Ahhh newbie mistake! Always transfer money out of Paypal ASAP!
Ebay / Paypal woes. Opinions plz.
- Thread starter Boomstick777
- Start date
Ahhh newbie mistake! Always transfer money out of Paypal ASAP!
Transferring money out of Paypal won't work. You can't have Paypal account without bank details and in case of any dispute they first secure the funds from your account even if Paypal total is empty.
Ebay started transitioning "civilian" auction site model to powerseller marketplace several years ago. The unspoken truth is - from a business model perspective, running it as an Amazon alternative, with all of the retail and consumer law protection is far easier and more profitable than letting people to trade their "collectables" and old tat to kiddies and bored housewives. It's the same reason that got Yahoo Auctions closed down back in a day.
eBay keep hiking commissions, charges, automating the incoherent dispute rulings and have been tightening trading rules for years, to specifically discourage small time traders and "civilians" from the site. What they really want you to do is redirect and re-home the "pre-used" traffic to Gumtree (which they own), but it proves difficult without investing much in cleaning the site from Nigerian prices and "Real Hustle" script material.
Sadly, there is no alternative. The multiplicity of auction sites around the world don't have unified global appeal. There are no clear "second best"s among any of them. The only viable-ish home grown alternative - eBid - is run by bunch of screw ups who let .com domain with their business name fall into the hands of domain speculators (dating site owners I think) probably just waiting to turn the site into escort service advert should the brand become successful.
I guess we all hoped by now Google would establish their own second hand goods auction site, but it does not seem to gain any interest or momentum. Loot is a dinosaur. Craigslist doesn't have a pulling power in UK. In other words, if you can't sell it in Members Market section here, it's probably easier to just give it away to your friends.
Ebay started transitioning "civilian" auction site model to powerseller marketplace several years ago. The unspoken truth is - from a business model perspective, running it as an Amazon alternative, with all of the retail and consumer law protection is far easier and more profitable than letting people to trade their "collectables" and old tat to kiddies and bored housewives. It's the same reason that got Yahoo Auctions closed down back in a day.
eBay keep hiking commissions, charges, automating the incoherent dispute rulings and have been tightening trading rules for years, to specifically discourage small time traders and "civilians" from the site. What they really want you to do is redirect and re-home the "pre-used" traffic to Gumtree (which they own), but it proves difficult without investing much in cleaning the site from Nigerian prices and "Real Hustle" script material.
Sadly, there is no alternative. The multiplicity of auction sites around the world don't have unified global appeal. There are no clear "second best"s among any of them. The only viable-ish home grown alternative - eBid - is run by bunch of screw ups who let .com domain with their business name fall into the hands of domain speculators (dating site owners I think) probably just waiting to turn the site into escort service advert should the brand become successful.
I guess we all hoped by now Google would establish their own second hand goods auction site, but it does not seem to gain any interest or momentum. Loot is a dinosaur. Craigslist doesn't have a pulling power in UK. In other words, if you can't sell it in Members Market section here, it's probably easier to just give it away to your friends.
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Transferring it out of PayPal does work, and you can have a PayPal account without bank details.
I don't have my bank details linked to my PayPal account, just a debit card which they can't use to take funds from when a buyer tries to raise a dispute.
In such a situation, you PayPal account will go in to a negative balance and they will harass you to settle it.
I had a PayPal account that this happened with due to a scammer, but I lost no money I just abandoned the account a few years ago.
They will send you letters over it threatening all sorts, as well as mickey mouse debt collector letters but nothing ever comes of it.
+1 done it myself a few times
This is why whenever I sell anything of value and get paid via Paypal, I transfer the money out instantly, and remove all my bank and card details as soon as the money hits my bank account. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather that than get ripped off...
Soldato
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- 1 Dec 2003
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- 3,533
there must be a cut off point where they say he's been using it now for so long and if it breaks it's down to them to repair. they can't expect items to come with year warrantys on your part
frustrating, how much was it sold for
frustrating, how much was it sold for
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- 2 Jan 2012
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- UK.
Still a lil rant in me lol... From a sale perspective.. You think I provided the goods in perfect working order. Paid all the Ebay fees. The buyer used the item for 4 weeks then claimed it was broken and Due to get all his money back. 'My money is frozen'. So out of this sale I lost money in postage, phone calls and the cost of the item and time. Don't see how this is fair tbh. Never gonna use them again lol 
I have the long wait to see if something ever does come back to me. The other thing I have considered is what if something never comes back? My money is still frozen by Paypal? Will it ever be unfrozen if I don't receive the item back to me?
It was triple figures, tbh I'm more annoyed that I lost the postage £15 and all my time in phone calls and resolution center correspondence to these people lol.
I have the long wait to see if something ever does come back to me. The other thing I have considered is what if something never comes back? My money is still frozen by Paypal? Will it ever be unfrozen if I don't receive the item back to me?
It was triple figures, tbh I'm more annoyed that I lost the postage £15 and all my time in phone calls and resolution center correspondence to these people lol.
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I would love them to try and take me to court for money I don't legally owe them. However unfortunately I doubt this would ever happen, as they'd get laughed out of court and it would set a precedent for more people to stand up to them.
Unless you have an example of where Paypal have successfully taken someone to court in similar circumstances and won?
As you're getting the item back you probably won't be able to do anything, but when I had a problem with eBay/Paypal I went to the Financial Ombudsman which got me my money back.
Basically, I sold something, 2 months later the person claims that it was never them that ordered it so ebay/paypal took my money saying the 'victim' had a fraudulant transaction. How that meant I should lose out I still don't know, never using it again to sell stuff.
But I guess that's a completely different scenario now I've typed it out!
Basically, I sold something, 2 months later the person claims that it was never them that ordered it so ebay/paypal took my money saying the 'victim' had a fraudulant transaction. How that meant I should lose out I still don't know, never using it again to sell stuff.
But I guess that's a completely different scenario now I've typed it out!
- Joined
- 2 Jan 2012
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- 12,453
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- UK.
I've chalked this down to experience now guys. Members market for me from now on 
The buyer has 10 days to return the item to me. After that he will lose his refund.. Let the game of cat and mouse begin 
.
I'll update with what happens next..
The buyer has 10 days to return the item to me. After that he will lose his refund.. Let the game of cat and mouse begin .I'll update with what happens next..
I've chalked this down to experience now guys. Members market for me from now on
I'll update with what happens next..
Just dont sign for any packages and claim it never turned up.
Except the tracking will state that it's not been signed for and its back at the depot, so not sure where that would get you.
Obviously if he's stupid enough to send it untracked/signed then just say it never turned up.
Associate
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- 23 Apr 2012
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- 2,180
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- Edinburgh
If you don't have a bank account linked how do you get any money out of your Paypal account?
I have a PayPal business debit card and you can withdraw to a bank account without it actually being "added" and them able to access it via direct debit instructions.
Associate
- Joined
- 27 Sep 2011
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- 1,597
So do you just ignore the invoice eBay send for final value fees at the end of each month and they go away?
Might work for infrequent use or low value stuff otherwise this tactic might come back to bite you.