posted on February 22, 2001 01:46:05 PM
I AM TOTALLY PISSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had a problem which I posted here on AuctionWatch about a bidde who's BidPay money order was never recieved. Anyway, what happened there is that I never recieved a confirmation and did not notice he paid until he told me he did. So, I never sent his item. I checked the account and sure enough he paid, but I never recieved the money order so he has been trying to track his money order for over a month with BidPay, as have I but they wont respond to either of us. Anyway, after my complaint I posted here on AW a BidPay rep here told me to write in a complaint to BidPay and I did. I checked my account and records and realized that I DID NOT RECIEVE A FEW MONEY ORDERS!
Right when I got the confirmations I sent items like I do with PayPal or BillPoint. Well, one of my items went for $455 and I don't have record of ever recieving it!!! I never checked this before because I just went with the confirmation I recieved and sent the item. I recieved money orders all the time from BidPay so I trusted they were reliable!
Anyway, I am not trying to stir up a problem or get a bunch of sellers worried, I just think everyone should log in to their BidPay account (if they are registered) and check if they have ever recieved their money. I really hope I am wrong and that there is a good explanation for all this. I am checking through my payments just to make sure I did not put them away somewhere but how could that possibly happen only to BidPay payments? I keep good records and have never made a mistake like that before!!!
[ edited by digitalmaster on Feb 22, 2001 02:00 PM ]
posted on February 22, 2001 02:38:45 PM
While I know you are recommended to ship once the 2nd confirmation comes in, I usually wait until the money order arrives and is in my little hands to ship. All of my buyers have been very understanding with this - mail DOES go astray we all know..
posted on February 22, 2001 03:23:41 PM
Ouch. After the recent SNAFU's with my BidPay account, I'm no longer going to encourage the use of BidPay, or ship until the MO is in my hands.
posted on February 22, 2001 09:15:05 PM
I just recently had a buyer pay me $368 with Bid Pay. I received the 1st email from Bid Pay on Friday at 1:30 p.m. I received the 2nd confirmation email from Bid Pay on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. I received yet another email from Bid Pay 12 hours after the 2nd confirmation email notifying me that the money order was cancelled at the buyers request. Lucky for me, this happened on a Saturday. If this had happened on a weekday, I would have already shipped the item and been up a creek without a paddle. Their web site indicates that it is safe to ship after you receive the 2nd confirmation email from them that the money order purchase is approved. The 2nd confirmation email also states this as well. I contacted Bid Pay and just got the run around from them. All they wanted to tell me is how wonderful they are. I did finally get a direct answer from them after many, many emails as to when the buyer can no longer cancel a money order. Their answer: wait 12 hours after the 2nd confirmation email?!??!?! I'm beginning to think that we are not safe using any of these on line payment services.
posted on February 22, 2001 09:26:39 PM
I just had a buyer pay me tonight through Bidpay for a $200+ item. She's a return customer who used Bidpay twice previously with me, and I have a feeling she uses it for a lot of her purchases. I told her I wouldn't be able to ship until I had the money order in hand because of these recent problems, and directed her to this forum so she could see what the fuss was all about.
posted on February 22, 2001 09:50:40 PM
I remember a thread from a few months back in the Payment threaded boards on eBay.
The seller said that he had shipped an item after the second confirmation email from BidPay & that the MO was then cancelled by the high bidder.
We all thought he was nuts, guess not?
I'm sorry, did I mention this on another BidPay thread already?
It's Marek from BidPay... came to AW for a snoop and found all this. What is interesting is that even though there are 4-5 threads running, it actually the same 4-5 people in all of them...
Ah well...
Confirmations. Let me state clearly. PLEASE READ.
In the last 12 months, we issued just slightly under $250 million (yes, that is one-quarter-of-a-billion-dollars) in payments to our more than 600,000 registered sellers.
NOT ONE SINGLE CHARGE BACK! NOT ONE!
NO FEE'S "OF ANY KIND" TO THE SELLER!
We have "NEVER" left a seller in the cold.
EVER, EVER... ever.
Let me be very clear about our payment processes so there is NO MISUNDERSTANDING.
We print and process our payments four times a day at two plants (one in New York and the other in Florida) Monday to Friday.
We DO NOT print Saturday or Sunday for obvious reasons as the payments wouldn't go anywhere anyway.
An order is placed. Email one goes out.
An order is approved. Email two goes out.
In between that second email going out confirming the order to the seller and the order actually being printed, we can and sometimes do cancel them.
Now before you get your shorts tied in a knot, this represents a VERY "VERY" tiny fraction of our orders and those cancellation requests are almost ALWAYS agreed to by both buyer and seller.
I forgot to include shipping, the seller will not ship outside the US. I need to increase the amount of the payment, I overpaid, underpaid... need to add insurance. I want to combine several purchases into a single payment to the same seller.
Those result in the order being replaced.
So its, order, confirm, cancel... replace.
Can a seller tecnically get caught in between? YES, they can... and it has happened to us 3-4 times with a bad-bidder where the order got cancelled before the payment went out and the seller shipped.
WE PAID THOSE 3-4 SELLERS, NO QUESTIONS ASKED!
Our business is based on the payment guarantee we offer, we know that and despite what you have all written here and on the other 3-4 threads this remains 100% true from day one until today... and will continue to ring true.
When you log into BidPay to check on the status of any order, if it does not show the money order number... then it has not been printed.
So, yes. If you want to be 150% sure. You can wait until you see the eleven digit money order number.
Once issued the only reason we will stop a money order is because it is lost or stolen and only then because we are issung a replacement.
This is a totally honest answer and from us you should never expect anything less.
I hope this helps resolve some of your issues about payments and the process we use.
As you know, we do have a NO CHARGEBACK POLICY to our sellers. Just so you fully understand how we operate. Quite often we will become aware that the buyer is using a stolen credit card BEFORE the seller has cashed the payment and WE DO NOT DISHONOR THE PAYMENT TO THE SELLER.
It is not the sellers job to figure out if the buyer is using his/her own credit card. IT IS OURS!
If a seller ships an item WE PAY THEM - PERIOD and yes... in cases of fraud, we don't get paid on the transaction.
posted on February 23, 2001 01:05:53 AM"What is interesting is that even though there are 4-5 threads running, it actually the same 4-5 people in all of them...
No, there are TWO threads, with 15+ different people contributing. What is interesting is that everyone pretty much agrees on one thing: Bidpay's customer service is seriously lacking, and given the tone of your posts, it doesn't appear that there are any plans for improvement in that department...
posted on February 23, 2001 01:27:34 AM
I posted this in another thread, and in support of Julesy's statement, I am posting it here as well:
Marek,
The true measure of a company or service is not in their TOS ("no cost to sellers....ever!" ) or in their normal day to day dealings that do not become problematic - it is in their performance in resolving customer problems and issues in a tacktful, respectful, and successful way. I don't believe that BidPay understands this, and may never.
I don't believe you will, in the near future, or perhaps ever, understand the concepts of good customer support/service and problem resolution. Therefore I will not try to enlighten you any further.
posted on February 23, 2001 05:21:56 AM
I've had several buyers pay with BidPay and I just treat them like any other money order! When the money order arrives in my hands, I ship the item! Actually the $5.00 fee is not that out of line when you consider how far you might have to drive (maybe in a blinding snowstorm) to purchase a money order. Next time you buy a money order add up: gas to go get it, the stamp, the money order fee and the envelope. Also, don't forget, lots of people are buying this money order with a credit card, which I don't think will work at the grocery store or the corner market. I think they want cash for their money orders!
posted on February 23, 2001 05:59:56 AM
I've had only one BidPay money order so I can't say much for the service. It has more maintenance on the part of the seller, more overhead for both buyer and seller with only the convenience of the money order being sent via computer to recommend it.
BidPay reminds me of,as an old colleague of mine once put it regarding another odd combination, putting an outboard motor on a bathtub and calling it a speedboat.
I consider myself fortunate to have three places in my immediate neighborhood to get a money order. If I had to shell out $5.00 for a transaction instead of a $1.00, I'd probably bypass a lot of auctions.
posted on February 23, 2001 06:20:38 AM
I think Julesy summed up the situation rather nicely. Thanks to both you & Oxford for pointing out the obvious to Marek.
posted on February 23, 2001 06:35:37 AM
I am a seller that does have Bidpay as a payment option. (thinking about taking it out)
I had a small problem. I called Bidpay and learned you cannot talk to a rep!
This is in essence what I heard.......HEY.....you are wondering why we are not able to talk to you?...We are doing our jobs! We are busy sending out Money Orders!
Why bother having a phone number, only to call, and hear that..?
I emailed them. They did respond the next day.
The last transaction, I received the 2nd confirmation exactly 5 minutes after the first one!
If there was a problem..I did not have enough time to write to the customer nor could the customer respond back to Bidpay in time!
I am sorry to those who are experiencing problems with BidPay.
It would have been nice if Marek answered with a little compassion to those who are having problems with Bidpays service. Might he be the person on BidPays 'answering machine'?
posted on February 23, 2001 07:55:58 AM
add me to the growing list of sellers who is taking BidPay OFF my auctions. this representation of BidPay customer "service" here by gomerek is appalling. i have promoted BidPay and used it for the past year on all my auctions. it has been the only online payment service that i have used and promoted to my customers - no more.
not only have i NEVER received a reply to any email that i have sent them via their site/my account - now, based on the posts in this, and other threads, i see that this is isn't an isolated experience - it appears that BidPay replies to no one about anything.
no where in gomerek's post here does he/she address all the questions and problems that all the posters here have raised. nothing whatsoever about why i have had BidPay transactions where email notices have gone missing, yet the transaction is listed on my account. nothing whatsoever about the ghostly transiaction i had last month - the transaction whose money order was sent to me but NEVER showed up on my BidPay account. these are both situations that i emailed BidPay about, and never received the courtesy of a reply. i allowed myself to think "oh, just funny glitches i guess" - but based on the posts here on AW, and based on the late, and then arrogant reply by a BidPay rep here i've reconsidered - what if these experiences of mine aren't just the odd 'glitch' - what if i have a more serious problem/concern - it seems safe to say, based on this "reps" attitude that i would find no help from this company at all.
thanks all who posted here for sharing your experiences. thanks to gomerek for showing just what kind of company BidPay is - ie a company i will no longer promote, and will advise my customers to reconsider ever using them again.
posted on February 23, 2001 08:37:19 AM
marek..i can"t beleive a human being works for bidpay..i have offered your service for quite some time now..i have received all my money with no problem..but to contact someone there is a real problem..every email i get says i am not a registered member ..so i go up and sign up..next email same thing..i just gave up..took three or four weeks to get banners on my auctions..i have emailed several times about the registration problem..never a reply..you have a good service for my international customers but your customer service is absolutely the worst on the web..thanks for listening.
posted on February 23, 2001 10:03:20 AM
Dear Celebrityskin;
Thanks for the comments, you are the type of seller that we cater to and obviously having delivered 'hundreds of payments' with 'zero' problems is exactly what our company is all about.
There are 1,440 minutes in a day, in that 24 hours we serve on average about 10,000 customers... and 9,996 of them are happy with our services.
Those are the customers we strive for and the ones we bend over backwards to please.
Then, there are the 3-4 customers that no matter what we do, we just can't seem to make them happy.
As you might have noticed I went to great lenghts last night to write several very long messages explaining a number of points about our services, how they operate and exactly what we do to address issues for customers - both buyers and sellers...
...and you can see the reaction to those comments herein.
Again, many thanks for your comments and we look forward to being of service in the future.
posted on February 23, 2001 10:07:09 AM
HI VeeBee;
Sorry you're having that problem. We get about a thousand sellers a day registering and it is a two-step process.
When you log into the seller area and regsiter we send out a confirmation email with a serial number.
YOU MUST REPLY TO THAT EMAIL TO ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT.
If you didn't get that email, or misplaced it simply log into the seller area and go to the area to ACTIVATE your account and ask that the confirmation email be sent again.
Then reply to that email and insert the serial number where required.
Only registered sellers can use the auto-banner feature. If you have managed to use the auto-banner feature then you have indeed registered and activated your account.
posted on February 23, 2001 10:11:38 AM
Hi Squeeky;
There is a very long and detailed reply from me about approvals & cancellations above, so I attempt to answer the question being put forward... I also posted another long and detailed reply on another board about how the problem comes up with a payment being sent but the seller not getting the notice.
I hope that both of these helped you understand how and why these things happen.
Thanks
Marek
Here is the message I posted on the other board about payments without notice.
So... now to the orders.
The buyer enters both their information (and) the seller information. They also enter the auction number, amount of payment and credit card information along with their email address and the sellers.
What happens is very simply this. If a buyer enters [email protected] when in fact the email address is [email protected] THEN THE SELLER DOES NOT GET THE NOTICE OF PAYMENT AND IT DOES NOT SHOW IN THIER ACCOUNT.
Doesn't mean the payment was not made.
Doesn't mean the payment was not sent.
Only that the seller didn't get the notice of payment.
It happens to us at least 30-40 times a day and usually either the buyer or seller contact us saying that they know the order is placed and didn't get a confirmation.
We go, find the order... correct the email address error and resend the confirmation.
This isn't a biggy for us, it happens, people make mistakes and when we're notified of them... we fix them.
We get this message at least 100 times a day.
YOU F*%&%&@! PEOPLE MADE A MISTAKE ON MY ORDER!!!
...and we write back and explain that we didn't enter the order information but would be more than happy to correct the error.
We do have software than scans for incomplete address to stop payments from being sent out that wouldn't be delivered.
We also scan for zip-mismathes (and) we also scan for address conflicts.
If the buyer enters one address but the seller is registered with us with a different address.
We actually do a fairly large amount of work with an order before processing and sending it....
If you are a registered seller with BidPay and your address is 123 Smith Street and the buyer enters 132 Smith Street (it is AUTOMATICALLY corrected) so payments are always sent to the correct address.
The exception to all this is, if the buyer doesn't enter your email address correctly then even though you are a registered seller you would not get a notice of the payment.
I am reading all these comments about drop this and cancel that...
The bottom line here is:
We have ALWAYS PAID -NEVER CHARGED BACK and don't charge any fee's.
Do we screw up sometimes, sure we do... and whenever we do
WE FIX IT!
I hope the above explanation helps you understand a little better about the order process and why notices are sometimes not received on orders.
posted on February 23, 2001 10:32:55 AM
HI MAREK..THANKS FOR THE RESPONSE..I REALIZE I AM REGISTERED BUT I"LL BET YOU THE NEXT TIME I RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL IT WILL SAY" I SE THAT YOU ARE NOT A REGISTERED SELLER".IT HAPPENS EVERY SINGLE TIME..NO BIG DEAL..BUT SLIGHTLY AGGRAVATING..I JUST DELETE IT AND GO ABOUT MY BUSINESS WHICH I"M GOING TO DO NOW..AS LONG AS I GET PAID IS THE MAIN THING..THANKS AGAIN
posted on February 23, 2001 11:32:21 AM
"The exception to all this is, if the buyer doesn't enter your email address correctly then even though you are a registered seller you would not get a notice of the payment."
gomerak, if the buyer enters an incorrect email address for me, then how in the world can you know that the payment is meant for me?? how in the world can you send a payment to me, yet never register it to my BidPay account?? those are the questions that i was asking - here, and in my original emails to Bidpay about this matter. and why was none of this explained to me in a reply to the email i sent? saying that the company is too "busy" to reply to customer questions about their account and problems doesn't cut it with me.
yes, in the case i had, i did get paid. that wasn't the issue i raised with BidPay in my email to you asking for an explanation for how this situation could have happened. the issue i raised is that i pride myself on being a prompt and courteous seller to my customers - this 'glitch' of yours resulted in over a week's delay of me being able to find out that the customer did indeed pay so that i was able to mail them their merchandise. as many here do/did, i would ship on the 2nd email and confirmation showing in my BidPay account that the payment was made, approved, and the money order was being sent. i apologized to my international customer for the delay in shipping, i included an extra item to my international customer as compensation for the delay. when i tried to get an explanation for this situation from BidPay all i received was silence - a situation that i now read others posting here have experienced too, because you are "too busy" from the business that we the sellers generate for you to answer our questions.
posted on February 23, 2001 12:05:31 PM
gomarek, you have dealt with everyones issue accept mine. I sent several letters in, and just sent another one in the other day and I have yet to recieve a response. Why is that? I just want to find out what happened to the money orders I am missing. I trusted your service and sent items in good faith and have not recieved some of my money orders. Whats going on? Why is no one responding to my question on email?
posted on February 23, 2001 07:35:03 PM
How come there is silence again gomarek? I will ask the question again:
gomarek, you have dealt with everyones issue accept mine. I sent several letters in, and just sent another one in the other day and I have yet to recieve a response. Why is that? I just want to find out what happened to the money orders I am missing. I trusted your service and sent items in good faith and have not recieved some of my money orders. Whats going on? Why is no one responding to my question on email?
posted on February 23, 2001 07:36:12 PM
I checked and I sent a total of 8 messages to BidPay about this problem of missing money orders in the past 4-5 months and I have recieved 0 responses.
