I’m sure you’ve used it. If you sell on eBay, it is now crucial to your success. Lately, larger websites such as Amazon allow you to use PayPal instead of credit cards. Even to me, PayPal sounded like a great service. I could sell my old crap that I never used and get the money through PayPal, while they got only a small percentage of the sale. Yes, PayPal sounded great. But I cannot say this enough.. DO NOT USE PAYPAL. I sold some little things and then I decided to go for some big money. My mom had a notebook computer that she rarely used, so she asked me to sell it for her. So I did.. And the nightmares began..
The war began in September 2005. I sold the laptop on eBay for $615 to a man in California. He payed with PayPal. After receiving the money, I transferred the funds to my personal bank account and shipped his product via UPS. I made sure I covered my ass. I gave him free shipping insurance, and I tracked the product. One day I noticed he changed the delivery address from where it was on his PayPal account to a different address. I found it eerie, but I tried to think nothing of it. He received the product and sent me an email thanking me and asking me if I had more laptops. I said I didn’t.
A few weeks later, PayPal sent me an email saying that my buyer filed a dispute with PayPal claiming the product I sold was ‘not as described.’ I was upset, but I thought nothing of it. I did everything right, and since I was not at fault as he was claiming, I figured nothing would happen. But something did happen. They took his side. I sent them over 25 emails telling them this was obvious fraud. To every email I sent them, they answered, “Please allow us 75 days to try to fight the dispute.” 75 days. Even weeks after the first day, they said wait 75 days. 75 days came and past. They said nothing. I sent another email to them and they said the buyer had issued a chargeback with their credit card company, and that there was nothing PayPal could do. So I have a negative balance of $615 in my PayPal account, and no laptop, and there is nothing you can do? I asked about their Seller Protection Service.. They replied that the protection service did not cover chargebacks. They also continued to tell me to wait 75 days because they were “fighting on my behalf.” They were doing shit. They swept my problem under the carpet.
Finally, in April 2006, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bereau. My desired resolution was for PayPal to close my account. They responded to the complaint by freezing my PayPal account, not allowing me to login. They threatened to do this several times, but never did it until I filed a complaint! They did it to spite me, penalizing me for filing a complaint. After receiving no help from the BBB, and in fact being in worse condition before, I designed fuckpaypal.net: A site to tell my story, warn others, and document everything.
After I was contacted by NCO Financial Systems, a money hound from PayPal, I’d had it. I sued them in Small Claims Court. A day before the trial, I received a call from ’senior litigation paralegalist’ Michelle Squires. She was nice until she saw I wasn’t backing off. Then the threats started. She said I was lying when I said PayPal did not try to get my property back, and that when I agreed with the TOS to open my PayPal account, I agreed to go to court in California if I had a problem. She went on to tell me that if I do not drop the suit, PayPal “intends to file a Motion to Compel Arbitration, along with a request that PayPal may be reimbursed for its attorneys fees and costs associated with enforcing the terms of the User Agreement.”
The next day I received a package via FedEx with the 18-page PayPal TOS in it. It was highlighted where it said I had to file a complaint in California. She meant business. The night before the trial, PayPal’s local lawyer contacted me. He was actually easier to deal with them Ms. Squieres was. In the end, he talked me into canceling the trial if PayPal gave me the information to my buyer. (Along with again, threatening that he would have to sue for the attorneys fees since it was not in California.) I was stupid for accepting it. I sued the buyer, he never showed of course and I won. But I never got my money.
I’m back where I started, only broker.. But smarter. My account with PayPal is still locked and they still think I owe them money. To this day I have created a PayPal website, had an article printed in 2600 Magazine, and have been featured on slashdot. I have also been sent hundreds of emails from great people thanking me from the site, giving me advice, and simply making me feel better.
PayPal screwed me. And they will do it to you if you’re not very careful. They are a billion dollar company, and they would rather spend thousands rather than admit they were wrong give my account the $615 it needs to be closed. They are unethical and unmoral. But they are also monopolistic in the online world. You can’t be successful on eBay without PayPal. You can’t give donations on certain sites without PayPal. But because of the stress they caused me and others, I will boycott them. I wouldn’t recommend them to my worst enemy. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Try Google Checkout. But please, try with all your power not to use PayPal. It’s not worth the headaches.