SELLERS encouraged to stop accepting Paypal!!


If you are selling anything on the internet from any site I encourage you to NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL AS A PAYMENT METHOD!

IT APPEARS THAT PAYPAL IS SO BACKED UP AND OVERWHELMED WITH DISPUTES AND CASES THAT THEY ARE NOT DECIDING THEM BASED ON MERIT, THEY ARE DECIDING THEM BASED ON NUMBERS. THEY PROBABLY KNOW THAT 85% - 90% OF BUYERS CLAIMS ARE LEGITIMATE SO THEY DISPOSITION THEM IN FAVOR OF THE BUYER JUST TO REMOVE THE CASEFILE FROM THEIR PIPELINE. THAT WAY THEY ARE ONLY PISSING OFF 10% TO 15% OF THEIR CUSTOMERS WHICH IS ACCEPTABLE IN ORDER TO MOVE THROUGH ALL THE CASES IN A TIMELY MANNER. THIS IS ONLY MY OBSERVATION AND OPINION, BUT IF YOU READ THE FACTS OF MY SITUATION BELOW YOU'LL AGREE!

Here are the facts of my case:
I listed an item (speaker cables)on Ebay that was described 100% accurately. Here is the content of my ad:
Here is the content of my ad:
"I have a 10-foot pair of essentially UNTERMINATED AudioQuest Audiotruth Midnight 3 Hyperlitz speaker cables. They spent their lives running from Yamaha M-1 monoblocks into B&W Matrix 801 Series 3's. They include a combination of spades and bananas BUT THE SPADES ARE BENT OR BROKEN AND THE BANANAS HAVE NOT BEEN PROPERLY TERMINATED. I have been using them by just tightening the bananas on the ends...seems to work fine BUT IF I WERE TO KEEP THEM I WOULD DEFINITELY TERMINATE THEM PROPERLY. In addition to the unterminated ends the writing on the cables is faded in places. Probably a decent cleaning would make them look great again."

Please note, the capitalized words are to highlight them for this post, they were not capitalized in the ad but this was my description.
Now, anybody reading this would know for absolute certain that 1) these are essentially unterminated, 2) the spades are bent and broken, 3) the bananas are not terminated, and 4) the seller is advising the buyer to terminate the properly because that is what he would do if he kept them.

So this Ebay buyer "buythemall2016" bid on this item several times to beat out 6 others to win the auction. I sent a congratulatory email with instructions for speedy delivery. I received back an email telling me to cancel his bid he does not want the item.
I contacted Ebay to let them know he was a non-payer on an auction he won. They obviously contacted him and told him he would get a "non-payer" status that would hut him on Ebay in the future. He paid me for the item and sent me an email saying simply "please ship fast". I knew he could be trouble.
I shipped immediately, he received the package and contacted me saying "the banana plugs are falling off and the spade plugs are bent and broken. Please advise."
Hmmm. I advised him how to use them the way I had been using them but suggested he terminate them properly per my description in the ad.

Not satisfied he called me a scammer and complained to Ebay asking for a refund. He also hit me with a negative feedback. I contacted Ebay who used common sense and good judgment to reverse the negative feedback and deny the buyers claim that the item he received was not as described. They decided in my favor.

A couple of days later I get a notice from PayPal that the buyer asked for a refund and permission to return the item since what he got was not as described in the ad. I was pissed that this guy was still trying to lie and dishonor his agreement to buy my item by being the winning bidder. I sent in all the same information to PayPal sure they would also find the item indeed was described 100% properly in the ad and they would rule in my favor. I wasn't even concerned at all.

About a week later I get an email that the buyer was given permission to return the item for a full refund.

I was enraged! I called PayPal, waited on hold for about an hour to talk to a manager who agreed with me and told me he was sending it to the "back office" to be reviewed further and reversed. He even released the hold on the funds since he was so certain it would be reversed and decided in my favor.

After not hearing anything for a couple of days I called back and waited on hold for 2 HOURS AND 28 MINUTES to talk to a manager before I heard someone pick up the line AND HANG UP ON ME!!

Now I cannot get anybody to call me back to discuss further. They are avoiding me entirely, and calling them is not an option since the shortest hold time is an hour!

Today I got the email saying they cannot change their decision and removed the money from my account and gave it back to the dishonorable "buyer". So I am out shipping both ways and the Ebay fee which I probably will never get back.

SO I ENCOURAGE ALL SELLERS WHO ARE ABOVE BOARD, HONEST AND LIST ITEMS WITH INTEGRITY TO STOP ACCEPTING PAYPAL AS A PAYMENT OPTION. YOU MAY SUFFER THE SAME SCENARIO I DID!

128x128kevinagurney

dill,

The point you make isn't the point. The OP is frustrated because paypal was negligent and screwed him. I had a similar experience. I have to grin when I read posts from some members above saying how they never had a negative experience, and will continue to use paypal. That's good, I hope that they never do, but many have, and it's real. They are an uncaring and unethical company.

As in all cases we read about on forums, we only hear one side. In a business transaction, there is never one side. He didn't want the item right after he won it and did not want to complete the transaction, however the OP insisted. IMO the business transaction ended there. If the OP would have cancelled the transaction he would not have pissed off the buyer, hence we wouldn't be having this conversation. Granted PayPal and eBay are in it for the money and may be deserving of criticism, however many times if the participants (buyer & seller) settle the problem themselves, there is no need to involve PP & eBay. 
Good points all!
dill  -  I simply issued a "no pay" report to Ebay so they would include this in the buyers history. When he actually paid I knew ebay put some pressure on him.  You are right.  I thought to decline his payment at that point but after reaching out to the 2nd and 3rd top bidders each of them had purchased something else.  My bad

roxy54  -  Right on!

dill  -  I agree. The 1st thing I thought of when this escalated is that I should just re-terminate them myself  and sell them as good condition.

tls49  -  You also are correct.  "For parts or repair'.  thought my description would have been enough.  Then again I'm used to the more savvy buyer on more respected auction/sale sites.  Learning curve on dealing with unsophisticated product flippers in kicking in big time!

gdnrbob  -  I have been a member of PayPal since 2005 with hundreds of transactions without incident.  Now that I'm utilizing Ebay more for their huge customer base I'm opening myself up to the unknown.  I too was surprised that PayPal contradicted Ebay.  Thought my case was a slam dunk.  And I was further shocked to learn that sellers CANNOT LEAVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FOR BUYERS!  Still don't understand that but I'm waiting for an answer from Ebay about it.

You all make excellent points and I thank you for allowing me to vent.  I'll chalk this up to my cost of tuition!!
Thanks for the input.
Good Point.This is why I now use Audiogon  Express checkout, and my story.

Last year a guy paid me wanting UPS to pack and 3 day shipping . It arrives 
And UPS made 3 attempts, then sent back to me.  PayPal st first said I was right ,the buyer unprofessional .3 say a later they gave all his money's back .I lost over 
$400. Another time while overseas their customer service on week end could not even understand English well. A 4% exchange as well as 3%  fees  they gave wrong international exchange 3x .over $1,000 on a $$ item.  They said Monday it will 
Be straightened out, Wrong they said it was in a program they could do nothing.
Since they were the only game in town Big A-holes. Like Facebook.
No more,and never again  !!
I don't, sure it excludes a lot of buyers..... I just sold a pair of speakers on Craigslist.   Super smooth, easy transaction....cash , which is what I prefer.  Local sale, which is also what I prefer... Had them listed on a few audio sites and little action. They were fairly priced and sold in two weeks....best part is they went to a good home, a young guy putting together his first decent system.