For Sellers in On-line Auctions

kahnjar1 · 11th August 2013, 04:08 AM

Hi again Alan,
I do not want to comment further about AMEX other than to say I agree with your comments.
The problem you have IMHO is firmly on Ebay's doorstep as I understand that they are the owners of Paypal. If this is correct then surely your son should be able to pursue the problem thru the Seller/Buyer Protection scheme they automatically apply to transactions, assuming of course that this was an Ebay transaction in the first place. IF the transaction WAS thru Ebay then claim on them, not Paypal. It should not matter what type of card is linked to Paypal, the guarantee should still be good!
Like everything out there in cyberspace, one needs to be ultra careful.
Stu

A. G. Maisey · 11th August 2013, 04:40 AM

Stu, I do not have a problem, because I do not sell on ebay.

My son had a problem, he pursued all available routes in attempts to resolve the problem, and he got nowhere. The man is not a fool, he's 43 y.o. and a middle manager in Australia's biggest bank. However, as with many people, in this instance he was sucked in by a consummate conman; I've read the personal exchanges leading to the eventual sale, and I probably would have been sucked in myself.

Yes, Paypal is associated with ebay, but they are separate organisations, and as I have stated, the advice from Paypal is that when they accept a card link, they accept the policies of the card company.

I did not post this little story in order to seek advice nor in order to have a belly ache about any of the commercial organisations involved. I posted it in an attempt to make those of us who do sell in on-line auctions aware of the structure of the scam.

My personal opinion is that if Paypal is only acting as an agent when they process payments, they have a duty of care to make available the identity of the card company before the seller accepts payment from the buyer.

kahnjar1 · 11th August 2013, 04:52 AM

Hi Alan,
I understand that your reason for going to print here, was to state caution to others who use Paypal. I personally was not aware that the so called disputes "tribunal" offered by Paypal/Ebay could be nullified by the terms of the card company involved. We live and learn!
Stu

A. G. Maisey · 11th August 2013, 07:56 AM

Yes, I must admit that when I heard this story I was a bit surprised by some of its elements, especially after all the hype that ebay and Paypal push at us, however, I heard a similar story quite some time back. I don't recall the details of that first incident, but I think it was pretty similar to my son's experience.

I guess AMEX is a real good card company for buyers and a less than stellar one for sellers.

Which is no problem to anybody as long as you know who you're dealing with, but when you think you're dealing with Paypal or ebay and in fact you're dealing with AMEX it does have the potential to become a problem.

I feel that the way to fix it would be for Paypal to advise sellers of the card company that is funding the purchase.

11th August 2013, 04:08 AM	#1
kahnjar1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND Posts: 2,789	Hi again Alan, I do not want to comment further about AMEX other than to say I agree with your comments. The problem you have IMHO is firmly on Ebay's doorstep as I understand that they are the owners of Paypal. If this is correct then surely your son should be able to pursue the problem thru the Seller/Buyer Protection scheme they automatically apply to transactions, assuming of course that this was an Ebay transaction in the first place. IF the transaction WAS thru Ebay then claim on them, not Paypal. It should not matter what type of card is linked to Paypal, the guarantee should still be good! Like everything out there in cyberspace, one needs to be ultra careful. Stu

11th August 2013, 04:40 AM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Stu, I do not have a problem, because I do not sell on ebay. My son had a problem, he pursued all available routes in attempts to resolve the problem, and he got nowhere. The man is not a fool, he's 43 y.o. and a middle manager in Australia's biggest bank. However, as with many people, in this instance he was sucked in by a consummate conman; I've read the personal exchanges leading to the eventual sale, and I probably would have been sucked in myself. Yes, Paypal is associated with ebay, but they are separate organisations, and as I have stated, the advice from Paypal is that when they accept a card link, they accept the policies of the card company. I did not post this little story in order to seek advice nor in order to have a belly ache about any of the commercial organisations involved. I posted it in an attempt to make those of us who do sell in on-line auctions aware of the structure of the scam. My personal opinion is that if Paypal is only acting as an agent when they process payments, they have a duty of care to make available the identity of the card company before the seller accepts payment from the buyer.

11th August 2013, 04:52 AM	#3
kahnjar1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND Posts: 2,789	Hi Alan, I understand that your reason for going to print here, was to state caution to others who use Paypal. I personally was not aware that the so called disputes "tribunal" offered by Paypal/Ebay could be nullified by the terms of the card company involved. We live and learn! Stu

11th August 2013, 07:56 AM	#4
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Yes, I must admit that when I heard this story I was a bit surprised by some of its elements, especially after all the hype that ebay and Paypal push at us, however, I heard a similar story quite some time back. I don't recall the details of that first incident, but I think it was pretty similar to my son's experience. I guess AMEX is a real good card company for buyers and a less than stellar one for sellers. Which is no problem to anybody as long as you know who you're dealing with, but when you think you're dealing with Paypal or ebay and in fact you're dealing with AMEX it does have the potential to become a problem. I feel that the way to fix it would be for Paypal to advise sellers of the card company that is funding the purchase.