PayPal Reviews

2 weeks after that (which is today) I get a call from a third party collection company who are wanting to receive payment for my negative balance. Again, I tell them what happened and they are seemingly sympathetic. So I call back to PayPal and this time I am furious. The rep offers to resubmit a claim request for me. I tell him that I am done. I can't afford for anything to go into the collections and affect my credit rating. His response is that if I pay the amount owed, that I am admitting that the charges were mine. And I start to get really upset.

As of now, I either pay for someone's fraud or I pay dearly with my credit score. PayPal was born at a time when banks took months to take action against fraud... a time when we couldn't use our credit/debit cards easily or safely. PayPal is a service that circumvents standard fraud protection practices and is no more than a safe haven for people to commit crime while residing under the protection of these jokers. After so many years of use with no issues, I now have had to fully migrate away from PayPal's criminal safe haven. Anyone who uses their service will eventually get screwed... It's not an IF, it's a WHEN. And when it happens to you, you will find out how empty their stated protection services are. Take a stand. One customer at a time until the world knows the real truth. PayPal is a SCAM.

Umm wait... So I have to pay for your company's mistake that never occurred? Absolutely not. NO! No, that is not alright and you should be sorry! I live off of SSI on 700$ a month! I would notice if there was an extra 150$ deposited in my account from anyone. There was no 149.99 deposited to my debit card over that period of time and I can prove it. Notice the email does not say which card it was... That is because this never happened. This is criminal behavior on PayPal's side and I won't do business with them or eBay anymore. This is fraud and it stinks. I'm done with them and suggest others do the same. Bankers are the biggest criminals on the planet right now and this is flagrant ** of the first order!

I contacted PayPal AGAIN (one hour phone call) and opened a dispute. They ruled in favor of the customer, saying I refunded her money. Yes, I did - upon THEIR advisement. I am left with no recourse - I have paid my PayPal off and never intend to use it again. After reading these reviews, I am so sorry I trusted them at their word. They lie. Their phone correspondents try to smooth things over by making empty promises. I was told a REFUND would be coming my way if she did not return the merchandise. By TWO different people via PayPal phone conversations. Never again.

5 days later the mystery Asian lady scammer calls them back do dispute charge back, 3-way call. Lady tells them we can come now, we have already drove 4 times to supposedly meet lady for keys. She never shows up, so we explain that the keys she gave don't work and other people live there and say they rent it. The rep says we need to drive 1.5 hrs again to go meet. Because we did not pay with a credit card no dispute is possible unless we work it out with scammer.

They let her keep the stolen money. We called police. Police told us that they cannot do anything because there is zero way to prove that that woman is the person who collected that payment online, and explained to us in depth, that PayPal is not a safe way to pay anything, that scammers and thieves know the policies so well they can open accounts with stolen id's and run dozens of scams for thousands without any interference from PayPal. And unfortunately, they cannot do anything about it. They told us they wish they could help, but unfortunately they cannot.

This company is an absolute and complete joke. Needless to say, I have made a refund with my money and moved on to another option. This is an unbelievably stupid and awkward way of doing business. Sorry PayPal management, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You don't care about me I will not care about you anymore. There were others before that were "too big to fall", but, as history noted, the bigger they were, the larger the noise when they hit the ground.

Yesterday they auto billed me for a one year renewal which I do not want because I'm not using their software anymore. The merchant refused to reverse the charge and I thought PayPal would be able to help me out. NO, they are on the side of the merchant by referencing the payment agreement, which I was completely unaware was set up. Or since it's been a year, I forgot if I did agree to that. Either way, it's something I don't want and the money was simply taken from my account and both the merchant and PayPal refuse to return it.

This is ROBBERY. At least if you use a credit card you have some recourse. If you are using PayPal, make sure you cancel any and all payment agreements that you have in your account or you run the risk of the merchants being able to take money from you whenever they like. These are set up automatically so make sure you don't have any set up.

When I realized I could not get my funds, I checked their own website giving possible reasons for a hold. 1. New Seller 2. History of Disputes 3. Unusual activity or high risk item. I have been a Paypal customer for +5 years, and have not had any disputes. Camera lenses are not listed as their high risk item, and the average selling price of my sales is 200$. I called their customer service which aspires to be horrible.

Emailing them returns an automated response disregarding my questions. Replying to that email also gives a standardized reply without addressing my concerns. I then called, and the first person could not tell me why my funds were on hold or what I could do to prevent it from happening again. The second time I called, the person told me Ebay had requested a hold placed. After calling Ebay and finding out this was not true, I called Paypal back. I was told there was nothing I could do, no way to prevent it from happening in the future, and I just have to wait.

I have spent 3 hours with their customer service attempting to access my funds which were illegally held by Paypal. As a loyal customer of 5 years, all I can say is that I have never had a such a terrible experience with a company. Their customer service will do nothing to help you. If there was any viable alternative to using Paypal for Ebay sales, I would choose it immediately. For those who have a choice, do not use this company.

I waited the next day to call again about the case & spoke to some woman that told me it was denied because it was a different tracking number. I explain to her that I was told the original label had a error and the post office refunded me for the label so I reshipped it again. She tells me I need to go to the post office and get a letter claiming that they gave it back to me. I'm here like "??? Please connect me to someone else, because you aren't exactly helping me" So she connects me to the "Supervisor Manager" of Claims, his name is Ken.

I explained to him what happened and he basically told me he couldn't help me. Even though on the web screen it said "IF YOU HAVE ANY NEW INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CASE YOU CAN APPEAL THE DECISION" which is exactly what I called for & now they won't even stand by their own writing. A bunch of idiots that don't know to deal with anything. Everyone gives you a different answer and then someone tells you something completely different. PayPal has lost all my respect, I will never use their payment platform or card readers at pop-up shops ever again. I use Shopify or Square in the future.

After two months, on 20 Aug 2016, I got a phone call from Dublin asking me to pay the amount + their extra fee for a total of 112 euro. Sorry, I don't think it's worth my time dealing with this company again, so I just paid 112 euro and closed my PayPal account. 112 euro is not a big amount compared to the time I lost. The issue of duplicate transactions was a well-known bug (e.g. in Australia 2015). I was surprised a huge company like PayPal was unable to solve this issue. And their clients have to pay the price for their bugs. Sorry, it's unthinkable. I'd not recommend you use the service provided by this company.

We figured all was in the clear, and I tried to send again. This time I tried to send $235.00 since she said she'd cover shipping for me. Once again it wouldn't use my debit card, so it defaulted to the bank account again, and again it had a wait time. She cancelled again. Both cancellations were within 24 hours of when the transfers were initiated.. Finally, I use my debit card to add a balance to my PayPal and send it to her that way. This goes through and she has funds instantly. I think I'm in the clear.

Nope! Today PayPal has taken $251.15 from my bank account... I call PayPal and am told there's nothing they can do about it. It will take 3-5 BUSINESS days for it to go back as a PayPal balance, and then another 3-5 BUSINESS days to transfer that balance back to my bank account! It's Friday... Yesterday was pay day. It's easily going to be the end of next week, if not the start of the week AFTER THAT before I see any of that money!

After the working transfer of $235.00 and paying all my bills, I only had about $275 left. That was my food budget. Now, with $251.15 gone, I have a food and gas budget (for a family of 4) of about $23... So THANKS PAYPAL! How about you come explain to my kids why we have no food and our vehicles won't move for the next week to week and a half! Thanks!

I admit that this one payment got overlooked after I received the statement for $98.85. I only noticed that when I received a paper invoice for $135.85, which I paid immediately once I saw I had missed the payment date. My records will show I always pay on time, or well before. In looking up my account, I could not find a purchase for $98.85, and called PayPal as I thought my account had been hacked. That was when I found out that I was two months in arrears and not just a little over a month. Of course, as I had already paid the full amount, I had no recourse for recovering any of the $64.00 finance and fee charges. I have since lost faith in paperless statements and have changed that. Without proof it becomes a classic "he said, she said" argument. I say I never got the original statement, backed up by statements and payments all the way back to 2012, and the PayPal customer service people say it probably went to spam or "got lost on the internet".

They are completely unprofessional and I do not tolerate business handling their users like this no matter how big of a company they are. I will no longer be using PayPal and I hope you don't as well unless you want to be treated poorly and use a company that should be working FOR you not AGAINST you. Absolutely absurd.

My case was closed 5 days early not in my favor. Stating goods as described. Although it was goods and services. When you're charged for things not done at all that's not correct. She told me worst case scenario is get money back for services not rendered. She suspected I'd get all money back. After it was closed (after 10pm when cannot call and talk to anyone) I called back next day asking what happened and why information was inaccurate and not descriptive. I was connected with a very rude and angry male who told me I wasn't entitled to any money back and Id never get any money back. He (at first refused to file appeal), he finally agreed to file appeal telling me I have no chance and cannot get my money back.

I asked why stating "I'm getting completely opposite information from two different people that have same job at same company. Is there misinformation she gave me or you're basing your conclusion on something else?" He yelled over me interrupting me multiple times. I said "I'm trying to understand. Can you please listen to my question and then respond. I'm not saying she's right or you are. I just want to know why I'm getting such a polar opposite information and reaction. Different people might have differing opinion or different point of view but to have opposite - this doesn't make sense." He continued interrupting me until he hung up on me. No callback.

Then I received an email a few minutes later that he had filed appeal and I had 3 days to respond online (even though I explained I do not have a "computer". Only mobile phone and tablet). I asked repeatedly if there was any other way to submit evidence as my case had been decided without evidence. The following day I went to Staples (as I told him I'd have to pay and rent a computer). I used the computer to log on site. I was able to see the person I made claim against had been able to submit all his "evidence" through email. I had a link to submit. I submitted some photos online then it said I couldn't submit anymore online and would have to fax with this specific fax cover sheet. I submitted 7 photos online then additionally 78 photos through fax (he could've emailed me the fax cover sheet). I spent over $100 using computer printing pictures and sending fax long distance.

After this I called following day as faxes hadn't been processed and weren't showing up. I spoke with a third customer service representative. Explained everything including two representatives telling me completely opposite things. She said the first woman who was pleasant and helpful and said I'd receive worst case partial payment (for undone work) and completion of job; was the number one customer service representative in her department and knew her stuff. Said she won awards and was the ideal person for me to talk to.

She reviewed account and filed complaint asking for review of second call representative and of team that had closed my case without following procedure including allowing both of us to submit evidence and affidavit of what happened. She said she was sorry for what I'd gone through and she recommended relaxing and I'd be contacted for my affidavit as he had been before they closed it. That even (again just after 10pm when no one is available to speak to on phone) my appeal was closed not in my favor again.

I have zero faith in PayPal as no one knows what is covered when it's their job to know and continually lied to mistreated and left out of the process. I used PayPal because of protection for goods and services. I will be closing my PayPal and EBay account after this is all over and never, ever use them again. I will try filing complaint through my credit card company and if need be through small claims court. PayPal and EBay are dead to me.

8 days later no product shipped so checked my acct and payment cancelled... WRONG WRONG WRONG. Stupid me for not knowing PayPal would try to deduct full amount and then cancel the transaction completely and not notify me of a problem. After three calls to them (and first one where they blamed vendor), I told they have a hierarchy so I can only charge amounts UNDER the gift card value. Give me a break. Don't have time to penny by penny try to use my gift card in full.

Don't waste your time registering gift cards on PayPal. Chances are you will lose some of it and if a few million people have to leave a dollar on each card. It's quite the take for PayPal. Rip off. PS. Also now I can't use the gift card for 10 days because PayPal tried to take more than what was on the card. Lost my product deal and will pay $60 MORE NOW for same items. Thanks for nothing, PayPal.

I called Chase to have it disputed, which they graciously handled. PayPal's customer service was terrible, when I explained that I wanted to close my account out of frustration, the rep was a rude ** and told me that ,"the card wasn't mine". I told him that it was my husband's and that I've never had problems before, to which he spoke over me rudely and said ,"sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't." I reiterated that I wanted my account closed, and he hung up on me. I'm through with this company, they went downhill. If you don't want Opie mishandling your funds and bank account, STAY AWAY.

I sent the item packaged up nicely even printed off the paypal receipt and sent that the same day. I actually could see the money pending in my paypal account and I sent the buyer the tracking number. She got that and thanked me and it was tracked to her home town. Said it was delivered within that week Friday 5th August 2016 according to the tracking, I then sent paypal what I had to for this apparent case in evidence which was evidence of the tracking number and a receipt thinking that was all they needed cause they had not ask me for anything else so I was awaiting the money to be credited to my account. Just thought I would hop on and have look to see if anything had changed and BOOM the money has been reversed back to the buyer. I have nothing. She has a beautiful dress. FREE???

What can I do?? I thought paypal looked after both the buyers and sellers safe and secure. I never signed up this. I'm sure if the lady didnt get the dress she would of let me know because the communication was good. I did email her and ask her to confirm if she did or not on Sunday and she has not replied so I'm gathering she has it because she would be contacting me otherwise asking where it is so maybe a bit of dishonesty on her part. Not sure. All I know as a seller this time I have not been looked after and out of pocket and paypal had the ultimate control over that transaction and no real explanation why to me. Furthermore I sold this item on gumtree and stated there was no refund on the item, also that's where the option was to sell the item through paypal. Obviously a dumb move.

After calling back the next person got me to a supervisor right away. The supervisor gave me a number to the department that makes decisions on holds. That number was also answered by rude and uninformed people. One person actually told me she was the supervisor and refused to transfer me then eventually transferred me to website support after I told her I do not need web support! I finally reached a reasonable person, not a supervisor, but she was willing to send my client a refund so I could charge through my normal method thus completely avoiding PayPal altogether! I will not use PayPal for any reason in the future. Rude customer service, poor policy, plenty of better options for accepting payments! I strongly advise to not use PayPal unless you want them running your business and holding your cash until they say it's ok for you to have it.

Original Review: Aug. 9, 2016

I was authorized a $66.00 refund from ancestry.com through PayPal. Two months later, PayPal still haven't refunded my money. They keep bouncing me back to Ancestry and Ancestry keeps saying they authorized it 2 months ago through PayPal. PayPal dropped the ball but they won't admit it. I email them using their online form, then I immediately receive a form email saying I have to respond to that email with the information all over again. Then I get responses in the message center on their site from various people claiming that I have to give them more and more numbers of this and that and they send me back to Ancestry!!

I get this excuse every time I call about why they are holding the funds and they tell me it's their process and only happens every few transactions like a random thing. **. It is a bunch of crap and happens every time I sell something of a value of more than $100 so BEWARE!!!! Don't sell on eBay with Paypal with anything that is more than that amount, hoping to get funds right away be prepared to wait weeks even if you have been selling and have had an account for 11 years.

Only time I got my identity stolen was when I put my bank info into PayPal business; BAD IDEA. They steal your money little by little with stupid fees and taxes; like to death; I didn't even buy anything yet there was a charge from PayPal. Moral of this story: PAYPAL not eBay; SUCKS #PayPal #YOUARE**WORTHLESS #ILost10yearsOFMYLIFE**ONTHEPHONE #WITHACCENTED**.

So now about 2 weeks go by and my bank is calling me saying I am 90$ overdraw. I ask "how can that be. I don't use it." They said paypal tried 3 times that morning to withdraw 28$ that I already paid 2 weeks back so I called paypal and they told me "no" - that it was put on pay later. I explained "no" - that I seen them take the money out of my acct and I never wanted pay later!!! And I explained that they tried 3 times in 1 morning to withdraw 28$ from my bank acct that I never gave permission to and told them not to try no more - that I don't keep money there. I was told they wouldn't. So now the 28$ that I already paid has become 90. I owe my bank because they charge 30$ every time paypal tried to withdraw.

So next morning my bank calls again and you guessed it PayPal tried to withdraw 28$ 3 times again after they were told not to!! Mess with that acct so now my 28$ that I all paid has became 180$ so I called paypal again and explained why they try to withdraw when told not to. I really got no answer on that other than I owed 28$. I told them "check their records. They would see I paid it." So some girl I couldn't understand was rude and said I must pay the 28$. I ask who was going pay the 180$ that they ran up. She said I had to so I ask to speak with someone higher. One of their reps came on and said she would check it. So 10 minutes go by on phone and she returns and says "yes" she found it and would take care of it. But I had pay the 180$. I told her that they had to - that they weren't suppose to mess with that acct. She told me she would forward it to someone and I would get email on their decision.

Well next morning comes and guess what. Paypal tried 3 more times to withdraw 28$ but this time my bank was aware of it and I wasn't charged 90$ more. So finally what I had to do was pay my bank 180$, close the acct and paypal sends me email saying my acct is suspended because I closed my bank acct. At this point I told paypal where to put their acct and close it. I was told they would not so I pay the 28$. I won't and as I look at it they owe me 180$.

I have an e-commerce site and supply them with the information they requested. They still did not lift the warning on my account. I reached out to them again. I requested the information that they needed. I was told I was all set and if they needed more information that they would contact me. I didn't hear anything back until my account was locked. I have an unable to use my funds. I have been unable to transfer money to my Bank. They even chastised me for not having enough money in my account to cover my monthly service fee. When I contacted them they were rude and told me that they were working with the government for regulations. They did not know what part of the government they were supplying this information to. They could not answer my basic questions and they refused to unlock my account.

Today I received an email from them with seven new items of information that they wanted and they explained that they were looking into anti-money laundering regulations. Making sure that I complied. This has been a horrid experience with the company who handles 90% of my business transactions. This should be illegal and they should not have the ability to prevent a company from doing business, paying their employees, paying their bills and paying for other business services.

August 2nd 2016 I received an update stating it will take 90 days to finish my dispute but since I didn't request in writing for a provisional credit that I can't get one now!! I called Paypal and forwarded the emails proving I sent and they received and answered me to the request for a provisional credit and all the customer service blow off guy would say was I will get another update on 9-16-16. I would say "I am asking you why I was sent an email stating I didn't request a provisional credit."

"Sara" the supervisor that got on the phone after speaking to the first customer serviceman said she was a manager. I explained to her in detail about the update I was sent from disputes that I never sent a request for a provisional credit, in fact I did send an email on 7-18-16 requesting a credit and Paypal responded and said I didn't have to do anything else. Sara ended the call by saying YOU ARE NOT GETTING ANY KIND OF CREDIT AND HUNG UP ON ME.

Not only is your PayPal Account balance at risk, but any linked financial account may be subject to balance withdrawals, which may then result in overdraft fees, available credit line reduction, purchase denials, increased interest rates and even account closures as a result of funds withdrawn automatically (i.e. without your permission) by PayPal. Most customers and small businesses owners may be better off choosing a Payment Gateway Provider other than PayPal since the risk of doing business with PayPal is just too great for them.

So, why not get the problem fixed so I doesn’t keep happening and complaints about PayPal aren’t all over the Internet. Too much like right I suppose. They say they haven’t been able to fix the problem. I analyzed these statements and what I heard is: "we’re not going to pay a college graduate who majored in programming and accounting to fix the problem; it is now your problem and you need to pay it." Hmmm!!! I’ve been very responsible in using my PayPal account by never going up to or over the limit, abiding by promotional rules and paying on time. It is irresponsible of PayPal to not fix the problem. But this is how the rich get richer and the little man gets trampled over. Principles are principles, PERIOD.

Then I went to my PayPal account and selected “Transfer to your bank.” Under the drop down menu on the next page, I selected the Euro option, and entered 946.91 euros on the line, and selected continue. I then pushed the button to complete the transaction. I was then presented with a confirmation screen indicating that 1,019.48 dollars had been deposited to my bank account. Knowing something had gone wrong, I immediately called PayPal, who told me that they could not stop the transaction (despite it having happened less than 15 minutes before I called), and told me that it was my bank who had converted the currency to dollars. I then called my bank, who said that they did not have any notice of an incoming transaction, and that I would have to wait until the next day when it had showed up.

I called my bank the next day, July 17th, 2016, and they told me that they had never received any euros, just dollars, from PayPal. I called PayPal once again to figure out what had happened, and they told me that PayPal automatically converts deposits to US banks into dollars. I expressed my frustration that I had never received any warning or given any approval whatsoever for this fee to be charged. PayPal insisted that there was nothing they could do at the time, but told me that if I transferred the 1,019.48 dollars back to my account that I could have it exchanged back into the euros I originally had. When the money came through to my PayPal account on July 25th, 2016, I went to PayPal’s website to change the currency back, only to find that I would only get about 905 euros back. At current exchange rates, this is a nearly $50 decrease in value.

I called PayPal to ask for an explanation, and they told me that there was nothing they could do, contrary to what they had indicated before. They told me that it was my fault for not reading their policy, and insisted that their website warned that they would change the currency to dollars and charge a fee when transferring euros to a bank. This is blatantly false. While it is true that when I received the euros initially, I had the option to convert for a fee, when I transferred it to a bank there was absolutely nothing. The euro symbol was explicitly used, and I entered the amount to be transferred in euros. There was no indication at all that I would be transferring dollars to my bank. I never approved this, and I was charged a very high exchange fee without permission. PayPal is insisting that they can’t do anything, and refusing to issue a refund. They blame me for not reading their website thoroughly, but there is simply nothing to be read.

It's not $53 but the principle of the matter and after talking with JOSH who is the manager of the dispute department, he admitted that they are legally allowing this and refused to look into it further. Paypal is an american company but it seems that the chinese have found a loophole and Paypal is just worried about making $$$ regardless. This scam is unacceptable, what if someone gave them $5,000? This is un-American and you can bet your assets that I will be buying from USA regardless of cost and I will refuse to do business with Paypal until they return my $53, again it's the principle. Anyone else who has been targeted help me get this out and lets teach Paypal a lesson to block chinese scams.

Obviously, there is nobody at PayPal who reads English and for sure cannot write in English anymore. Unfortunately, I cannot write in Chinese or Hindi, either. The world is really falling apart with all of these barefoot people in charge. I guess I'll drain my account and look for some other Chinese or Indian method of doing online payments. BTW, I did suggest that perhaps the web designer could provide more information in the error message. But, no one at PayPal understood that either. There was no comment about that suggestion. Maybe if I take off my shoes and socks and stop using English, I will feel better. Oh well, the world has gone to hell. No return.

As soon as she did the chargeback paypal closed the case. We called. They said to make contact. We tried. She Aileen ** would not respond. The final email I called her what she was - a thief and a liar. She complained. Now I have been restricted from ebay, for telling the truth. Ebay claimed I used profanity (untrue) - none used. She currently has the exact boots for sale on Etsy under "bombshellbetties" for $350 each. PayPal says it cannot be reviewed, which runs afoul the statute of limitations for her fraudulent crime. They seem to make their own rules regardless of actual laws. Every time we call paypal you get different answers. They even go as far as to deny knowing anything about it.

Paypal and ebay are criminal corrupt businesses which will under their current regulations surely fail, when they are buried in lawsuits. They have been informed they are dealing with stolen items, but thus far really do not seem to care, although the authorities I am in contact seem too. Companies no matter cannot openly allow criminals to knowingly run their scams.

However, until now I haven't receive any reply from the buyer. This is the only transaction that I can't capture and worse is that the product that the buyer purchased is already in the buyer's possession. I called PayPal customer service again last night and they keep on insisting for me to contact the buyer where in no way that the buyer is cooperating. How can PayPal authorized a payment if there is a problem on the credit card? Yet they don't do anything on their part to resolve this issue. They let their customer do everything even if it's PayPal's fault why the authorization went through even if there is a problem on the buyer's credit card.

So I preferred another method which was phone #. Well another stone. They did not have my phone number. So after 25 minutes experimenting log in on MY account I decided to call. Obviously I got somebody overseas and with a little accent she starts verifying me. It took four tries to get my email spelled out. 10 minutes passed already. Finally after repeating 12 time the spelling of my name she GOT IT.

Waiting for the needed help, I start explaining that I have to update my account information. “No problem” I’m hearing on the other line. And here is the genius suggestion. She told me: "Since this banking account is inactive I’m going to close it and you can log in and start all over with the new banking information. This is the easiest way I can resolve your issue. Otherwise I have to transfer you to our security and they will ask you a LOT OF QUESTIONS.” With the understanding that she will close my banking account and I have just go back and set up my new account I agreed. Then she said: “OK, I DID CLOSE YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT.”

I was stunned. I have my account for about 15 years and here you go just like that was closed from somebody who doesn’t understand the business, doesn’t value and respect customers and do whatever is easier to “RESOLVE” the problem. Then I asked for supervisor hoping that if somebody closes accounts this account goes to some kind of approval or monitoring process and then finally is closed. The manager introduce himself as “SASH”, but when I asked him to spell his name for me three times he finally spelled it “JOK”. Of course both names are scam. He is not probably the manager, he is the person seating next to the other representative.

After telling me that “it is very bad that your account is closed, but I can’t open it. You can go and start fresh.” Never expected that somebody from India is going to advise me one day to “start fresh”!!! You never know. Then I asked him to transfer me to talk with somebody from San Jose and he said that that he can’t. It is policy not to transfer! I’m wondering who these policies are serving??? Not me.

So to make the story shorter, I had my account closed just off the blue from the PayPal people. Then they asked me to open new account. Who is paying for that? Oh, I know the fees which are constantly increasing to cover maintenance cost increased from incredible incompetent people. I was done with them. I just put notes on all my eBay listings that I DO NOT USE PAY PAL SERVICES because I don’t trust them. So the buyers will be provided with account to deposit the funds or just come to my door and in old fashion way I’ll get the green. Bitcoin is the other option also mentioned. Personally, I’ll never use this SCAM PayPal again, EVER!!! I do not recommend this service to anybody. These days there are many services out there more efficient and more reliable.

I did everything in my power and thought I could trust this company. However after 30 days still no money and no response from PayPal. I'm out of not only a brand new Samsung Galaxy s6 but also $360.00. I have decided to file a complaint to the BBC and now I'm icing this review on Consumer Affairs to let people know PayPal cannot be trusted they will let you be scammed. They have done nothing but given me a runaround!

I see an illegal trend here as I went down the list of corporations such as Click Bank, Sears Holding Corporation, Instant Checkmate, etc., companies I don't remember even dealing with! PayPal would not allow me to 'Cancel' these accounts, just labeled them as 'Inactive'. I see a trend here and recommend every PayPal user go through the difficult maneuvers required to check your payments page by clicking on the 'Gear' icon for profile and clicking Payments and under Manage Payments, click Pre-approved Payments. Thank you and buyer beware!

Anyhow I was looking through the seller advertisements and found a game account I was interested in. I contacted the seller and we negotiated a price for the game account which would also include the games dedicated e-mail address and everything for $260 USD. We made all our communications through Skype and I organised with him to make payment and he was to send all game and e-mail account details through Skype once he received payment.

Anyhow, I made payment to the seller through PayPal believing this to be a simple transaction with confidence believing that PayPal provided protection for buyer and seller (which was the main reason I joined PayPal). Anyhow once I made payment and the seller received payment, he sent me a false gaming account details (no e-mail account) and logged off Skype and deleted me from the Skype contact list. After testing the game login and finding it to be false, I immediately contacted both PayPal and EpicNPC to notify them I had been scammed thinking I had protection from PayPal.

Originally I put in the PayPal dispute under 'did not receive the item', (1) because I did not receive a working game account and (2) because I did not receive the e-mail account that was supposed to come with the game. During the dispute investigation I wanted to provide PayPal with more information they could use for their investigation but I had no way of doing as there was no e-mail and sections within PayPal disputes (active buttons) for uploading evidence. (You have to wait for someone to request this information but no one ever asked me for anything). I must say at this time also that PayPal only has restricted (word count numbered) ability for you to provide your evidence. I was not able to upload all the evidence I wanted to provide them to help them with their investigation despite trying to send it by e-mail they would not accept it.

At the same time I contacted EpicNPC and opened a dispute with the seller for EpicNPC to investigate our transaction. This was a different experience as I was able to provide them with all the evidence in relation to our transactions providing Skype log history screenshots, chat logs and proof of payment between the seller and myself. To cut a long story short PayPal found in favor of the seller because he provided me fake game account details. Didn't matter that the information was fake just that it was provided to me made it sufficient for him to win this case.

I then appealed this decision thinking that I can try a different route of appeal using the 'item not as described' thinking I must win this as the game account was not working and part of the transaction was to include the games dedicated e-mail account ownership, which I did not receive and was easily proved in the Skype chat logs. So I opened up an appeal with PayPal for this case. Meanwhile everything was being investigated on the EpicNPC website. After reviewing all the information we provided, the website investigators found that the seller was fraudulent not providing me with a working game account while taking my money and banned him from their website.

I tried to contact PayPal via e-mail to give them the EpicNPC links of the investigation findings via e-mail thinking this has to help with the PayPal investigation and was told by someone they will pass on the information to the investigators. Around 3 hours later I received an e-mail from PayPal saying that the case has been investigated and found in favor of the seller.

You decide for yourself if PayPal is safe to use and protects honest buyers and sellers as claimed. I no longer believe that PayPal is safe for online transactions and they do not protect the honest buyer or seller. From my experience anyway is that it only protects those wanting to steal from others and practice fraud. Wish everyone the best and be careful as unfortunately there is many dishonest people wanting to steal your money and there is no protection from PayPal for honest consumers.

I called in and they said there was nothing to be done. The request was automatic, even though it was cancelled literally immediately. There is no need for 15 days minimum for a transaction that was cancelled to resolve, there is no company in the world that takes that long to get money worked around and it's not for security reasons I can tell you that. Once it leaves my account there is no security needed. That opening has already been guarded or exploited. Seriously, PayPal has gone downhill since Elon Musk sold. USE DWOLLA INSTEAD. Way better!

Kenneth then said he needed to speak with his manager. After a considerable wait he came back on the line and said they needed to do more investigation and he would be in contact with me. Two months or so went by and I did not hear from him. I called PayPal and it turned out I once again and by chance had Kenneth on the phone. After being a little vague about the issue he finally admitted he was the one who originally tried to help me. He again put me on a lengthy hold to speak to his supervisor and came back with, "We need to do more investigating. And I'll call you back." Again I heard nothing. A week or so prior to Christmas (about 3 months later) and knowing I would be having my 6 month no payment/no interest coming due, I called them back. I spoke to a different person this time who acted vague and I could already see where this was going.

I asked him if I could speak to Kenneth. He said he didn't know who Kenneth was. After a lot of assistance, he finally found him in the company directory. I asked him if he could drop him an email, asking him to contact me. He did just that and I ended the call. I still have not heard from anyone at PayPal. I received a couple of invoices since with "no payment required" and I responded to them with, "I would be having a payment coming due and if you wanted some money you need to call me and address my missing $80."

I haven't heard anything from PayPal. I have not made any payments and they continued to charge interest and late fees which have now ballooned the balance to almost double. I now have a collection agency calling me twice a day. I responded to the last PayPal invoice with "I will see you in small claims court because that is where this is obviously going." I also told them I would be contacting eBay to let them know what has happened and close my eBay account as well, since I can't sell anything there without PayPal brokering the transaction.

1) PayPal makes a practice of "limiting" accounts rather than closing them. Although for all intents and purposes the account cannot be used by the customer, so it's basically closed, but PayPal calls it "limited". This allows them to count the account as an active and open account. This growing company can then report the number of active accounts it has, while still including the "closed" accounts because they are considered, "limited (still open). Also, limited accounts are not even able to be closed by the customer. They are forced to stay open. This makes the company look like it's bursting with growth. If this is not correct, please, by all means explain.

2) If you can't prove your identity, they keep the money? So, I know you're thinking, if some customer can't prove their identity, they are cheating too and don't deserve the money. This is absolutely wrong, here's why... PayPal allows customers so sign up with any name they want (such as a nickname, etc). Then, PayPal allows transactions to take place, even for months. These transactions may be perfectly legitimate and successful and everything is going along nicely, until one day PayPal freezes/locks/limits the account because of a "transaction threshold" or the need to satisfy "government regulations" or whatever other reason they give. Then, you upload the requested documents and they don't match the "nickname" used when opening the account. All of a sudden, you can't get your money because you can't prove who you are. All the while, there were no problems or chargebacks or anything else wrong with your transactions.

This is all actual experience and not hypothetical. I've used eBay since the money order days back in 1997 then used PayPal when that became available. But, no Paypal, no Ebay, no a lot of other things online too. So, back to the facts, PayPal said the identity confirmation failed because the documents don't match the account name. "Duh." They sent a message with 2 possible solutions: Option 1: Send in some document with the same name. (Since it's a nickname, don't have it.) Option 2: Send an email to their compliance department asking them to change the name on the account to match the documents. (Easy enough! I chose Option 2.)

However, even though it was the option suggested by PayPal (and lead me to believe they would change it) they did not. Instead they sent another message that said, "We've reviewed your message and think that we'd be better able to answer your questions with a telephone call." (Uhm, I had no questions. I merely requested a name change per their email to me.) (PayPal was already in possession of the 2 documents they requested when they said they would change the name on the account, so the documents should've been sufficient to get it done.)

PayPal acknowledges that people will use nicknames because they have an area on the website to request a name change. One option is for people who get married, etc. The other option is for people who used the wrong name at sign up, i.e. a nickname (their exact language). So, if this is not allowed, then it shouldn't be allowed. PayPal errs by luring people to sign up too easily and transact financial business with none of the required documents required during sign up, which causes a lot of problems for the customer later on. (Again trying to pad/increase company growth numbers.) Honestly, it creates a bad working environment for the PP staff also who are forced to deal with rightfully angry customers. Then, when it's all said and done, if PayPal deems you've failed their identity requirements, they've created a massive customer service problem by keeping the account "limited" and not letting the customer get his/her money.

This obviously makes people really angry. Then everybody spreads bad news and negativity about PayPal. Does this serve the company's interest? Was the "easy signup" worth it? They've obviously got the numbers on that risk/reward paradigm and I assume they've concluded it's beneficial to them. But it's still wrong, shady and unethical toward the consumer. Does this help them to be successful in the future if they are causing all this animosity towards themselves by being too easy to lure people to sign up, a percentage of which make mistakes that could be avoided if the proper documents were required during the registration process? What kind of leadership allows this? It's madness.

They can still be successful in the future though because they basically have a monopoly and a dangerously exclusive stranglehold on online financial transactions at the moment. eBay is the largest and they only accept PayPal. If you're looking for alternatives to eBay, there are some out there, but almost all of them still use PayPal. Where's the alternative to PayPal? There really aren't any.

Then, after all this, you go and try to open a "new" account, with name being exactly correct and all documents in hand ready to prove it. Please note: It's never been determined or suggested that I ever did anything wrong with the original "limited" account, just unable to verify (or change) the identity. Then during the signup process, signup fails and I'm not able to create a new account because...error, "Account address already exists." So, basically, there is already an account registered to the address, the limited one which cannot be verified to their satisfaction, and after going through the steps to create a new account, properly, I cannot because of the existing account. So, even though I've never done wrong, I cannot have a PP account anymore, for the rest of my life. I'm done?

Let's also remember that PP has collected fees and made money on the transactions in the "account they consider rogue". (Unable to verify identity.) So this company has profited from the "lure of the easy signup". In the end the consumer loses his/her money, but PayPal keeps their haul? Yep. Does PayPal earn some interest on all the money it holds? Yep. According to an article I read about a successful British businessman (Huel food company) who had about 50,000 GBP held by PP, when he asked about interest on his money they held, PP replied, "We won't pay interest because it's, "e-money." (Not real money?)

They're also so big, they play an international shell game: Regulations are different in every country and "when in Rome" PayPal does as the Romans. They don't (maybe can't) offer a consistent operating policy that is the same everywhere. They have different terms and conditions for different countries. But what's more, is when PayPal gets in trouble for a business practice in one country, it changes its rules for that country only and continues to operate the same in the other jurisdictions that haven't taken them to court yet.

I read somewhere that a user reported if you fail the identity check you have to wait 180 days for them to release the money. This is false. If someone fails the identity check and PayPal keeps the account limited, (because they think you are not the account owner), do you really think they're going to let you take money out of the account? Of course not. So, seemingly, they'd keep it and the money they made off the transactions too.

PayPal also makes a practice of holding the carrot in front of your face: PayPal will and does limit accounts at its own discretion. (It's in their terms and conditions somewhere. It's like 100 pages long so I don't remember which chapter it's in let alone which page. LOL.) They do it for a variety of reasons. One internet search will reveal just the "tip of the iceberg" of the different reasons people have been told their accounts were limited/frozen. (A spike in sales, chargebacks, complaints, too many transactions, high-value transactions, risky transactions, risky goods, risky country, short account history, a relationship with someone else whose account had a problem, and many many more. Basically, if you use PayPal, then you're a suspect...eventually.)

The carrot is your money. They know you want your money, and they allow you to build up a balance. Then, when the timing is right (or wrong depending on if you're PayPal or the consumer) they limit your account and request more information. Everything was fine and suddenly they need more information? Also, they are very sneaky in the way they do that. They will state something like: "Hi there!" :) "We need just a little information from you..." then, you upload EXACTLY what they requested, usually 2 pieces of identity like an ID, passport, bank statement, utility bill, etc. Then...that wasn't good enough either!! (Yes, I mean what I said. They requested 2 pieces of info, and the exact clear, legible and accurate 2 pieces of info were uploaded) and they came back with, "You're almost done. We need just a little more information from you." OMG!!

So, they were not even upfront the first go round of asking for identity documents. If they wanted more than 2, they should have asked for more than 2. They keep trying to accumulate and hoard any and all identity documents they can get (or that we're willing to let them have) to get our $150.00 in the account. They dangle your money in front of you and say, "To get your money... Give us this," so you give. Then they say, "Give us this", and you give. And they say, "Just give us a little more," and you give... Where does it end? The reason is this: PayPal knows people don't like giving out their personally identifying information. Everybody is aware of identity theft and the almost monthly news reports of one company after another that had a security breach and lost customers' sensitive identification documents to hackers.

If PP requested all this information upfront during registration, some people would walk away. So the easiest way for PayPal to get your identification is to trade it for your money which they're holding ransom. They're essentially buying your sensitive identification documents from you with your own money!! Which they are also making interest from and using for their day to day operations. Slick! They eventually will ask for your social security number if you're American and probably run credit checks. Of course they don't do this for people in other countries, without social security cards and credit check companies. If I was a hacker, the best place to steal identities from would be a company that has it all... Like PP.

Do you trust them? Do you trust each employee at each workstation in front of every computer who has access to your account and ID? PayPal has offices in different countries around the world, employees in different countries, paid less than in the USA and in countries with very little or at the very least less enforcement of identity theft than in the US. Should we be skeptical about giving them our information? I think so. But they know that. That's why they must hold our money to force us to give them what they want.

So you give all the information and maybe they remove the limitations and maybe not. There is no guarantee that even when you do exactly what they ask, that they do what they say they will do. In the end, they have your money and your identity. Once they have all your identity, it's pretty much certain that you cannot open an new account either as they will already have everything and you won't be able to verify a new account.

People say, "This can't be true, I'm sure they're regulated." Ha ha ha. It's all true and there are others out there with the same experiences. Regulated? I've heard that PayPal is not really regulated. Or certainly not like a normal bank, even though they operate like one in many ways concerning the consumers using it. Peter Thiel, a founder said that PayPal is not a bank because it doesn't participate in fractional reserve banking. Okay, whatever. Actually, banks don't do any of this stuff PayPal does. I've never had a bank limit my account at random, or for any reason at their discretion, etc.

According to Wikipedia: In 2015, in a still developing process, 150,000 Spanish card holders had their funds frozen in an apparent fraud case involving a PayPal service provider, Younique Money, which was the de facto administrator of the cards. Previously, PayPal had charged €15 to all its card users without authorization (150,000 users). As of March 2015 most funds have not been returned

PayPal charged a 15 Euro fee to all users without their consent? And, as of March 2015 funds hadn't been returned? OMG. So, PayPal isn't regulated as a bank in the USA but is regulated as a bank in some other countries. And, although they claim they are not regulated or shouldn't be regulated because of the "fractional reserve banking thing" (which to me is only one function of a bank, not a defining one) PayPal has no problem limiting accounts for what it says are, "Government Regulations". Ha ha! It's been a long story. What do you think now?

Then I get a notification from PayPal that she has claimed a chargeback as "Item not received" and requested a refund for over half the cost of the cruise for 7 people ($6,600USD). We are an agency and only gain a 10% commission - only on the cruise and in this case much less as we offered all discounts possible. At this point I sent over 15 documents to PayPal with all possible documentation and call as well when they explained I have sent everything and that I will get my money back, and that they are fighting for me. I also wrote to the passenger and she explained that she feels sorry and never wanted me to get in the middle of this (lie). After a week's time I get a notification that she received the total for the chargeback and $6,600 from my money (not the cruise company money) was deducted from my account.

The customer managed to get (fraudulently) over a 50% refund for a couple of hours of a problem on a cruise I sold with a 40% discount. I sent all documentation that she received all services, was 100% happy with our service plus all policies that explain that itineraries are subject to change and much more. I want to know why PayPal helps this modus operandi way of traveling. And how I can fight to get my money back. It is impossible as a service provider to have seller protection, as we do not ship products.

I called PayPal and was put on hold forever. So I gave up. I tried several more times and was finally able to get to the page where I could file a claim to begin processing the refund for my shipping on a recent purchase that I returned. I provided the necessary documentation and then kept getting emails from Telus International, the company that processes the refund claims, informing me the information I provide was not what was needed, although I did provide what the PayPal website said I needed to provide.

When I finally got them the information they "wanted" they contacted me again and said the info was too blurry. I kept saying I was sending what they wanted and they kept replying that it was blurry and I only had 7 days to give them what they wanted in the format they wanted it or the claim would be "definitively" closed. They wanted my original PayPal receipt for the purchase with the date of the purchase form the PayPal website. I gave them that and then Telus International said there was no purchase date on it.

Well, duh, yes there is. So after hours and hours and emails after emails I called PayPal to close my account. I was told that I couldn't close it at that point and to wait 3 - 5 business days and try again. So I waited over 5 business days and went online to close my account and was still not allowed to, which required another call.

I was finally able to close my account but not without a great deal of trouble. I then tried to close out my husband's PayPal account online only to find that his account could not be closed without calling PayPal. What's up with that??? On one of my calls to PayPal I was asked to identify myself by answering several "security" questions but not the questions I had selected as prompted on my profile. I was asked four questions to which I answered all questions correctly and the woman said that I answered several questions incorrectly and so they could not access my account to help me. I asked to speak to a supervisor and explained to her that I had answered all the questions correctly and I asked her where did they get these questions and the supposed answers. The PayPal manager said the questions were provided by the government, excuse me???

Then the government has the wrong information about me and why are they getting questions from the government to secure my identity? That's why I set up the questions in my profile to ascertain my identity. All attempts to send an email to PayPal about my issues with them were met with no way to contact them. The only way is to call customer service and their customer service is downright terrible. Many of their reps speak with heavy accents and it is very hard to understand them. No one in customer service knows anything about the PayPal programs and so they have to transfer your call to other departments who in turn don't know the answer which then requires more transfers only to end the call with your issue not being resolved.

When I had a credit card that was no longer active I could not delete it from my account profile. Again, I was met with a bunch of red tape and hoops to jump through to get this card removed from my profile and in the end I was never able to delete it from my profile. I will never use PayPal again nor will I recommend it to anyone. PayPal needs a major overhaul!!!

In total frustration I turned to the back up Visa credit card fraud protection department. They put me in telephone contact with PayPal Disputes section. The women there informed me that the questionable charge was an unrelated chargeback. There was absolutely nothing in the activity statement to indicate this. The whole process was a frustrating total waste of time. I wish there was an alternative to PayPal.

I and I'm sure many other consumers have to pay the consequence of they not having enough personnel to review whatever it is they have to review in a fair timely manner or they just want to keep the funds for them self if people like myself gets tire and frustrated of waiting and calling and I mention this because they already collected their fees and just have the remaining of my fund hostage. It is unfair that a multi-million dollar company treat the people that got them where they at and made them all this money like this. I will be looking for help in any way I can to make sure this don't happen to anyone else so DO NOT use PayPal credit card service, pay the extra .3% and got with a bank that will show that they care about you and save yourself some time and headaches.

Then exactly that happened to me. To cut a long story short this led to my downloading PayPal statements starting 1 Jan 2014 which was the most they would let me download and looking more closely at the arithmetic on the statements. I found they cant do simple arithmetic, creating small errors in my favor and much larger ones in their own favor. What PayPal has done repeatedly is to debit from my bank account £30-50 at a time and explain that as "CURRENCY CONVERSION DEBIT INTO BRITISH POUNDS". I have none but British pounds. This is nonsense and the amount they debit should be equal to what they pay the vendor or there should be some explanation for what happened to the funds PayPal debited from my bank account. I have been under pressure recently and had not expected such a big company to cheat. They denied they can see my statements, and have blocked me from logging in recently.

I have also written to PayPal recently with statements I downloaded &printed on 29.04.2016 and simultaneously posted a copy to the Financial Ombudsman. But in Britain such services have become less friendly than before and I am not sure they will help. Meanwhile PayPal do not seem to answer when I phone 0800 358 7911 and after 1-2 hours waiting I hang up.

They owe me several 100 pounds from Jan 2014 and I am sure they have been stealing since I opened the account. I am usually meticulous and hate being ripped off. I am very unhappy with my life and people treat me very cruelly in the UK. I am not an animal besides quite educated. I find people become even more unkind once I say I am not treated well in the UK. It feels like a woman prison and I have been ripped off more than once. Is there anyone in the UK or outside who can comment on this scam or have any suggestions? I feel if I could scrutinize my older statements- I know I had PayPal in 2008 and earlier- I fancy PayPal would truthfully owe me £1000. I am willing to send in copies of my statements with analysis.

I had to spend money out of my pocket for shipping the items. I am having major health issues (which included a major heart attack) and have no money. My water and electric bill have been cut off because I had to pay all the shipping expecting to receive my money in time to pay the bills. Now they have put a 180-day hold on an 86-year-old woman. I had a death in the family and was unable to attend the out of town funeral for my sister because I had no money due to PayPal not giving me my money. This is a scam. There are thousands of complaints on PayPal. They need to be put out of business for trying to play GOD with everyone's money.

Without touching anything else, I got Ethernet and USB cable, connected to the module to realize that the item doesn't even connect to the internet so there was no way to test the item, also there was dust in the ports. I immediately contacted the seller. Seller didn't even listen to what I have to say and accused me of breaking the item or I have done something to it. What struck me the most, he announced that the box was sealed and I broke the seal on front of him!!! (Strange because his advertisement on eBay clearly shows the box opened, he also reported same on the first correspondence with PayPal, so PayPal should've seen that the seller can't be trusted).

Then the seller shouted in the phone that he doesn't care and he won't be accepting it back and he knows exactly what to do. I was stunned and decided to open a case. I did point out that the item was described as New and clear indications points to different story. I opened the resolution case the same day, next morning I was pleasantly surprised to see prompted action from PayPal with return instructions. I wish I would've never done that!! When selling and posting my own items I always log, record and have witnesses due to many stories similar to mine on the web. I recorded the packaging, trip to the post office. I paid special delivery 26.60 with insurance for 500 in case of a loss or damage because the seller indicated that he will not take it back, apparently I had done something to the item so I was worried, also there were witnesses in my house at the time of delivery and the time of returned postage.

Then today I got email from PayPal stating that my case was refused due to some damage to the item (this was a statement on the first call to PayPal), as advised by PayPal's staff I contacted my bank and then again PayPal, still I had no understanding what was the allegations and what had happened to the item. 3rd conversation with PayPal I finally discovered that it was apparently not damaged but a swapped to older model by me? Really??? I didn't know there even was an older model! There is no such thing as older model with Neptune Apex as far as I know (the only difference is it is New, Used, Starter kit or Gold kit).

Also I was told by one of the PayPal agents that the seller was advised to report this incident to Police as a fraud, in order to back up his words, strangely PayPal never contacted me about this, never asked my explanation or proof and clearly supports criminal action by this seller, so I have no choice than to report this seller and PayPal to Police as well. I will show the Cctv and all of the evidence I have because clearly PayPal doesn't care for 2 sides of the story. I have no money and no item, seller on other hand with PayPal's help has everything and a big laugh that he can get away with a fraud.

I officially declare to PayPal that this seller allegations are not true and his actions is a fraud! Everything I have said is truth and I'm a victim of a fraud! I have sent the same item back to the seller and packed the item in such way that nothing would get damaged, I have never had any criminal case, reports or claims against me. My reputation as a seller and buyer on many web resources such as (Ebay, Vestier Collectives, and PayPal etc.) is spotless with no history of strange activities. So why is PayPal believing and helping this seller to commit a fraud? I have a reason to believe that the lack of investigation, rushed decisions, incompetence and careless attitude by PayPal has lead the seller able to commit illegal actions due to lack of protective system against fraud and such ridiculous claims.

I have no choice than to report all parties involved and bring to account my evidence to Police which was carelessly ignored by PayPal, I have also no choice that to speak out to public and warn everyone that their money is not safe with PayPal's transactions and protection policy. I still have no indication or clear understanding if the "swapped" item will be posted to me or what is the future of this case, PayPal refuses to discuss any details and keeps saying that the case is closed... what a fantastic way to treat your customers. Shame on you!

And then I received an email from PayPal, saying that I have to go to the post office, and send the money to the shipper myself, and then get back to them with the receipt so that I will get the money back. Which sounded fine and reasonable, right? The first complaint comes here. I received an email from PayPal on a Sunday morning at 9 am, asking me to do what I was told to do. And then, at 1 pm, I received another email from them, saying that "we are really disappointed that we can have a customer like you, acting strange on us" something like that. I was like, SERIOUSLY? It is a damn Sunday, which post offices do not open. How should I get things done then? I waited until Monday and got it done. Then, the second nightmare.

They told me that I had to pay for a taxes fee, which together with the shipping fee I payed before, adds to a total of more than a thousand CAD, and bear in mind that I still have not receive the pending money. Right, it is the only thing I can do in order to get my money back. PayPal sent an email to me saying that this would be the FINAL step. The truth is? HELL NO. Today, I received another email, saying that THEY HAD MADE A MISTAKE WHEN MAKING THE TRANSACTION, that they had deducted an extra 1200 from the buyer's account. Two things I do not understand. First, I thought that the payment was already pending? So that shouldn't it be ready to get to my account already? Shouldn't that payment be already deducted from the buyer's and ready to get into mine's? Why are they still deducting money at this point? Second, PayPal are you serious?

You made a goddamn mistake of deducting more than you should, and you asked me to refund that 1200 to the buyer? And at this point I still have not received anything. I am getting very, very anxious and nervous these few days, as I am really nervous of where my damn money is. With that 1200, I will be paying more than 3000 in total, and I still have not received my money. Now PayPal listen, I am really upset and disappointed, that once I get this transaction done and have my money back, I will not ever use it again. I know complaining here may not help my situation, but I am really stressed now and I need somewhere for me to write this thing down, and hopefully someone will see this before they do online transaction, and there's only one thing I would like to say, this experience is rubbish and please do think again before you use them.

One of your clients may request a chargeback for a service you provided with his credit card company and PayPal will revert back the money to your client. You may have all documentation in your favor, such as contracts signed between you and your client, proof you have delivered a service; you may even have reported your client to the police; not even a criminal record number issues by the police will stop PayPal to send the money back to your client. This may affect your small business forever. PayPal does not protect sellers selling a service. Their customer service and resolution centre is run by incompetent people, whose decisions will ultimately make your business shut down.

Then to find a hold placed on my account NOW I have no electricity or gas for the next week. THANK YOU PAYPAL. Notice could have been given. When I contacted them the answer was that I sold something higher than normal, rubbish history shows same item in the past sold for higher fees. If you owe your bank money notice is given or contact made, not just helping yourself to your money and gaining interest on your hard earned money. I know myself this has cost me stress and worry, like many members needing their money to live and pay bills which selling goods is the only way to survive. If PayPal were to get feedback on eBay they would be for sure get the 0 rating for the service they offer.

I had difficulty getting PayPal supervisor online (Ken) who was not helpful at all. When I asked for his supervisor's name and contact information, he refused to provide that information. I reported the buyer and PayPal to eBay. eBay requested to have a 3-way call with PayPal and PayPal refused twice. First PayPal representative stated that as far as PayPal is concerned they don't have to speak with eBay regarding the claim. Second representative Anna stated that PayPal no longer holds conference calls with eBay since separating from eBay. PayPal allowed a fraudulent claim to be filed, withheld money from my PayPal account, were negligent in providing specific instructions to request signature confirmation from the eBay buyer, but told me to ship the $2,170 item to the buyer with tracking number, provide tracking number to PayPal in response to the claim and receive release of funds as soon as the item is delivered to the buyer.

I followed the PayPal's instructions. The item has been delivered to the buyer and PayPal put fault on me for not shipping the item with signature confirmation. This is despicable behavior and negligence on PayPal part that no one at PayPal is willing to own and handle. I requested to pull up a recording of my phone call with Jamie who originally provided the shipping instructions to me. Ken stated that it is not a problem, but it is still my fault because I should have known the seller's PayPal policies (from more than 10 years ago I guess!). It was a straight forward eBay transaction that got out of hand after PayPal accepted fraudulent claim from eBay buyer. Isn't PayPal suppose to protect its users from fraud instead of perpetuating it?!?

I sold my Corvette on eBay requiring a $2,000 deposit from the buyer within 24 hours. The Dallas TX buyer asked me to allow a 3rd party inspection because I live in California. I agreed, the inspection was done and verified the car was pristine and in showroom perfect condition. So, the good faith deposit was made assuring me that the buyer was serious and was confirming his offer. This deposit should have been in my pocket before another item in the sale process was completed. I provided my bank account for the buyer to wire the money, but he asked if he could use PayPal. Unfortunately I said yes. I had NO IDEA what that was going to cost me in the end.

So the money showed up the next day in my PayPal account as 'PENDING'. I then found out that it would be held for 21 days unless I provided shipping info that would shorten the window to 7-14 days. I did provide shipping info but it wasn't good enough for PayPal reps to change the release date to 7-14 days. Long story short, the buyer paid my bank loan payoff and me, my equity, on May 23, 2016 and arranged for shipping with a 3rd party auto shipping company (Trans Cargo Inc).

Today, May 27th, I called PayPal to request the release the MY funds to me and I was told the funds will remain 'PENDING' for 21-days from May 23rd. For what reason? This is an outrage!!! The entire deal is done with the buyer, the seller, and the bank and they continue to hold the first monies that me, the seller, was due to receive???

PayPal needs to PAY ME interest on MY money that they are holding. And, in the interest of good business practices, they should WAIVE the 2.9% fee that charged me. PayPal has NO RIGHT to hold my money at this point. The sale is completed. This process has been outrageous, unprofessional, a fraud on the consumer and I am pursuing legal action to bring this to the public's attention. I can't say it enough. This is fraud and I now have to wait until June 13, 2016 to get my deposit released. USERS BEWARE. AVOID USING PAYPAL CAUSE THEY WILL USE YOUR MONEY UNFAIRLY TO ADD TO THEIR PROFITS!!!

I'm not sure if PayPal opened a separate dispute that I was unaware of or what happened but in May, I seen a little tab at the top of my account summary page saying something like "you have unresolved issues on your account". I clicked the link and of course it was discussing this printer which the money had been put on hold for and sent back to the buyer. Mind you I had still not seen that $50.00 they had on hold... One of the options for the dispute was to acknowledge it and have PayPal review it. I acknowledged that there was a disputed transaction because it was basically the only option it gave.

Suddenly a week or so later they put my account in the negative $70.00. Of course this was in addition to the $50.00 that had been placed on hold 2 months earlier and I never seen again. PayPal calls it a charge-back ($50 for the refund of the item and $20 for their pain and suffering I suppose). The problem with this charge-back is that they already took the $50.00 2 months prior and never released it. It looks like on my account it said they did release it but I never seen it and it makes no sense that they did since the item was in dispute the whole time.

I am mad. I have called and been placed on infinite hold. I've sent emails only to get a generic response back on how to resolve my negative balance. The problem is that I shouldn't have a negative balance. Unless it's only that $20.00 fee because they took the money 2 months ago. This is ridiculous. I will never do business with this company again.

The next step was to confirm that PayPal could remove this pending status and refund me back the money. Every single time I called them, they gave me a reference number, but every time I spoke to someone, they did not read the previous interaction and had no clue what was going on. I repeated myself to every single person I was speaking to. Each time I called I got a different answer.

First answer was to contact E-Dreams and tell them to basically deal with it. My response to this was I had already done that so next thing that she said was to wait, because she was sending through a request to her supervisors so that they could just look up the transaction. She told me to wait 24-48 hours for it to be resolved. 3 days later, I called up PayPal again because the status on my PayPal account and banking application was still saying pending. This time I spoke to a person called Patrick. He assured me everything will be fixed by 9 PM Sydney time and that he will definitely resolve this issue for me. Patrick did not call. Patrick did not email. Patrick basically went missing because I left it for another day and then proceeded to call back again today.

I cannot even stress how frustrated I am at this point. When I called and requested to speak to Patrick, I was told to tell a brand new consultant, what has happened again. This third person being Nathan, he was probably the most helpful out of everyone. He understood my frustration and immediately put me through to a resolutions supervisor named Jen. Jen assured me that she could help me resolve this issue by today. Her resolution was that PayPal has already denied the transaction, and that the 'pending' status was to be overturned and my money should be in my bank account within 2-3 working days from the day it was denied which was the day my first call was made.

I reconfirmed with her that it has been longer than 2-3 days now and that it's still definitely not in my bank account and so she gave me a reference number telling me to go to my bank and tell them that this is the reference number for the transaction and to please have it refunded into my account. At this point I did not want to be joked around so I told her to confirm with me what she was saying was correct by writing an email and sending it to me. Thinking that this is finally the resolution for this headache, I proceeded to contact the bank where they told me that that cannot be done. No words can describe the frustration I am feeling right now.

I made a fourth phone call and spoke to two other people. They were not very clear, so I couldn't get a name but they were definitely the least helpful. I requested to speak to Jen, however no one knew which department she was in. I then asked for a supervisor, so they put me through to speak with a guy who didn't know what he was talking about AT ALL. He basically told me exactly what the very first girl told me to do, to contact E-Dreams...

I could not even understand why this guy was sending me on a goose chase. I told him that I have a confirmation email from E-Dreams stating that the transaction has been cancelled, why would I have to call them back? He then said, well then the only thing I can do for you is to send a request to have a supervisor look over this. This guy had no idea what he was talking about, and whilst I was clearly sounding frustrated over the phone, he tried to cut me off from speaking by repetitively talking over me.

I have loved using my Paypal account over a few years now, and have always thought of it as the safest way to pay. However, I have been sent back and forth to the bank to fix an issue that shouldn't have occurred in the first place. The issue has still not been resolved, I have been told to wait another 24-48 hours. PayPal, do not offer your services to sites that have 0 -1 star reviews! We trust you, and when you don't do your research before offering your services to these sites, WE, the customers, are left to deal with the fallout.

So I sent a message and they sent me back the same message, "Oh we are so sorry about this. Please send us a private message so we can fix it." So I replied, they ignored me. I sent another message, they ignored me. I commented on their public page, they sent the same message... you get the picture. This went on for weeks. Finally they agreed to pay me back some of the money, and when I got the item they would expect me to pay back that money. That showed they weren't even listening to what I was saying, because I had gotten my item. It was just the wrong thing. So I just agreed because I figured that would be the closest I would come to getting my money back. Once I agreed, they blocked me from Facebook so I could no longer reply to their messages, post on their wall, or contact them in any way.

I thought all hope was lost, but then I found someone who said they paid through PayPal (as I did) and they were scammed and PayPal helped them get their money back. So I went to the sign in page of my PayPal account and right there on the front it said something along the lines of "Something isn't right? If you get screwed we will help you get your money back" or something like that. So I opened a dispute and followed all the rules. I was in contact with the seller initially. I provided all the info and pictures they asked for, and the seller would not budge. So I escalated my dispute to a PayPal claim and within a couple days, PayPal got back to me saying nothing more than "Sorry, we cannot support you in this matter."...and that was it. Nothing more. I got no reason or anything. Just no. We will not help you get your money back after you gave us all the clear proof that you were scammed.

So I asked why, and they completely ignored me. I asked again. They ignored me. Then a while later I had some other issues with PayPal and I sent them a message regarding that. They responded right away. They were no help mind you - but they responded. So I replied, talking about my original concern and in the same message I asked about why they sided with the Scammy dress. They replied, but completely disregarded what I had said about Scammy dress. Since then I have sent maybe 4 or 5 messages requesting information on why they would not help me get my money back when I was clearly ripped off, and I have been ignored every single time.

Is PayPal in on the scam? Are they being paid off? Seriously, something seems too fishy. Why would they help people all over get their money back, but not me? It is simple... I did not get what I ordered. The company clearly does this all the time, as the Facebook posts are just filled with hundreds of comments from people complaining. I don't get it. Something weird is going on and I will never use PayPal again and I hope that you all think twice before going through this company. You cannot trust them with your purchases.

I told PayPal I have saved all communications with Everbuying into a file and I had copies of USPS receipt and Customer Declaration Form. However, PayPal never gave me an opportunity to upload and submit my documents. Instead, PayPal ruled I need to send the item back with tracking information at my expense (I did it 6 weeks ago!) and I would get refund only after Everbuying confirms to receive the item (how about the company deny receiving forever?!). This absolute ridiculous ruling shows PayPal is helping these cheating Chinese online sellers make international return of defective items impossible. Virtually, PayPal is becoming protection for defective products not buyers.

I was shocked that PayPal let the recurring payment take place without even asking for my consent (not in the first place and not after I asked for partial refund). What did they ASSUME? Is that a normal and legit way of handling such cases? Anyway, their resolution center is there for show only. I later on managed to get back $100 back from the recurring payment. (The provider insisted that he couldn't refund my full payment but still managed to give me a $100 refund - odd? I believe so.) All my pleas to PayPal fell on deaf ears.

The fraudulent provider mentioned that I have merchandise credit for $250 but now when I asked him to provide the services I "supposedly" paid for (marketing promotions and campaigns), he ignores me completely. I blame PAYPAL. Their decision-making process is broken. I hold them directly responsible for this matter and expect full refund! I have Skype messages, e-mails and docs to show exactly what happened throughout the entire process but that didn't matter to their resolution center.

Last month we had a customer put in a dispute on 13th of April claiming that the goods had not been received. Then on the 19th complained they were not as described. PayPal again refunded the item and freight without requesting the customer return the goods. This happened because I didn't respond to the dispute as I was overseas at the time. One would think that they would request for the goods be returned before refunding the money. Not happy at all. Where is the protection of their customer.

They've been asking my ID, asked my credit card, authorized me to send the money within 4 hours, while they were daytime and it was nighttime here in Montreal. They said my account is suspicious. Every time I wrote to PayPal France or PayPal Canada, it's an automatic message reply. I called PayPal Canada to help me. They transfer me to France saying they are totally 2 different departments. A month later, I cannot make transfer. I cannot close my account neither!!! And I still don't have my money! We lost the money! I told my cousin to never ever transfer me money ever again with PayPal because I cannot have access to it. SO FRUSTRATING.

Long story short I get a sup named MELISSA who was unapologetic and made me apply for a MasterCard credit card. She was so rude and even after I told her I'd been on with them for over two hours had zero empathy. I will never use PayPal again and would not recommend it to anyone as a payment tool. They are unprofessional, and have no clue about what good customer service is.

Five phone calls later to Philippines call centre and ridiculous excuses - risky goods, to need to confirm buyer acceptance of goods, eBay the problem, ya ya ya! No money. No goods, no money! PayPal took their fees out and store my money in an account and gain interest and make me wait! Is this fair or is this bullying behaviour by a big company that needs to be told to stop stealing money from hardworking people that are doing the right thing and keeping PayPal in business.

I made six phone calls. Each time I wound up asking to speak with a supervisor. After waiting on hold for 5-10 minutes, I hung up. I asked a supervisor to call me back. One did while I was on the phone, again. He left a message that sounded as if he didn't know what he was talking about. Each time I asked for a supervisor, the operator kept asking for more information. When you mess with my paycheck, when supervisors are so unavailable, when a logical answer is not given for a simple question, I am talking at incompetent people. PayPal has overtaken my cable company and another mail-order company for worst overall satisfaction, by any measure.

Finally getting tired of the nonsense I asked for a supervisor and she gets on with the same nonsense and had to go over and over again with the same question. I finally hung up because I was tired of the game. Was told my rep if I needed some money I could buy a Paypal card and drawn cash which the store manager said it could not been done. I called back today and spoke with about 6 different people transferring me from one place to another. Still hung up with no help... but I will no longer be using Paypal with drawing my money and tell everyone else as well... Paypal is a scam and don't trust them with your money.

Here is the another SCAM, the seller had information of the tracking DATA from the UPS and used that to proof it to the PayPal or eBay and that they had already delivered your package knowing that eBay or PayPal are not going to verify the tracking details. UPS tracking # **. The tracking number was legitimate but had someone else information. It tells me that the seller had access to UPS'S DATABASE. Conclusion, PayPal and eBay are not safe to use for any online purchases. It would have been easier for my to have used the credit card from my bank.

When I went to PayPal, they simply came back within 24 hours (which makes me think they never even looked into the issue) and said that the charges were for 'agreed upon memberships'. I explained the issue - and why I couldn't even access the accounts if I wanted to, and PayPal still replied with the same message. And then when I attempted to shut my account down via online customer service, email, etc., I was told I had to call and talk to someone to do so. Yet when calling I finally gave up after spending 45 minutes on hold. I don't work at a job where I can simply sit on the phone for endless hours during the week! Added to that their customer service is only open during weekday/work hours... SEVERELY INCONVENIENT!!!

Recently I wrote a 5-page physical letter to them requesting my account be shut down and complaining about their miserable service regarding fraud. Meanwhile, I've had my bank BLOCK all Paypal transactions of any type. I will NEVER use PayPal again no matter how convenient it is. They obviously care little for their customers and have no interest in really helping those who are keeping their business going. In fact, I was going to use them as a billing platform for the website I've been coding - but after this experience, I will definitely be finding another billing platform.

I attempted to call PAYPAL to ask this question (after I received an automated response through email which was absolutely no help whatsoever), however, I gave up after being on hold for over 20 minutes. I am furious that payment services such as PAYPAL have the power to place legally obtained funds for legal purchases (like car audio speakers) "on hold" at their discretion for no good reason that I can determine. Furthermore, PAYPAL lacks the common decency to be reasonably available to discuss, much less, resolve such issues. This is a "legal" form of theft, plain and simple. PAYPAL should not have a "legal" right to place the money I worked hard for and legally obtained "on hold", and then force me to go to great lengths and fight to hopefully get either my money back or the car audio speakers I paid for!!

Four days went by and I contacted PayPal again and was then told that they couldn't do anything about the transaction and I'd have to contact my bank to file a dispute and then PayPal would gladly assist in getting my funds back. I just received a letter from my bank that PayPal gave them an authorization of the transaction and so I will not receive the nearly $100 back. This all took over 2 months. So much for PayPal being the safe way to send money. Thanks for screwing a single mom out of her daughter's dance tuition.

I pointed out that when I spend any amount out of that account... NOBODY queries ANYTHING! Because I want to take money OUT of PayPal, there are all kinds of difficulties. The penny dropped a while back. INTEREST! PayPal makes INTEREST on the monies in the collective accounts, playing the markets probably. I expect the numbers are crunched and sums worked out on how much profit is needed so, no... you can't have your money until we've finished using it! In a face to face world of a small business, they'd be out of business in no time. It's just the choke-hold they've contrived that keeps them in the market.

Yesterday (4/06/2016) I receive an email from "Chuck, Paypal Account Review" stating that during a recent review of my account, it was found that I had received payments they believe wasn't authorized or was fraudulent. Additional information was requested of me (the exact same information PayPal requested of me close to 5 months ago at the time they had placed a hold on these funds originally). I gave Paypal a call and was told that as long as I am covered under seller protection, that I would be reimbursed the money after submitting the necessary information. I went ahead and submitted the information via email and awaited a response.

Today (4/07/2016) I receive an email from "Chuck, Paypal Account Review" stating that the investigation had been concluded and it was determined that the transactions suddenly were now not covered by Seller Protection. PayPal has literally stolen from me by debiting these funds and returning them back to the purchases of the items from me after I had provided tracking and documentation supporting the transaction. PayPal are a bunch of crooks but I will continue to pursue them until my resources are expended! I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE DOING BUSINESS WITH PAYPAL UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES!

Check this out. You are bought a pair of shoes for your birthday. You tried them on and didn't like them and wanted to list them on eBay to salvage any value you can get. You sell your item and get payment. Next your payment is held hostage until you provide some information and even then it may not suffice for the people at Paypal. This is utterly incredible. Next all my eBay earned assets are in Paypal and frozen for 180 days. I had the account for several years. I am not a scammer and not looking to get rich quick, I sell some goods online to earn extra income. No longer will Paypal be part of my life. Thanks for the hassle.

They did not email me anything and just made my balance charging a fee of 2.50 USD fee of bank rejection. I had to call PayPal customer service here in India and they don't know anything at all. I called them couple of times - one said 2 transactions got rejected and another said 1 transaction got rejected. They don't even know when I will get my money. Please I would like to request a callback from USA PayPal authority and solve this issue ASAP. There are no signs of rejection in my PayPal account from which I can show that payment got rejected. I only got email of fee deduction of 2.50 USD because of some rejection.

Having reached the end of my rope I waited on hold for three hours to be told that they saw where I resubmitted their emails to them saying that the transaction was completed with one last payment but now they are insistent that I am owing them to use their services. At NO TIME was it disclosed to me that I as a seller would be paying fees higher than the price of the item being sold. Contacted my attorney and we made a three way call to PayPal and was informed that they have absolutely no record of my transaction or my account for that matter. Filing a complaint and lawsuit against them now.

Four of the transactions were reversed after I called demanding to speak to a manager, but I'm still dealing with the latest 2 bizarre charges totaling $1100 that appeared in my bank today. I cannot express how much distress this has been causing me. I called PayPal today, spoke to a "supervisor" who told me I was in a negative balance in my PayPal so they are just recovering fees!!! I took screenshots of my accounts because this is simply not true and I haven't even used my account. He was extremely rude and unhelpful on the phone and told me to "Have a good day Ma'am"!!!

I screamed that this is fraud and he hung up. I cried on the phone to my bank asking for help because I'm terrified that PayPal is going to ruin me. Beware. Something dodgy going on with this company... Cannot be trusted, will be closing my account before they ruin my life financially or send me into a nervous breakdown.

On 3/21/2016 I called eBay and was referred to PayPal. I telephoned PayPal and spent an hour speaking to 3 different people (and *holding*). The last person I spoke to was Carmen ID ** who said she would credit my account for $50 and the balance would be reflected on my VISA acct. Thursday, the 24th of March, or as late as Monday the 28th. I was reluctant to disconnect without some assurance - I had just spent an hour to get to her - either a confirmation number or an email. She said I would receive an email in the next few minutes and gave me her ID. I did not receive an email at all. I am very disappointed in the lack of professionalism on the part of PayPal and to some degree, since this is a partnership, I have to include eBay in my assessment. I did indicate this disappointment in my feedback.

I have been a loyal customer since 2002, never had a negative feedback posting on eBay, and have bought and sold with Paypal for all of these years and they will not release my funds. They say it takes up to 21 days for MY MONEY to clear. It is expedited if you provide tracking information but is still in pending. It gets worse. The buyer has left positive feedback for me and Paypal still will not release the funds. There has to be a better way to sell on eBay without using this company. A lot of sellers are small and need the money to turn around and purchase other items to sell. I hope that this split w/ eBay will let other companies who value the seller as much as the buyer, come in and let business continue normally.

If you wish to avoid these PayPal shenanigans and have a check sent to you they will demand "utility bills", residency and or other outrageous demands made upon your privacy. And they claim it is for your "own security". When I asked the PayPal representative how providing my bank account details would improve my "security" she launched into an illogical and nearly unintelligible discourse suitable only for the back alleys of Calcutta. And if you threaten to sue them, you will find that you are mysteriously unable to log into your PayPal account, or even to email them. Juvenile and unprofessional behavior rules the roost with this unsavory company, and so should be avoided like a deadly contagion.

Original Review: March 1, 2016

Having read a lot of negative PayPal reviews online, I know my experience isn't as bad as the others' so sorry to hear about your horror PayPal stories. I've recently gone through my own share of headaches with the company & have lost trust in them. My biggest problem right now is that I dunno any reputable alternatives to PayPal. I want to have little/nothing to do with them, & possibly eBay, too. I've used eBay & PayPal for about 12 years, had an account with both & signed up anew when I got married & moved to the US. I also use PayPal to receive payments from clients I create designs for. Over the years, I've coursed a few thousands dollars in payments through PayPal & PayPal always receives a percentage from these transactions.

Around mid-January, I decided to sell my Sears gift card (GC) on eBay. Long-ish story, but I bought this GC with my own hard-earned $. After buying a broken camera from Sears & waiting forever to get my GC refund, I was done with them. It's really just too bad (& stupid, sure) that I was unaware of eBay/PayPal's policy that digital goods are not covered by their seller protection policy -- only goods that are shipped, with proof.

An eBay user wins the bidding. 700+ positive feedback, someone with doc in his email username, from South Dakota. Nothing seemed suspicious. He sends his payment, then asks me to send the GC # to his email/via eBay messages. I double-check the balance on the card & do as asked, afterwards telling him to please let me know if he needs the GC shipped, or if the numbers are fine, since he could use the numbers online at Sears.com or Kmart.com. I have not heard from him since, kind of doubt I ever will.

It was an honest mistake. I thought it was OK to not ship out the card. I myself had in the past purchased a bunch of 'digital goods' from eBay, as credits for my T-Mobile SIM card way back when. Sellers just email me the card info, & we leave other + feedback. Done. Little did I know that this sort of thing could actually happen. It does look like a thing dishonest people are actually doing. What I really hate about the whole thing is that PayPal makes it so easy to get away with it, that even the more honest amongst us are probably tempted/have grabbed the opportunity to take advantage of these 'free' GCs. If you're a seller that's unfamiliar with the policy, that's too bad. It's as good as giving away GCs to people on the street.

Buyer's payment clears. It was my birthday around this time & I bought myself the gift I'd been meaning to get myself since Christmas. I thought everything was good until on Presidents' Day, the buyer opens a case with PayPal claiming that he didn't authorize the transaction. I check my Sent messages & check the balance on the GC. Zero. Well, duh. Is it just me, or is it 1 thing to not authorize a transaction & another to use someone else's money? In his case, the GC didn't just land on his lap: he got it in exchange for his (expected) payment. Since this happened, I've sent the buyer an email & 2 messages. My reply to the PayPal case he opened was lengthy, basically letting him know that we both know God's honest truth: I did not use the GC & he was the only other person that had the info on it. No response.

PayPal tells me they're going to do some investigation on the matter. This honestly had me believing that they would, even when the amount in question was for under $200. A few days later, they tell me that since I couldn't provide proof of shipment, they'd closed the case & refunded the buyer his payment. I actually bothered uploading some screen shots, showing the card balance when it was $183.70, the seller asking me to send the info via email, etc. These meant nothing. Buyer gets my GC, his money, & to add insult to injury, eBay prevented me from leaving him negative feedback. Boom. Triple whammy. I just wish I'd just spent the money to buy formula for my 9 month old, or to get my husband a nice gift for his birthday this coming March.

Did the incident affect the eBay buyer's credit score? Probably not. Did it matter who was honest & dishonest in the situation? Doesn't look like it. Did it matter that I have a good track record with PayPal (12+ years), & they've profited from the sale of my designs throughout the years? I don't think so. Does it matter to the juggernaut that their policies are possibly archaic & too theft-friendly in this digital age? Do they care that they're rated 1 star out of 5 on this site?

PayPal is a corporation like any other. They'll process your case by the book. Once that's done, they'll move on to the next person. You're a number, a statistic, a casualty. It probably shouldn't surprise anyone that PayPal cares most about their own funds. I've contacted PayPal a few times since this happened, & they always have the same canned/copied-&-pasted reply to me: the transaction involved the sale of 'digital goods', & is therefore not protected by eBay or PayPal. In their last message, they deflected my long & annoying messages by telling me to file a report with the FBI through the IC3, or my local police department. The gist of their message is clearly this: if you have a problem with the buyer, deal with him/her on your own. But give us our money back.

I'm posting this to give a heads up to any newbie eBay sellers of gift cards out there. I've read stories online where people were even able to provide proof of shipment, but some scamming buyers find a way to get out of it, saying things like the gift card had 0 balance when they received it. Paypal always seems to favor the buyer. Sellers beware: PayPal is not your 'pal'.

Paypal escalated the dispute immediately to a claim and said the seller has 11 days to respond and they would get back to me. I also contacted the seller which was not available to chat when I needed to use their program. Paypal then wrote me they received word from the seller and would investigate and get back to me. I sent another email on their website but could not download all the photos of the site to support my claim. Today in junk I received an email that they closed my dispute because I didn't follow instructions within the 20 days when my dispute was opened on the same day as purchase and I contacted the seller that day as well. They wrote that I would have to take it up with the seller. (Paypal took my money not the seller and they are liable for standing by our transactions!)

So now my account has a negative $2500 balance and I am called regularly to fix MY PROBLEM. They call regularly sometimes at 7:30am in the morning?? My client received back his $2500 and he is laughing. He did not initiate a charge back, but his account was placed ON HOLD for 180 days. Why? No good reason-- and no reason needed. ANYONE who uses PayPal to transfer money is a FOOL to do so. You have NO RIGHTS-- vs PAYPAL. They decide -- sometimes many weeks later if you are legitimate. AND WHEN they decide that you are not legitimate, they can undo any transaction and hold you accountable for any deficits. I WILL NEVER EVER USE PAYPAL AGAIN and hope that you read and understand what I have written. It is true and factual.

With all of this being a transaction over the Internet, my next step is to file a complaint on PayPal and A Natural Notion with IC3. PayPal is not abiding by their policy of protecting the buyer. PayPal didn't even have the courtesy of sending me an email informing me of their decision to not help me get my money returned. I was told by customer service that "rest assured PayPal will get your money back to you." When an item is returned a person is entitled to get their money returned, this has been absolutely ridiculous on PayPal's part. They are not a business that protects you when using them. I will use my credit card from now on and pay the fees, it is well worth the cost. If I had been smart and used my credit card, my money would have already been reimbursed.