And eBay wonders why they're losing customers!

[VW Dave]

I've yet to see any email like that from PayPal, and I've been a pretty satisfied customer for quite a while now. I'd like to know what criteria they use for sending out such a message....please let us know if you reach out to them, Bill.

[heatride]

Have not got any email here also . But I use a PayPal MasterCard then when the transaction is done I pay the Credit Card bill .

Actually I have made money off of PayPal the last couple of years . They give rewards points that I can redeem for Gift Cards .

[southernboy]

For what it's worth, I got the same email. I too have 100% positive feedback across the board.

[martinfan5]

I had that happen a few months back, no email, but I sold a phone, had the funds held for 21 days. Now I have been a member on ebay and paypal for 6 or 7 years now, I had only sold like five items before that, and since it was a item consider a high problem area, my funds were held.

Up to that point my feedback and everything on both sides was 100%, all it is , is paypal trying to protect both ends.

[Greg Wann]

Perhaps MCM could have it's own auction site. If they can do it. Why not here?

[High octane]

Having NEVER been on Evil-bay, I can see that I'm not missing anything as I usually get everything I want without it.

[Darren B]

Either way I as a seller was burnt to many times on ebay and havent used it in years, not being negative just had to many so called unhappy people try to keep the merch and try to get their money back.

[Darren B]

Perhaps MCM could have it's own auction site. If they can do it. Why not here?

They did it was called emodelcars.com and I miss that site, hope Greg can find a way to bring it back as it was being free and all.

[Mike Kucaba]

If I received this I would contact Paypal before anything else. This could be just human error,or easily resolved. I didn't receive this letter either,but most of my transactions have been purchasing at 100% feedback.

[Bill Eh?]

Luis, I got the same message, not once but twice. The first time I actually phoned PayPal. They told me to first forward the message to their 'spoofmail' address and then delete it. The second time I just forwarded the message followed by deletion. I have never heard a word back from PayPal if the forwarding did any good or not.

[MrObsessive]

Thanks for the replies folks! In the next couple days I'll give them a call to see what's up. This is the first I've had an issue on this order and as Mike said, it could be just human error.

We'll see..........

[Madd Trucker]

Dont forget guys Ebay owns pay paypal . I had an account with pay pal until they didnt ( refused ) to pay a couple of bids I had won. I recieved a nasty gram from not onlt Ebay but pay pal as well , and yes I had more then enough money to pay the sellers .And god only knows how many emails to both idiots at ebay and pay pal Ihad to get my lawyer involved . I threated to sue both for a mill apiece . Sence then I hahve never dealt with ebay and closed my account with Pay pal. IF I want something on ebay I contact the seller to see if they accept money orders. if they dont oh well I dont bid

[CadillacPat]

I don't look at their holding funds as a problem

Where else can you get the massive exposure for your products that EBay offers.

I prefer just to constantly keep enough items up for sale that money is always coming in.

I don't care for the amount fee that PayPal charges and I certainly don't agree with a final value fee on shipping costs from Ebay, but I use both services and wind up on the plus side.

CadillacPat

[JamesW]

It cuts both ways!

It also makes it easier for a buyer's false claim of non received items to get their money back plus have your merchandise too!

Which is why whenever I sell on Ebay I ALWAYS get a confirmation # when I ship. Hard for someone to say they didn't get their item.

[TurboKitty]

Either way I as a seller was burnt to many times on ebay and havent used it in years, not being negative just had to many so called unhappy people try to keep the merch and try to get their money back.

It is very easy for a buyer to try to pull a fast one by abusing ebay's buyer protection. If you don't provide proof of shipment via a tracking number, then they can claim that they never received the item and 9 times out of 10 ebay will side with the buyer, allowing them to keep the item AND get a full refund incl. original shipping. I always ship items and pay the 80 cents for tracking, no matter whether it's Parcel Post, First Class, or Priority Mail. Then I keep the tracking # for my records without uploading it onto PayPal or eBay. The reason for this is because if a buyer tries to screw me over thinking I don't have proof of shipment and they open a case against me, I simply provide the tracking # to prove their claim is false. A lot of times ebay will put a strike on their account for trying to abuse ebay buyer protection that way. Not saying all buyers are dishonest, but the number of them is definitely rising. Sure I could just upload the tracking numbers after every shipment, but in doing it the way I do, I weed out the bad apples and place them on my blocked bidder list so I won't encounter them again. When I have a lot listed I end up dealing with dishonest bidders probably two or three times a month, it's ridiculous . One other thing I've learned is to always offer a return policy (I do a 10 day one). If you don't have a return policy and a dishonest bidder tries to pull a fast one, ebay automatically gives them a refund without allowing you the chance to rectify the situation & of course they keep the item scott free that way too.

[greymack]

Hi Turbo yeah I agree with you .I think buyers and sellers have to be careful not everyone is honest.

[Hypermung]

And I bet they are collecting interest on the money they are "holding".

.... Of course they'll be making money off the 'holdings', that's what they do well. Money for nothing.... I'm surprised no one has mentioned anything about the exchange rate yet, or perhaps I just notice it because I buy from the US frequently, whereas you may not purchase from overseas often. I always use paypal to pay for purchases from the US & when paypal converts the Aussie dollar to US dollars there is ALWAYS a 2-3c discrepancy. Say if the Aussie dollar is worth 99.999c to the greenback, then paypal only gives you say 97.887c as an exchange rate. Now 2-3c mightn't sound like much & I might sound like a whinger, but 2-3c in the dollar for EVERY dollar, for EVERY transaction world-wide, EVERY DAY is some serious bucks for basically doing nothing. Why can't they use this skimmed millions to pay the non received items claims?? Because they've worked out another way (the 21 day thing), & make a few more million along the way.... That's why

[Greg Wann]

They did it was called emodelcars.com and I miss that site, hope Greg can find a way to bring it back as it was being free and all.

I am curious why the emodelcars.com failed?

[CadillacPat]

If anyone thinks EBay is losing Buyers or Sellers then they must consider the fact that they gain them also on a daily basis.

It's not like they started out with a definite number of users and it is decreasing everyday.

More people are turning to working out of their homes and using EBay in huge numbers.

Someone in this thread mentioned they withhold entering their tracking number on EBay.

Well, entering your tracking number on your shipped item is what PayPal uses to release your funds sooner.

It also shows the Buyer you have taken care of your Business in a professional and quick manner.

I print my own postage on my home printer, save money doing that, and get FREE Delivery Confirmation.

You can avoid some hassles that you think you may encounter by researching the Bidder's Feedback.

You can always disallow a Bidder.

If you can find a bigger better system then use it but EBay is where the exposure and traffic is.

CadillacPat

[TurboKitty]

Someone in this thread mentioned they withhold entering their tracking number on EBay.

Well, entering your tracking number on your shipped item is what PayPal uses to release your funds sooner.

It also shows the Buyer you have taken care of your Business in a professional and quick manner.

Please go back and re-read my post. I keep tracking #'s for my own records unless a buyer requests it, or if a false claim comes up because a buyer thinks I don't have proof of shipment & they're trying to abuse ebay buyer protection by claiming they never received the item when in fact they did. I should also mention that I personally don't have any holds from PayPal to worry about, so there is no need for me to post tracking every time I ship something.

Usually I do parcel post so shipping is cheaper for the buyer. Parcel post does not automatically include tracking, but I get it anyway for my records *just in case*. If a buyer wants Priority Mail, then I do post the tracking # for them, but like I said I have no PayPal holds on any funds I get from selling things so I personally don't have to worry about it. If you have a hold on your funds from PayPal, then by all means the sooner you upload tracking the better, at least then they will release the amount you specified for shipping. After a buyer receives their item and they post positive feedback for you, then the rest of your money is released within 3-4 business days.

As far as professionalism, I ship items within 2 business days of receiving cleared payment and I have 99% positive feedback. The 1 and only negative I have is from someone who tried to lie to ebay saying they never got their item, but I showed ebay the tracking # and they were denied a refund & their false item not received case was closed in my favor because I showed proof of delivery to their address. So since they got caught in a lie they left me a negative out of spite even though I did nothing wrong. All I did was accept his payment & pack/ship his item

[weasel]

i've gotten weird emails from PP also....i just forward it to spoof@paypal and 99 times out of a hundo, it's a 'phishing' scam...

[Hypermung]

I just checked my emails & there's a message from 'PayPal' informing me about 'important policy changes' & encouraging me to click on the link & enter my login details...... DUHHHH. Will the scammers never learn? I'll forward that one straight to spoof@paypal & delete. The thing about this one though is that it wasn't very well done either. Not a very convincing fake email.

[kenb]

I've been an ebay buyer/seller since 1998 with well over 2000 transactions. 100% feedback, made a s**t load of money, and also made many great purchases with maybe 1 problem transaction. I think that's pretty good. Yeah they charge a lot between ebay and paypal fees, but the amount of people I reach and the amount of parts I can sell makes it worth it. As far as cadillacpat says he never gives a tracking number, I do just the opposite. I always give a tracking number.I feel it makes the deal more stable and done in good faith and doesn't hurt anyone. I tell them your item was shipped and you can track it at whatever.com and your tracking number is whatever. We both then know it was shipped and we both can track it. I use it as a tool, not a weapon. Oh yeah, just for your information 90% of the time priority mail is cheaper than parcel post (yes check it out), makes the buyer happy because it's faster and if you have an account and do your postage on line it's cheaper and delivery comfirmation is free. By the way I never got this email from paypal. Ken

[HotRodaSaurus]

I have had a few bad sales, usually not a too expensive item (under £30) but also a not high enough to really to have to have a signature. Many buyers are put off by high postage fees.

I have also read reports of the dreaded paypal replying that proof of postage is not proof of delivery even if a signature is obtained, refunding the buyers 100%. I also think it unwise to leave positive feedback for a refund as unscrupulous scammers could think 'A Ha! they give refunds too easily' and could encourage this sort of thing, so I always request no feedback for refunds.

last year I knew I had a scammer, Zero feedback bidder, bidding on an item with no bids, in the last 3 seconds and with a sexually explicit eBay I.D. So when I received a non delivered item query I was already prepared, and emailed giving a list of all the ways I had been scammed over the passed few years and never heard another thing. I then abandoned that eBay account till all payments were cleared, then closed it. I honestly thought at the time that some buyers looked at the account with its 100% 4000+ positives was getting open to abuse as more and more non delivered items were being claimed.

I now have a new account, always ask extra £££$$$€€€ for tracked postage and progress a lot lot slower with fewer responses and bids mainly due to higher shipping. When I have tried adding shipping to the start price, this also puts bidders off.

Ebay makes more and more money through devious methods such as maximum postage for certain items. In the UK a large book that costs £10 for postage due to weight, you can only charge your customer £3.75, including any packaging you may need to purchase, the alternative is to find a specialist courier.

To post a CD, eBay gives a maximum postal price listing as £1.25, the fact that postage is around £1.50 with tracking then add 50p for a padded bag make selling a cheap CD or DvD not worth the effort so many of my collectable CDs, DvDs and old magazines have been put into the bin(trash to you guys in the USA) Other than that I have had to cheat a bit myself and say to send things by courier but send them normal post.

So there we are, eBay has a pretty good slice of the cake, but like everything, one day it will probably destroy itself through it own greed. I now try to sell most of my items through other sources but do agree that there is a whole world looking for your item, but at a cheaper and cheaper price. Thats why when it comes to things of real value in the collectable market, like a Picasso painting or an antique motor vehicle, lets say a Bugatti(a proper one that is) you usually find things like that at real well established proper auction houses

[crazyjim]

There may have been a similar Paypal email in my spam folder - I don't open messages in spam, just delete them. It'll be interesting to hear what Paypal has to say, Bill.

Merry Christmas