I am about to go "Postal" on Paypal!!!!

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I had been very reluctant to start accepting Paypal as a form of payment because I had heard horror stories of people who used it, but I wanted an easier way to accept payments, so I figured what the heck.

I set up the account, but did not want to put any of my personal info on it (banking and credit card info), so I just figured I could have the bands pay me through the account, and then use the money in paypal to pay for things online, since most of my shopping is done online with merchants who take paypal. Boy was I wrong!!!


Last Friday, I went to add some minutes to my phone (Virgin Mobile) since I was running a little low. I had scene they took paypal, so I figured this would be no problem since I had a balance of a little over $600 in my paypal account. I get through the entire checkout process, and when it directs me to paypal, it tells me I must have a credit card or banking info on file in order to complete the transaction. Huh? I thought the point of Paypal was so you would not have to use banking info online.

I figured OK, and went to put my banking info onto my account, only to get an error message that the info I put in was already attached to another account. Well, now I am getting a little ticked off. I call Paypal, and after getting through their INSANE voice prompt system, I finally get an actual human on the phone. I explain what is going on, and she is very nice and discovers that I had a paypal account attached to my dj email (remember, that email has been dead for over 5 years now). I asked her if she would just delete that entire account, thus opening up my banking info to put on the new account. She says she can’t because it still has a balance on it of just under $40.

No problem, I tell her, just take it from the new account, since I had plenty in there to cover it. “We can’t do that” she tells me. Umm, ok, I will pay for it with a credit card. “No, sorry, we can’t do that either. The only way to pay the balance is to send us a certified check or money order” she says. Huh? You are an online payment service, just you only take paper payment for outstanding balances?

A little frustrated, I get the info of where to send the payment, and send it off.

In the meantime, another band has paid me, so I am not pushing close to $900 in the account, and need to order some supplies ( I get my lighscribe cd’s and dvd’s off of ebay). I figured since Paypal is owned by Ebay, not a problem. I order a couple stacks of both, and go to check out and, you guessed it “you must have a credit card or bank info on file to pay for this purchase.”

Well, I am about to go through the roof now!!

I go to add my credit card this time, and bam, “card entered is attached to another account”. WHAT!!! I call them again, and apparently BOTH my banking info and credit card are attached to the old DJ account. I politely asked the lady to remove one or the other from the account so I could use it on my new account. She removed the card from the old account, tells me to wait 10 minutes, and then it would be clear for the new account. I wait 2 hours, and go back to put it on the new account, and I get “problem with card, please email XXXX).

I am like a zit about to pop by this point. I call them YET AGAIN and explain what is going on. “The card is not showing anywhere in out system” is the response from the guy. I asked him why I get the message then. “I don’t know, I am getting the same message when I enter it on my end too” he responds.

“Well, what is the problem then?” I ask

“I have no idea. You will need to email the address it gave you”.

“No, I am done with you guys” I respond. “ Cut me a check for the amount in my account and mail it to me” I tell him.

“I am sorry sir, we can’t do that. YOU MUST HAVE A CREDIT CARD OR BANKING INFO ON YOUR ACCOUNT IN ORDER FOR US TO MAIL YOU THE CHECK” He has nerve enough to say.

“So let me get this straight, you have $900 of my money which I currently have zero access too because you guys can not tell me what is wrong with the card I am trying to put on the account, and you will not give me a check for the money that is mine?”

“That is the policy sir” he responds “you will have to wait for them to get back to you in email.”

“Ok, how long does that take?” I ask

“They have to respond within 24 hours” He tells me.


That was Monday, and still nothing from them.
 
Patrick
Go with Google Check out it is just as easy but you will need BANKING account info on it only. They are a BREEZE to deal with after all it is google aka "big brother"

Our paypal story goes like this

we did a bar mitzvah in March
Mom & Dad are divorced.
Mom says she has permission uses Dads credit card to prepay balance
Dad doesnt remember granting such access to mom but is ok with it since its actually his twins bnai mitzvah. however this is after he has called American Express and said he didnt know the charge.

AMEX always just about Always sides with their customer

Paypal launches an investigation
locks us out of all our money (Granted patrick there is over $3000 in there)
Wants us to reverify the business
Asks us for copy of business licensed- we scanned emailed and Faxed
Asks us for me and vances drivers licenses- Same as above
Asks us for articles of incorporation- no problem (although they could get this online)

then

They asked us for our vendor information and no joke the very first indian man i talked to said

"we need to know where you purchase DJ services from"

us damn it we are the dj services.


anyways

long story short we issued refunds for every dollar in the paypal hopper and prayed the clients would either re-pay with google or send us checks, they all did and it was in a rather timely fashion.

A lot of people wrote nice notes saying they didnt understand why we worked with paypal anyway.

Then we switched to Google.

In case you're wondering why we use google instead of traditional merchant services, there are new privacy laws either out there now or about to come out where you need to designate a security office for clients private information. Also i dont want hundreds of credit card numbers all over the office. And finally sometimes i send a contract and then e-invoice from my blackberry all things i couldnt do with traditional merchant services and the private information is google's problem

kyle
 
Paypal is convenient for eBay, I avoided it for many years selling on eBay but finally broke down this spring.

Patrick, what you need to do is order a Paypal Debit Card. It's a mastercard tied to your Paypal account. As soon as the money is in there you can spend it, and as soon as you charge it comes out (I'm talking 30 seconds here). Also, you can go to an ATM and get $400 cash once a day if you need to.

I sell a 1 - 2 thousand on eBay a month and use the card to buy things, pay bills...get cash sometimes. It's very handy.



As for Paypal's stringent policies, there are reasons for everything they do. If someone can open a Paypal account with just an email address and use it to send and receive money, there is no accountability. See...in order to get a bank account you have to have a Driver's License, Social Security Number, US Citizenship (I assume) and things like that. So only a real, individual person can get a bank account. This defeats the chaos & anonymity of the internet where anyone can be anyone. Having your bank account tied to your paypal account makes you accountable. For example, you can't go online and make a million dollars and hide it from the government because all they have is your email address. It makes sense, just as you have to have a business banking account to receive Visa & Mastercard in the real world.

Also, if this policy wasn't in place, it would be much easier for seller's to scam buyers. They can't just take the money and run, the account is tied to their bank which is tied to them. They are trackable. The money isn't just gone forever. This keeps fraudulent seller's honest. It makes it dangerous as a seller, but no more so than a regular credit card transactions. A chargeback is always a danger and there is always a chance the buyer can file for one and get the money back...even 6 months down the road...online or offline.
 
Huh? I thought the point of Paypal was so you would not have to use banking info online.
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That IS the point Patrick. When you pay with PP, nobody sees yer info except PP.

It makes sense to back up the PP account with a bank account, this way they have something to draw against, if you make a mistake (or are a bad guy).

Let's say you sold a product or service for $500. It goes right into your PP account. You go to the ATM with yer PP debit card, and withdraw $400. Then you never shipped yer product, and the customer does a chargeback. That means PP is out $400! This way, they can put a lien on yer bank account, to hopefully get the rest back.

I have a separate bank account, to back each of my PP accounts, and have found that many folks would rather use PP online, then give their CC info to some business they don't know.
 
Why not send the old PayPal account some money from the new one to cover the balance, be sure to put more than the balnce to cover the PayPal fees.
 
MBM said:
Why not send the old PayPal account some money from the new one to cover the balance, be sure to put more than the balnce to cover the PayPal fees.
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Because that old email address was shut down 5 years again. It was tied to my DJ company website, which was shut down when I stopped djing, so I have zero access to it.

Mysoulishome:

I have no problem with having stringent security when banking info is involved. What I have a problem with is the fact they I could not pay a $40 back balance with a credit card or the balance in my account, so they can hold $900 of mine hostage for 4-6 weeks (the amount of time I was told that it takes for the money order to be processed).

I also have an issue with the fact that they can not tell me any reason why I can not add the card to my account, and everything has to be done through this "credit card problem department" email.

It has now been 4 days, and I still have not heard anything from them at all.
 
mysoulishome said:
There are no paypal fees when you are just transferring funds from one account to another (from either a paypal balance or even a bank account). The fees are credit card processing fees and would only be charged if you're sending them money from a credit card.
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Not true.

The last band to pay me just did a transfer right from their paypal account into mine, and there was an $8 fee on my end (there were transferring 250 and I only got 242)
 
mysoulishome said:
Patrick, what you need to do is order a Paypal Debit Card.
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You have to have the banking info on the account to be eligible for it.

I am not trying NOT to put the info on the account.

I want it on there, but they will not take it and can not tell me why they won't take it.
 
patrickrlewis said:
Because that old email address was shut down 5 years again. It was tied to my DJ company website, which was shut down when I stopped djing, so I have zero access to it.
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But you do, if I'm guessing correctly. Just because you shut down the old dj website, doesn't mean the paypal account was shutdown. If PayPal is advising that your account info is set up on that old account, then I would say it's still alive technically. It just means that you won't get an email from your account because the email address is incorrect. Do you happen to remember the old email address and password? If you can get in, update the info on that account. Also, did you know you can set up alternate email addresses on the same PayPal account. I have 5 set up on my one paypal account; to keep things organized from where I have Pay Pal payments orginating.

If you could get logged in on the old account, you could take care of this yourself.

I understand your frustration, but it's not really PayPal's fault that you didn't understand how things work.
 
Randy A said:
But you do, if I'm guessing correctly. Just because you shut down the old dj website, doesn't mean the paypal account was shutdown. If PayPal is advising that your account info is set up on that old account, then I would say it's still alive technically. It just means that you won't get an email from your account because the email address is incorrect. Do you happen to remember the old email address and password? If you can get in, update the info on that account. Also, did you know you can set up alternate email addresses on the same PayPal account. I have 5 set up on my one paypal account; to keep things organized from where I have Pay Pal payments orginating.

If you could get logged in on the old account, you could take care of this yourself.

I understand your frustration, but it's not really PayPal's fault that you didn't understand how things work.
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Randy,

I do understand how things work, and had no problem paying the small balance on the old account. I did so that day (sent the money order off I mean).

What I have a problem with is the fact that they could not take a credit card payment right over the phone for the old balance.

The other problem I have is why they can not tell me the reason I can't use the credit card, which THEY admit is no where to be found in their system, to get the new account verified.

In regards to the old email address, because it is so old, it has been locked, and I have no access to it. I tried typing in the email address and password which I thought it would be and got a message saying I had to contact CS.

My biggest issue is they should not allow you to have people put money INTO your account until those things are on it.

They had no problem with me using their service for payments without any banking or cc info on it, and that is where the problem comes in.

It does not say anywhere that you have to have that info on your account to recieve payments, so it's kind of decieving wouldn't you say?

Directly from their FAQ section on their website:

Question : How do I receive money?

Answer : After you receive an email from PayPal saying you've received a payment, log in to your account to see the funds added to your PayPal balance. If you don't have a PayPal account, sign up for one to receive the payment. Once you have a PayPal balance, you can transfer the funds to a checking account, request a check, or send the funds to someone else.


It says NOTHING about having to have any banking info or credit card info on your account in order to recieve the money.
 
Once you have a PayPal balance, you can transfer the funds to a checking account, request a check, or send the funds to someone else.


It says NOTHING about having to have any banking info or credit card info on your account in order to recieve the money.
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Read the sentence over -- if you want to send to a bank (checking account), you would need to provide the info now, wouldn't you? If not, wait 4-6 weeks for a check.


There are reasons for that. PP does not sell a product, it sells merchant services. In other words, they make money off of your money. The longer they can hold on to that money, they will! They make more money renting it to someone else in the process.

At this point, yer probably red flagged, because you appear to have had an outstanding balance with THEM, for some time. They lose money on that -- kinda like you have a low credit score with them now... ;)
 
SoftJock Rick said:
Read the sentence over -- if you want to send to a bank (checking account), you would need to provide the info now, wouldn't you? If not, wait 4-6 weeks for a check.


There are reasons for that. PP does not sell a product, it sells merchant services. In other words, they make money off of your money. The longer they can hold on to that money, they will! They make more money renting it to someone else in the process.

At this point, yer probably red flagged, because you appear to have had an outstanding balance with THEM, for some time. They lose money on that -- kinda like you have a low credit score with them now... ;)
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Rick, you can not get a check from them OR send money to anyone else without that information on their either. That is what the problem is.

Yes, if you want the money to be transfered to a bank account, of course you need to give them your info. But it does not tell you you need to provide them that information for the check to be cut until AFTER you have already had the money put into your account.

As I have said before, I have no problem at all paying the old balance. What I have a problem with is now the account has over a grand in it (another band just made a payment) and I have ZERO access to the account because of a $40 past due balance, which will take 6 weeks to get cleared up.
 
And, they do an account verification to ensure the account is legit and that you own said account. PayPal has to take alot of measures to keep things secured because they are so large, many try to hack them. Anyone ever gotten fished by someone needing your PayPal info? These security measures are in place for a reason. I've used PayPal successfully for over 10 years now and never had a problem with them. Follow the rules and you won't either. :)
 
Randy A said:
And, they do an account verification to ensure the account is legit and that you own said account. PayPal has to take alot of measures to keep things secured because they are so large, many try to hack them. Anyone ever gotten fished by someone needing your PayPal info? These security measures are in place for a reason. I've used PayPal successfully for over 10 years now and never had a problem with them. Follow the rules and you won't either. :)
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Randy, I have no issue with following the rules if I know what they are up front.

If they are going to require you to put the information on the account, then they should require it DURING REGISTRATION OF THE ACCOUNT.

They are misleading in this. They mention nothing about having to put this information on the account, and advertise that you don't need a bank account or cc to recieve payments into your account. But they don't ever say you need these things to actually GET the money, and that is where the issue comes in.
 
Patrick: I hope you don't feel jumped on here...we understand your pain, really. Paypal (like all banks and credit card companies) can be very frustrating.

If you don't want to deal with them in the future, find a more reasonable credit card processor. I do mine through a company that is just $9.99 per month to hold the account. Percentages are reasonable for Visa/Mastercard (lower than Paypal, for sure) and they give you a free terminal. I have used them for three months and can't say enough good things. My previous processor was your standard pain in the butt, I was paying $50 per month + transaction fees and they were "renting me" crappy equipment for 5 years that they still want me to pay them for.

Here's the info. The company is CS Holdings or something but the website I found them through is as follows:


http://www.freecreditcardprocessing.com/

1.49% + $0.25 per transaction (Debit)


1.79% + $0.20 per transaction (Credit)


FREE Credit Card Terminal


FREE Setup & Activation


FREE Gift Card Enrollment


FREE Check Guarantee Enrollment

$9.95 per month
 
Nope, don't feel jumped on at all.

The entire reason I went with paypal instead of the other services is because most of the bands have their snocap and itunes accounts running through paypal, so really, they are not using credit cards to send me payments, but the balances they have in their paypal accounts.

I just signed up for google checkout, and most likely will start using it, but I really would much rather use paypal.
 
Randy,

I appreciate your advise, and have done everything Paypal has told me I need to do.

I just find 6 weeks to be a little excessive to process a $40 payment, and 4 days to get back to me when they say it will take 24 hours a bit much.
 
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