms of payments and haven't had any problems ... even personal checks. Not one has bounced (pure luck??).
But certainly as a buyer, I do love PayPal. It's quick, painless and I get my item faster!
posted on February 17, 2001 10:00:24 PM
I've been here before. One bidder literally told me they would pay by paypal or couldn't pay. I said no and referred them to my TOS. Then they gave some whiney-A**D story about some relative being in the hospital, etc.. Then they started asking if the book had tobacco smoke on it. Had to be smoke free! Duh, didn't ask this while bidding. This person had a history of this, by their feedback - a real prima-donna. Woman wrote soft core porn novels and had her own web site. Also gave retaliatory negs.. "The-Public" - go figure...
posted on February 17, 2001 10:16:32 PM
I know this is probably a dumb question, but isn't there some type of legal problem with Paypal accepting money (even if they just hold it in limbo) for someone who is not a Paypal member? Isn't this sorta like taking money under false pretenses (even though they say they don't use the money, there is such a thing as "float" )?
Surely, they have some way of identifying members when they receive money, or maybe not, might make too much sense.
posted on February 18, 2001 03:41:21 AM
Tell your people who want to pay with PayPal to just hurry on over to Energy Flow and they can pay you with their PayPal money there (I think only if they have money in their account). If they just want to use their credit card, tell them to pay you through BidPay and they can use their card (but they are gonna pay for it).
I wondered that too about PayPal. How can they just take someone's money, not even knowing if they can complete the transaction? I quit taking it back in October when they stopped mailing checks to PO Boxes and just last week someone sent me PayPal money. Now I took my Ebay email address off of PayPal and replaced it with one no one knows so I got the message that I had cash and I should sign up with PayPal so I could get it! You are right about the float - PayPal makes money while that $$ sits there in limbo.
posted on February 18, 2001 06:34:37 AM
PayPal doesn't actually "take" the money when someone sends payment to an address that doesn't match a PayPal account. The transaction remains "Pending" until the recipient accepts it, or the sender cancels it. Any time the sender chooses to do so, he can cancel the transaction and send payment in another form. OTOH, when you send money to an address that matches a PayPal account that money is GONE, and you can't reclaim it.
Don't ask me why bidders don't read, but there seem to be more and more problems with buyers trying to ignore TOS, misreading amounts due, etc. Maybe we got a huge crop of newbies with all the new puters that people got for Christmas???
always pickersangel everywhere http://homepage.netspaceonline.com/~twobar/pickers.htm
posted on February 22, 2001 05:07:57 PM
<I>I don't have this problem because I offer many choices of payment acceptance to make it convenient for my customers to pay me.</I>
I bet you sell more and at a higher price too - I have won a few auctions where the total including shipping was less than $20.00 and was expected to get a money order or cashiers check - it was my fault for not noticing the terms, but as CC's usually cost five or ten bucks (does anyone ever receieve these?) and MO's are a nusiance to go fetch - at least for some of us - I just sent cash.
Now, I am more careful and do not bid on auctions unless they offer some easier payment method and as a result, some sellers of things I would buy are not getting as high a price as they might.
posted on February 22, 2001 05:11:24 PM
ARGH! - My attempt at HTML Italics failed - it has been about four years since I wrote any HTML code - could someone give my a clue as to where I went wrong?
posted on February 22, 2001 05:21:17 PM
What really burns me is the people that send PayPal payments without asking first. I do not accept PayPal at my main email address and I have my reasons for doing it.
Some people send payment to that address anyway and refuse to cancel and resend. One even said that if we don't accept payment at that address then we must refund her money using paypal and refuses to cancel the payment.
This has got to stop!
Damon, if you are reading this, you have one P****d customer who will do everything in his power to stop this from happening.
There should be a law against this intrusion by PayPal into the business of others. Make it so people can only send to registered users using a registered email address!
I'm tired of customers forcing me to change my email address on my account to accept their payments.
posted on February 22, 2001 05:36:05 PM
Hi JimFouch,
I have no idea how to do HTML either. Just about every time I try, I mess up bigtime ... that is with the exception of the [ url ] website here [ /url ] ~ to enable, just remove spaces.
I just want to follow up on you quoting me. As for selling more at higher prices, I not sure if that applies to me. Honestly, I may not be the greatest salesperson here, but I do know what I like as a customer. Fair prices, GOOD service, no outrageous shipping / handling and most of all, convenience. Therefore, that is EXACTLY what I give them. I hope to draw in business with that .... so far it's working out well and I'm making money doing it.
posted on February 22, 2001 05:44:33 PM
JimFouch- This site uses ubb, for italics [*i]word[*/i] just remove the stars. Same for bold but with a b instead.
Yes,I might be able to get more money for my items if I took paypal, but, I rather HAVE the money, than give it too paypal. First, I do not agree with paypal's methods of doing business, and second, I don't like possibility of my account being locked up, and then I can't get to my money. If someone really wants something, they can get a money order for it. At a grocery store, bank, post office, heck, most of the convenience stores sell them in my city, for a fee of around a buck.
posted on February 22, 2001 05:56:51 PM
Where I live the grocery stores sell money orders for 25 cents! I just thought it was that way all over the U.S.
As an FYI...the payment is the property of the sender until the payment is claimed by the recipient. Users can send money to any email address and they can also reverse the payment (provided you have not claimed it in an active account.)The service is acting as a processing venue on behalf of the sender.
No payments are accepted on your behalf unless you have an account.
posted on February 23, 2001 04:32:48 AMavmom - december3 - Thanks for the tips on the ubb markup code.
avmom - Follow the Golden Rule, make some money, have some fun - makes sense to be - a little accounting, or at least organization, should help too - glad to hear it is working out for you.
cindy - I don't blame you for not taking PayPal - after I reached the $250.00 limited that they allow before becoming 'verified' I stopped using it as a buyer - I think they want to become a bank without meeting any of the banking regulations.
If someone really wants something, they can get a money order for it. -
Yes, they can - and some people will, but others won't even bid. This philosophy certainly won't maximize your income but it is your money and you are entitled to receive it in the form that you prefer.
As a buyer, I am going to bid on the auctions where the terms and conditions make it easiest for me, so I won't be bidding on yours - although unless you sell diecast model cars it is a moot point {smile}.
I might note that although it does not happen very often that Money Orders can be charged back by a bank. There is a thread here about that and I know of two such cases from friends of mine in non-eBay sales. One was for four Rolls Royce hubcaps and the other for a lot of computer equipment and the amounts were large enough to buy more than just a little red wine and pasta.
sharkbaby - I know one grocery store that I go to does not sell them - I am not sure about the other one, but in the pat 30 years I have never seen any indication that they sell M.O.'s. I am sure that there are a number of places in Southern California that do sell them, but as I have never had the need to purchase one I don't know where they are except for the Post Office of course - a place I try to avoid
Cheers, Jim
All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegcaps awound?
posted on February 23, 2001 05:05:58 AM
Paypaldamon .. I guess the thing that upsets me most (as a former PayPal customer who can no longer use the service) is that there is a delay in payment when buyers try to send me money by PayPal. If the email they enter is NOT on the account (I changed my email address on my account that I can't close to one no one knows) PayPal should simply state not a valid PayPal account email and end it! No, they send me an email you've got cash and then I have to email the buyer back stating I don't take PayPal. Poof - payment is delayed. Most of this happens because buyers are NOT reading the auction payment terms - they are just assuming and we all know what happens when you do that! However I think PayPal could control this with an immediate stop when the buyer enters an email that is NOT recognized by PayPal.
posted on February 23, 2001 06:28:51 AM
My biggest problem with this whole thing, is that people are not reading my TOS. My TOS of service states I accept money orders and cashier's checks.
My end of auction letter states: congratulations, you are the winning bidder....blah blah; for a total amount of $XX.XX. Please send a money order or cashier's check to:
my address.
Pretty cut and dry, isn't it? Yet, I still get paypal notices that I've got $$. THEN, 75% of those people are the ones who end up not paying at all. The issue for me is not whether or not I should take paypal, but why, if it is clearly stated, people end up as deadbeats, simply because they don't read.
posted on February 23, 2001 09:27:43 PM
paypaldamon
That doesn't cut it! You need to make it so people can't send a payment to a non-registered email address. You are currently encouraging inconsiderate behavior on the part of the buyer and that is not acceptable.
I believe that these unwanted email payments are called spam.
posted on February 24, 2001 03:29:27 AM
The other thing is that when the buyer tries to send money to a seller by PayPal and it appears that everything went through okay, it makes them think that the seller accepts PayPal, which may not be true! Just curious - what would happen if a buyer sent money through PayPal to a seller who doesn't take PayPal and the seller didn't see the email "you've got cash"? I know I get so many emails every day it could be possible to miss it! Would this transaction just sit in limbo - the buyer thinking the seller was a deadbeat and the seller thinking the buyer was the same? I usually wait 10 days after my EOA emails to contact my buyers - that means my payment would be delayed by 10 days because of something PayPal could avoid.
posted on February 24, 2001 06:35:51 AM
I will take payment in most any form (Paypal, Billpoint, cash, MO, Checks, Stamps, etc.). I do not want a person to have a reason not to bid on my auction. Now bid and send me money!!!
posted on February 24, 2001 06:57:47 AM"Just curious - what would happen if a buyer sent money through PayPal to a seller who doesn't take PayPal and the seller didn't see the email "you've got cash"? I know I get so many emails every day it could be possible to miss it! Would this transaction just sit in limbo - the buyer thinking the seller was a deadbeat and the seller thinking the buyer was the same?"
Part of the problem here is that everyone is transferring the blame from the guilty party (the buyer) to PayPal. A buyer who misuses PayPal's service to pay an unwilling seller is to blame if he doesn't get his merchandise in a timely manner, not PayPal. As far as these transactions sitting in "limbo", they continue show as "Pending" in the buyer's account history. However, I've noticed that many buyers don't understand how easy it is to check to see if the seller actually RECEIVED the payment, and they assume that because they point and click away, the money gets there and are then upset with the seller for not shipping. The seller then gets upset with PayPal, rather than with the buyer who initiated the problem in the first place.
always pickersangel everywhere http://homepage.netspaceonline.com/~twobar/pickers.htm
posted on February 24, 2001 08:23:11 AM
Had a buyer just this week that argued with me about me not taking pay pal for 10 days, and then went totally ballistic when he got a NBP alert from ebay. Oh well....
posted on February 24, 2001 08:53:04 AM
I had a buyer who insisted on Paypal. I don't take Paypal and told him so. He said then the only way he would pay any other way was if I shipped him the item first. We never completed the transaction.
posted on February 24, 2001 09:25:21 AM
I think it is unreasonable of you to only accept money orders and cashiers checks.
You don't have to take paypal, but you should offer some reasonable alternative (Billpoint, Yahoo PayDirect, or your own metrchant account). Only accepting payments by mail is not a reasonable alternative.
If you insist then you should put the fact in Very large font, and cleary state that these are the ONLY forms of payment accepted.
Simply stating the you accept money orders and cashiers checks, doesn't make any statement about the other commonplace options.
posted on February 24, 2001 10:12:09 AM
For me, any online payment service that has to be tranferred to my checking account won't work, as my credit union won't accept any electronic transfers other than a SS check or your paycheck. That's why I liked PayPal - I could request a check to be mailed to me, and it worked just fine until they changed the rules again. In a way this is direct discrimination against people who only get their mail at a PO Box!
Bidders should NEVER ASSUME sellers take some sort of online auction payment service. READ ... READ ... READ. In my opinion, it is downright RUDE for a buyer to pay with PayPal unless they see the PayPal logo and that information ON THE AUCTION or in the seller's EOA Email.
posted on February 24, 2001 10:30:39 AM
I have had the paypal experience twice. I have never used paypal and don't intend to. But twice I have been notified that I had been paid at paypal. The last one waited 12 days after the auction to even pay paypal. I just am not going to jump through the hoops required to get my money. Wonder how the buyer would like it if I emailed "I shipped your item to (any) place. You can go over there and pick it up!" I personally feel like it should be a felony for Paypal to accept money on my behalf.
posted on February 24, 2001 12:17:25 PM
Why aren't some posters advocating that the USPS open all letters to assertain that they are being sent to the correct address? Pay-pal is NOT accepting money on your behalf, they are only forwarding it for the buyer. Until you recieve/accept it it is still the buyers money. It is no different than if the buyer sends a money order or check to the wrong address, the BUYERS money is lost, not yours. The primary difference is that pay-pal at least lets you know it was sent, and were. It also provides a way for the buyer to get retract/fix it quickly.
Yes. Pay-pal does promote sending money to people thru thier service (most companies promote there service/product) but it is the buyer that is imposing on you and violating your TOS not pay-pal.
Edited to fix some of my poor spelling
[ edited by pizzatigger on Feb 24, 2001 12:21 PM ]
posted on February 24, 2001 12:24:22 PM I personally feel like it should be a felony for Paypal to accept money on my behalf.
?! You've got to be kidding. Many paranoid sellers accept USPS Money Orders only, by your reasoning Western Union would be guilty of a felony if they sold a buyer a money order to pay a seller that accepts USPS Money Orders only.
PayPal, PayDirect, eMoneyMail, eCount, C2it, MoneyZip, etc. all allow users to send money to a person even if they don't have an account. THESE SERVICES DON'T HAVE YOUR MONEY, THEY HAVE THE BUYERS MONEY, AND IT WILL REMAIN THE BUYERS MONEY UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT.
