RallyJon,

I don't think the "concept" is being knocked, rather the heavyhanded and one-sided collection practices. As for "you get what you pay for"...Give me a break. They charge more than credit companies do for each transaction....do you realalize what kind of money they pull in? Furthermore, even if it was a bargain it doesn't give them the right to abuse users this way.

Agreed that it's convenient but I now discourage the use of Paypal in my auctions.

Agreed.
No question that if a vendor has a credit card merchant account, it benefits the merchant (cost) and the customer (safety) to do a direct credit card charge instead of using PayPal. For a small un-creditworthy vendor or private individual, the fees look pretty reasonable. How much is your time worth? I'll gladly pay a couple of bucks to avoid driving to the bank or supermarket to get a cert check or MO.
I thought the issue was that their contract specifically DOES give them the right to abuse users this way? :D You're quite right, though--the solution is not to file a toothless BBB complaint, it's to stop using PayPal if the onerous terms outweigh the convenience.

Borderline troll ranting that has nothing to do with Porsches???

I posted this thread because of reading so many Ebay link postings not to mention the fairly common "I've had a problem with this seller" sort of messages. Thought I may help save some Porsche parts transactions from going bad...

I think a lot of people buy Porsche parts on Ebay feeling assured that there exist protection mechanisms for them, loudly proclaimed by Ebay and their newest buy-out, PayPal. The reality of the insurance coverage is relevant to Porsche people, I'd think. The evidence against PayPal is overwhelming. 100,000 complaints that they have backlogged... The BBB's findings. The court rulings and class action lawsuits... Like I said, do your own research...

As for me, I'm out $200 on merchandise that I shipped out six months ago, merchandise that was recieved and enjoyed by the customer. I'm out another $100 or so because of believing that "buyers protection" still worked if the criminal closed their PayPal account. (It doesn't... PayPal will admit that they were wrong but will claim that "they have no recourse to collect the funds" and tell you that you're out of luck...) In doing what I could do to fix things, I found so much information about them that I was shocked...

So remember, the next time you bid on a nice set of H1's or a factory Porsche whale tail on Ebay, Ebay will protect you up to $200.00 only with a $25.00 deductable. $800 tail = $175 refunded to you, two months later, if you're lucky... With PayPal, if you sell a $800 tail and ship it through the United States Post Office via Priority Mail with "Delivery Confirmation", six months later you may be surprised to find the money refunded, permanently, to your customer, if they as little as call their credit card company and say "I didn't get it..."

Now I'm going to tinker with my 911, like a good troll should...




Vladamier