Everybody needs to read this about PayPal

[pdxmotorhead]

That's why I have a dud checking account that I use to work my pay-pal account.
At a credit union. They almost never let a paypal or mail order house retract funds without an investigation.

A pre-paid visa is another way to go, you put exactly the amount you need on it to pay, and you can transfer from paypal to them but they can't carry a balance so they cant retract funds once you withdraw them.

Dave

[M-technik-3]

Originally Posted by cooljess76

PayPal offers no protection against sellers shipping an incorrect or damaged item outside of ebay. Recently I purchased an alternator from a member on bf.c for $75. I was very clear in my post which model I was interested in and the condition it had to be in before I purchased it. The seller sent me two photos of the alternator as it was installed on his car. The photos looked okay, so I sent payment via paypal where the funds were transfered from my bank account. The alternator arrived a week later but was clearly the wrong one and looked nothing like the one that the seller sent me photos of. I contacted the seller and he refused to cooperate. I then opened a paypal dispute and the seller continued to deny there was a problem with the item he sent me. I escalated the dispute to a claim at which time paypal immediately closed the case. I received a message from paypal stating that they only deal with shipping issues, not issues with an items quality or condition. I called paypal and talked to a guy named Todd. He basically repeated that paypal will not investigate matters unless an item was not received. So as an analogy, I asked him what would happen if a seller sent a box of tissue instead of a car part. He then repeated that paypal has no interest in investigating matters of an items quality or condition, only matters where an item wasn't received. So now I'm stuck with a $75 rusty alternator, the seller faces no penalties and paypal claims no responsibility in the matter. This isn't the first time that paypal has "looked the other way". As much as i hate to admit it, I was a victim of an ebay scam back in February of 2006. I won an auction for a plasma TV and paid with paypal. Again, my paypal account was linked to my bank account and funding was transfered from my account balance. I never received an item and went through the claims process. The seller closed his/her account before paypal was able to recover any of the funds. Back then, paypal had a policy that if an ebay seller had less than +50 feedback, the buyer was not covered under their protection. It has since changed, but the policy is not retroactive. So in that incident, I lost $1898.00. Yes you read that correctly, one thousand eight hundred and ninetyeight dollars!!! So This makes two times that paypal has looked the other way and offered me no protection as a buyer whatsoever.

While I must say that 318ti.org is a more trustworthy COMMUNITY than bimmerforums.com, there have been instances where people have gotten ripped off. There's nothing stopping sellers from shipping "empty boxes" and if you receive it, PAYPAL WILL DO NOTHING TO INVESTIGATE MATTERS OR RECOVER YOUR FUNDS. My next course of action is to contact an attourney and hopefully build a case against paypal. I'm sure I'm not the only one this has happened to, perhaps we can arrange a class action lawsuit.

This is my warning to everyone, paypal offers no protection against sellers shipping empty boxes, incorrect items and/or damaged goods. USING PAYPAL TO PURCHASE AN ITEM OUTSIDE OF EBAY IS NO BETTER THAN SENDING CASH IN THE MAIL.

Agreed they did not honor my claim against the suspension that was junk. I have had other sales here that went off fine without a hitch and were smooth. Paypal is a business that at this point just wants to make money and they wash their hands clean and accept no responsibility for any transactions that they render.

[drrty byl]

Sucks to hear that -- at least it was only an alternator. Surely the seller had a return address on the box... Reminds me of the time I bought an M50 from eBay which showed up with a cracked pan.
Credit cards -are- lame, but if you use one to fund paypal purchases you can open a dispute with the credit card company when paypal fails to act, which gives you two layers of recourse.