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Paypal/Ebay ,when do you get your payment? How long is a piece of string?


shoulderpet
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Just wanted to post here about my frustration about the lack of any clear answers on this.  Sold an item on Ebay about a week ago, the buyer messages me to ask if Paypal and collection is ok, I message back saying that is fine, the buyer pays for the item and I then realise of my 2 Ebay accounts I have used the one that I haven't actually sold from before so my money is held by Ebay :dash1:  with a date of sometime in November for me to receive my money, thats like 3 weeks later.

 A week later the buyer collects from me, googling that it seems that they usually realise the funds once feedback is received or after 3 weeks if not received, fortunately on the same day that the buyer collects he leaves positive feedback, great I think , after a week of held funds I can receive the money and a few hours later I get an email saying the Ebay funds are available, fantastic! Would be great to have the extra money at the weekend.   

I login to Paypal and transfer the balance to my bank account using what is described as an "Instant transfer" hahah Instant you are having a laugh ,my Paypal account now says "Pending" next to the transfer, clicking on the activity it says to expect the money by the next day so the next day I check and it still says "Pending" so I google this and my googling leads me to page on the Paypal website that gives a timeframe of 72hrs, and another page from Paypal that tells me that "If you fulfill the order, but don’t provide any shipping information, your payment should be available after 21 days, as long as your buyer doesn’t report any issues with the transaction."

I decide that I should call them to try and speed things along so I call there number which takes me to an automated service that tells me that I can expect to receive the money 3 to 5 working days after they have checked the payment.

Honestly I understand buyers wanting to use Paypal as you are pretty much guaranteed your money back if something goes wrong but to be given so much conflicting information and then try to call them only to get through to an automated service makes them a real pain to deal with as a seller,  anyhow rant over

 

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3 minutes ago, Beedster said:

BTW not a good idea to let a buyer pay by PayPal and then collect, plenty of people have lost out doing that 

Yes I agree with this although in this instance it was a large bulky item and being a non driver it was the logistics of getting the item to the nearest courier/royal mail drop off point 

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3 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

Yes I agree with this although in this instance it was a large bulky item and being a non driver it was the logistics of getting the item to the nearest courier/royal mail drop off point 

Which suggests that cash might have made your life a lot simpler :)

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9 minutes ago, Beedster said:

I suspect you’ve triggered one of their ‘potential fraud’ algorithms  :(

Yes, I've had that happen to me once. I think Paypal dropped themselves in the doo doo a while back for not having measures in place to prevent money laundering. Unfortunately, the measures they now have in place puts everyone under scrutiny and as frustrating as it is, there's no way of hurrying them. There wasn't for me anyway.

8 minutes ago, Beedster said:

BTW not a good idea to let a buyer pay by PayPal and then collect, plenty of people have lost out doing that 

Yes, I try and avoid that, but choose to do it on a case by case basis. Just have to be nosey with their history first I think.

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2 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Is that because they can say that they didn’t receive it ?

Yes. The second I read that the buyer asked if it OK to pay with PayPal and then collect in person massive shiny alarm bells started ringing. 

Hopefully in this case it will be alright as he's left positive feedback, but the scam is for the buyer to claim they haven't received their item, PayPal will ask you for proof of shipping, if you can't provide it then they will refund the buyer his money. You lose your item and the money. 

The buyer could still do this and claim the feedback was mistakenly left and meant for another item. If they claim and you can't provide proof of shipping you will lose. 

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5 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Thanks Maude, does that also apply even if it’s collection only 

To be honest, I'm not sure but just wouldn't do it in case. If they are collecting then they can pay cash or a bank transfer. I know some buyers might not have the money and want to buy on credit, which they could do if paying with PP, but I just wouldn't risk it. PP have their rules and if you break them then they don't care if you're being scammed or not, they will follow their rules. 

Maybe worth looking up whether it would apply to collection only sales, but I've a feeling you could still be scammed as the buyer could claim that you agreed to post/courier the item to them if they paid via PP. 

For me personally, if anything is being collected then it's cash or bank transfer, or no sale. 

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Just now, Reggaebass said:

I must have been lucky in the past but I think I’ll use this method in the future 👍

This is the thing, 99% of the time it'll be fine because most people aren't scammers. But it's when you get caught out that it hurts. I'm far to trusting and generally believe that people are good, but I've been stung for a large amount of money in the past and won't let it happen again. 

It horrible to have to doubt everyone though. 

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The unfortunate flip side to the old cash on collection chestnut: I've had a couple of fairly priced basses for sale on eBay where I insisted on cash payment, and collection only. Adding those two levels of inconvenience has proven to be the best way to kill all buyer interest.

Still, I learnt the hard way once before that eBay gives completely no Fs about protecting sellers from fraudulent buyers and will always side with a buyer over a seller. Better to be safe than sorry. eBay and PayPal are literally the worst when you get screwed over. Cash is king!

Edited by EdLib-3
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