[Leica] EBay Paypal sting - off topic

[photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman)]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Howard. I do exactly as you suggest--one 
the rare occasion that I sell something and get paid via Paypal, I always 
immediately take the money out. Mostly, I use Paypal to pay for stuff I buy 
from North American sellers who want this payment method. Within EU it is 
much easier (and cheaper) to use bank transfer.

As for Hotmail, I would go quite as far. I know many people who use this 
service--no worse than Yahoo or Gmail. They include a local lawyer, my 
ex-Spanish teacher, and my daughter.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog

YNWA





On Sep 11, 2010, at 5:36 PM, H&ECummer wrote:

> Hi Luggers
> Since some of you, perhaps many, buy things from and sell things on Ebay 
> and use Paypal. I thought you might benefit from my cautionary tale.
> Over the last two years I have been liquidating my model train collection 
> and selling the occasional unused lens (some Leica - to slip back on 
> topic).
> In just under 100 transactions and over $16,000 in sales I have not had a 
> problem until now. In early August I sold an N gauge model train to a 
> buyer in the south of France. He elected to have cheap sea shipment as the 
> engine wasn't very expensive, paid his money to Paypal and I shipped the 
> train, including a Canada Post tracking on August 5. By August 19 the 
> tracking number didn't show any movement from the post office and the 
> buyer put a hold on his funds. On August 24 the tracking picked up again 
> and showed the parcel had left Canada. I asked the buyer to release the 
> hold and he said he would after the goods arrived - not cricket but what 
> can one do? On Sept 6 he advanced the hold to a claim. I gave all the info 
> I had to Paypal, including a scan of the Post Office receipt and on 
> September 9, despite the information about the length of time a sea 
> shipment could take, they reversed the funds in my account and gave him 
> his money back! So, in the next weeks he will receive his train for free 
> and I have very little recourse because I only get 10 days to dispute the 
> pay back and the only proof I can give is delivery of the package which 
> may not have happened in that time. I have complained loudly to Paypal (IN 
> CAPITALS) and they have answered with anodyne lawyer approved boiler plate.
> To add insult to injury the buyer has left me negative feedback for non 
> delivery and there goes my 100% positive rating! That hurts more than the 
> money!
> So, some words to the wise. Don't deal with anyone who uses a hotmail 
> address. Don't deal with anyone with several neutral ratings (funny he 
> didn't have any negatives in nearly 600 transactions but several neutrals 
> with complaints) and take out your money for every transaction as soon as 
> it is deposited. Paypal is not the seller's friend.
> Older (day by day) and wiser (only once in awhile).
> With regret,
> Howard
> 
> 
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