Today is a sad day. I have been a loyal PayPal user for over 2 years and I have never had a problem until today. A recent transaction occurred between me and a member here at DP (now banned). I sold a website to this buyer for $39. He sent me the funds via PayPal. I received them and proceeded to transfer the domain and website files to him. A day later I notice an email from PayPal, telling me the funds are being held under review from PayPal because the buyer disputed that they did not authorize the payment. After multiple attempts to contact the buyer I soon realized this was a scam. Now after all that settled in I was confident that PayPal would make the right decision on the case. I contacted PayPal telling them I had proof that the buyer sent the funds willingly. I had emails, messages, etc. I also mentioned that I had already transferred the domain and website files, and would provide any proof of anything they requested. A few weeks later (today) PayPal notified me that the payment was reversed to the buyer, leaving me with nothing. PayPal is the new tool for scammers. TWO times in the last month I have had buyers dispute transactions, even when they received the website files. ONE time it worked for the buyer, and I was scammed. ONE time is too many. I realize how easy it is also. PayPal did not even consider that I had proof. They side with the buyers unless the item is tangible and you can prove that you shipped the item, but of course that is impossible with websites. Please share your PayPal scam stories or any thoughts you may have of my experience today. Thank you and I will never use PayPal again.
I have been scammed so many times. Not sure whether the buyer is a scammer or paypal itself. I have experienced several times funds being reversed. Several times of approximately $300 each (total of more than $1k if i am not mistaken)
What was the reason the buyer disputed the transaction? It seems that if they say they did not receive the item, the seller has more of a chance at winning because they are able to upload screenshots, emails, etc. to prove themselves. When the buyer says that they did not authorize the transaction, the seller has almost no say in the matter. Its all in PayPal's' hands there.
There is nothing you can do. Paypal is for thiefts and scammers. If you honest, you will lose your money with Paypal. Period.
Paypal is certainly not a "new" tool for scammers. It has been used by them since the service started.
I lost more than $400 from may till last month.. Most from my webhosting service .. don't think you have fraud detection, great billing system they cannot scammed u.. i'm thinking to not process any order made by user from international user, but.. hmmmm Maybe later just used 2checkout or worldpay for international payment..
Pay Pal was never a tool for scammers, it is just a third party doing payment processing for the buyer and seller under its TOS and AUP. That's it and that's all.
This is really sad!! Scammers are making the use of the weak point here..So do we have any other payment method which is more reliable?
Send in all the screen shots to paypal. In the transaction details of paypal has the buyer mentioned anything that relates to your case??
The sad part is, PayPal didnt listen or use what I had to say in the investigation on our transaction. I sent an email to PayPal today, hopefully someone will answer.
Basically Paypal is based in US where consumer laws are very strong and they all favour consumer, so if consumer says that he is not satisfied with the services and he wants his money back from seller, law favours him, and I am sure paypal also don't want to put themself in trouble by chalenging consumer laws. So it is always advisable to keep low funds in your account just to meet any emergency, so that even if any one charges back he don't find sufficient funds in your account and have to wait till you put funds in your account and there you will get time to put your things infront of paypal.
I have lost over $7,000 because of multiple people using hacked accounts, and a week later they get disputed. BULL ****! I have been a business account user for 6 years now, with a reputation of over 600+ verified transactions. They just don't give a **** and "Unauthorized" claims always seem to get reversed.
Yap ! I didn't believed to this, until yesterday .. PayPal locked my account due to Transaction Review ! I and my friend who sent me money sent emails to PayPal that there's no point of locking and transaction is clean ! What was the answer ? That he have not sent any money but someone was in his account and I'm a scammer ! I really don't know what to do, but I think - it's the end of PayPal great popularity !
Unfortunately, PayPal is so big they are the judge, jury and executioner. In these days of high credit card fraud, identity theft, stolen account info, etc - if someone says "I did not *authorize* this charge", there is absolutely nothing you can do - that person will get their money back. Regardless of how many emails you have or what proof you have, if is does not prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person you communicated with AND the owner of the credit card / PayPal account are one in the same, then as a "Seller" you are screwed. Even if you have that proof, don't hold your breath. A friend of mine lost $1200 when he sold a laptop about a year ago. Payment came through fine, it wasn't an eCheck so all was good. Four days later, my friend gets an email from PayPal saying the $1200 was reversed because the credit card was reported stolen. Long story short, he was out both the money and the laptop. I know why PayPal has these policies - to protect those that are truly victims of a crime, identity theft or what have you. If you've ever had your credit card lost/stolen and had it used, you'll know what I mean. Problem is, it creates a huge window of opportunity for scammers as well.
Sad to hear these stories. PayPal always seems to have buyer protection, but not vice versa. But if not PayPal, then what else? Most major companies use PayPal. They're too popular!
Best bet is to leave paypal. If everyone starts to leave it (instead of just complaining and still using it 0o) and we find another transaction service, it would surly make it better. I believe paypal is alomst at a monopoly in a certain way