Seller beware, PayPal is not what I thought it was! Options

[adolimpio]

If you're like me, you rely on PayPal to secure a payment from someone that is buying something from you before you ship the goods. You assume that once the funds are secured in your PayPal account that it’s safe to ship. SURPRISE, that totally false.

I received a PayPal payment on Jan 29 and delivered the goods with confidence that I had been paid. Nearly 3 weeks later I receive a message from PayPal that the buyer informed his credit card company that the transaction was unauthorized and without any warning or discussion PayPal took the money back which caused my account to have a negative balance and become locked, and they also charged me a $15 dispute management fee.

PayPal informed me that there was nothing they could do once the credit card company reversed the transaction. Also, PayPal assumed no responsibility, did not dispute the issue with the credit card company and did nothing to represent my interest. They told me that they would forward to the credit card company any proof that I had that the transaction was authorized but nothing beyond that. I suggested that it was PayPal’s responsibility to prove that the transaction was valid since they should validate the user’s credentials and ensure they are authorized to send the funds when the transaction is initiated, but they disagreed. They accepted no responsibility!

As it turns out the buyer made an innocent mistake and disputed the transaction incorrectly. They closed the case with the credit card company within 24 hours of opening it and that’s now more than a week ago and PayPal still shows a negative balance and my account is still locked. I contacted PayPal and informed them that the case had been closed, but they said there was nothing they could do until the credit card company informed them that they case was closed. I suggested that they be proactive and contact the credit card company but they declined.

What I thought was a very secure method of receiving payment turns out to be a great disappointment. SELLER BEWARE!