Getting really upset with paypal

[JesseFrank]

I have a paypal account in my home country linked to a credit card. My Thai address is registered as my primary shipping address in my account.

As long as I have this Paypal account each and every item I have ordered has been shipped to my Thai address. The majority of orders ahve been from Ebay or Aliexpress, but there have been orders from websites all over the world.

Recently I try to order from a few HK and China websites and when I check out and get to the point that I have to enter my Paypal password, I get a screen with the Paypal logo that says, account holders from your country are not allowed to have their goods shipped to Thailand.

I contact one of the website holders and explain him the whole issue including my account status and my shipping address. He sends an invoice to my Paypal account, but when I want to pay I get again a message which shows the addresses where i am allowed to receive the item, and my Thai address with mention that I'm not allowed to ship to that address.

Since the website holder has sent me the invoice it's obvious that he agrees to ship to Thailand.

I contact Paypal and give them the complete explanation, and get the answer that I have to contact Ebay. Ebay is in no way involved in this order, and by the way I have in the past week placed 3 orders with Ebay and all successfully completed.

I had an Identical issue with Zennioptical a few months ago, with the exact same screen that popped up, and even after umpteen mails with Paypal they insisted that the problem was with the vendor.

I knew at that time that they were talking bullocks, but now there is no doubt anymore that the issue is with Paypal as the invoice sits in my Paypal account already but doesn't allow me to ship it to my address which I have successfully used since i opened my paupal account 8 years ago.

What bothers me also a lot is that they also give answers completely beside the question. Sounds almost as if the European paypal customer service is manned with Thai people.

This is the first line of their response to my complain, keep in mind that the word Ebay wasn't even mentioned in my complaint.

Thank you for contacting PayPal regarding PayPal about your claim. I have reviewed your account, unfortunately this is a claim handled by eBay and I'm not able to see the content.

So, is there an alternative to this useless service that is called Paypal.

[Satcommlee]

I've come across this...

You cannot hold a verified address in Thailand linked to paypal and that is the reason many companies will not ship to you.

You can verify your credit/debit cards but Paypal has no way of verifying your address unlike Europe and US.

Only today I received ebay goods in Thailand but it is up to the seller to specify Thailand as acceptable. I ordered a 20 year old digitizing tablet for $200 so hardly a resaleable sought after item...

Edited May 6, 2014 by Satcommlee

[rhythmworx]

Do it via a proxy server and paypal will not know you are located in Thailand.

[Chicog]

Do it via a proxy server and paypal will not know you are located in Thailand.

But if his shipping address is not his address in Thailand.....?

[rhythmworx]

Do it via a proxy server and paypal will not know you are located in Thailand.

But if his shipping address is not his address in Thailand.....?

He can sort that out with the seller, through ebay.

[NeverSure]

Ebay owns PayPal.

Sellers have an opportunity to check which countries they ship to when they list an item. One of the choices is worldwide.

Is it possible that the seller limited where he would ship in his listing, and Thailand is excluded so PayPal is just following the seller's listing instructions and so it is an "Ebay problem?"

Open the listing again and see where the seller ships to.

Edited May 6, 2014 by NeverSure

[JesseFrank]

Do it via a proxy server and paypal will not know you are located in Thailand.

But if his shipping address is not his address in Thailand.....?

He can sort that out with the seller, through ebay.

There is no problem with Ebay and never has been. All my Ebay purchases ever have been shipped to Thailand without a problem.

The problem is with E-commerce sites located in HK. I had email contact with one of the site owners and he has no issue to send to Thailand. To bypass the problem he sent a Paypal invoice to my account, but when i go to the payment page it shows my European addresses as valid, and my Thai address under the tab " Addresses that the goods are not allowed to be shipped to "

The fact that Paypal said I have to contact ebay means they don't even bother to properly read the claim I made.

[Pib]

The problem is not with Ebay/Paypal but how the vendor has coded shipping restrictions in his Ebay/Paypal account.

Sent from my Samsung S4

[KittenKong]

PayPal/Ebay are rubbish and always have been.

The have total contempt for the end user, and frequently block accounts/balances for no valid reason (or even no reason at all).

And on top of that they charge very high fees.

I avoid both of them like the plague.

[bluweyze]

That is not true. I have a Paypal account linked to my Thailand credit card and I have a verified address in Thailand. When I tried to do it with an out of Thailand credit card I hit similar problems although for some reasons I can use an out of Thailand credit card as an alternative.

I've come across this...

You cannot hold a verified address in Thailand linked to paypal and that is the reason many companies will not ship to you.

You can verify your credit/debit cards but Paypal has no way of verifying your address unlike Europe and US.

Only today I received ebay goods in Thailand but it is up to the seller to specify Thailand as acceptable. I ordered a 20 year old digitizing tablet for $200 so hardly a resaleable sought after item...

[Suradit69]

A few years ago I had a similar problem, but now I keep my PayPal account address in the US and it is linked to a US bank and US credit cards. My eBay shipping address is in Thailand.

With eBay I've never had a problem using the PayPal account to pay and the seller using the eBay shipping address in Thailand. If the seller doesn't normally ship to Thailand I contact them directly and (so far) every one has entered my ID as an exception in seller's preferences, and then I've been able to bid or buy from that seller.

Likewise when I use PayPal for other sellers or if I use my US based credit cards directly, everyone I've bought from either allows separate billing and shipping addresses to be entered when placing the order or, again, I contact them directly. Never encountered a problem.

I agree both PayPal and eBay can be royal pains in the butt with some of their policies and restrictions, but if you hang in there you can usually sort things out. With eBay specifically I've found that the best response to problems comes by contacting the customer service people in Singapore by email. [email protected] Far more helpful than the doofuses at eBay in the US, most of whom don't realize there is a world outside of the US.

[Equalizer]

Do it via a proxy server and paypal will not know you are located in Thailand.

That was the old days, you can forget proxy servers this only hides your IP address they now have the ability to screen your Mac address and this you can not get around. Sorry

[BWPattaya]

I have a Paypal account and it has my address here. I have never had a problem except for one battery supplier on Ebay UK (a CMOS battery for a Toshibas laptop) in the UK who would not ship to Thailand. Not Paypal's fault, the seller wouldn\t ship here. They did offer an address of their company in the UK who would ship. Same address and phone number but over twice the price. They wouldn\t even send to my daughter in the UK. They didn't get my business.

As I said, not a problem with Paypal.

[JesseFrank]

A few years ago I had a similar problem, but now I keep my PayPal account address in the US and it is linked to a US bank and US credit cards. My eBay shipping address is in Thailand.

With eBay I've never had a problem using the PayPal account to pay and the seller using the eBay shipping address in Thailand. If the seller doesn't normally ship to Thailand I contact them directly and (so far) every one has entered my ID as an exception in seller's preferences, and then I've been able to bid or buy from that seller.

Likewise when I use PayPal for other sellers or if I use my US based credit cards directly, everyone I've bought from either allows separate billing and shipping addresses to be entered when placing the order or, again, I contact them directly. Never encountered a problem.

I agree both PayPal and eBay can be royal pains in the butt with some of their policies and restrictions, but if you hang in there you can usually sort things out. With eBay specifically I've found that the best response to problems comes by contacting the customer service people in Singapore by email. [email protected] Far more helpful than the doofuses at eBay in the US, most of whom don't realize there is a world outside of the US.

As I said There has never been a problem with Ebay.

The seller send an invoice to my paypal account, but when I try to pay it shows my verified address in Europe as shipping address. When I try to change the address it clearly shows the Thai address under a tab as not allowed to ship to.

This morning in my confusion I completed the payment and noticed to late that an invalid address in Europe was entered as shipping address.Too late.

I entered an unauthorized payment claim, as that is the only option that was offered, and explained them exactly what had happened and that the goods would be lost if they were send to that address as I has no access to it anymore.

At the same time I emailed the merchant and explained him also the confusion and asked for a refund.

This is the email I received from Paypal

After reading your email I understand that you made a payment on the 7th of May 2014 for the amount of 20,99 USD, but have provided an incorrect address to the merchant. I have reviewed your account and can see that you reported that you didn't recognize the payment sent from your PayPal account.

This does not involve an unauthorized transaction and the case you have opened will therefore not be closed in your favour. I have to advise you to get in contact with the merchant and request a refund, so you can make the payment again

Coincidental about 10 minutes later I receive an email from the merchant that he has refunded my payment.

Less than 5 minutes later I receive the following email from Paypal

We've processed your recent claim that someone used your account without

your permission for this transaction, and decided the case in your favor.

So they refuse my claim, but when the merchant refunds me they still want to take credit for solving the case.

I almost start to believe that they are crooks.

[Shiver]

Being a Merchant, I can tell you that this is a constant pain in the a**. What we do is say put your real shipping address on our site, and put the address that makes PP happy on their checkout screen.

I would say use Bitcoin and avoid all this kind of thing, but that would be opening pandoras box.

Our current PP base is Hong Kong, so we have much the same issue regarding location, but in reverse, even though our products are physically shipped from US/EU.

[JesseFrank]

Being a Merchant, I can tell you that this is a constant pain in the a**. What we do is say put your real shipping address on our site, and put the address that makes PP happy on their checkout screen.

I would say use Bitcoin and avoid all this kind of thing, but that would be opening pandoras box.

Our current PP base is Hong Kong, so we have much the same issue regarding location, but in reverse, even though our products are physically shipped from US/EU.

I'm trying that out now.

You don't sell Lifepo4 batteries for airsoft by any chance, as that is what I'm looking to order.

[RecklessRon]

I'm from Canada and had the exact same problem. The ideal solution is NOT available but you can:

1). Open a bank account in Thailand and create a new PayPal (and eBay if you like) account.

2). Arrange with the shipper to ignore the PayPal address and ship it directly to you in Thailand.

I've done both and they both work. Most sellers just want the money and are willing to ship wherever you like (goggle4U did this for me) - sometimes for a small shipping fee that they can add into the eBay invoice BEFORE you pay with PayPal.

IMHO: Up until you actually pay sellers are willing to do almost anything for your business.

[Suradit69]

A few years ago I had a similar problem, but now I keep my PayPal account address in the US and it is linked to a US bank and US credit cards. My eBay shipping address is in Thailand.

With eBay I've never had a problem using the PayPal account to pay and the seller using the eBay shipping address in Thailand. If the seller doesn't normally ship to Thailand I contact them directly and (so far) every one has entered my ID as an exception in seller's preferences, and then I've been able to bid or buy from that seller.

Likewise when I use PayPal for other sellers or if I use my US based credit cards directly, everyone I've bought from either allows separate billing and shipping addresses to be entered when placing the order or, again, I contact them directly. Never encountered a problem.

I agree both PayPal and eBay can be royal pains in the butt with some of their policies and restrictions, but if you hang in there you can usually sort things out. With eBay specifically I've found that the best response to problems comes by contacting the customer service people in Singapore by email. [email protected] Far more helpful than the doofuses at eBay in the US, most of whom don't realize there is a world outside of the US.

As I said There has never been a problem with Ebay.

The seller send an invoice to my paypal account, but when I try to pay it shows my verified address in Europe as shipping address. When I try to change the address it clearly shows the Thai address under a tab as not allowed to ship to.

This morning in my confusion I completed the payment and noticed to late that an invalid address in Europe was entered as shipping address.Too late.

I entered an unauthorized payment claim, as that is the only option that was offered, and explained them exactly what had happened and that the goods would be lost if they were send to that address as I has no access to it anymore.

At the same time I emailed the merchant and explained him also the confusion and asked for a refund.

This is the email I received from Paypal

After reading your email I understand that you made a payment on the 7th of May 2014 for the amount of 20,99 USD, but have provided an incorrect address to the merchant. I have reviewed your account and can see that you reported that you didn't recognize the payment sent from your PayPal account.

This does not involve an unauthorized transaction and the case you have opened will therefore not be closed in your favour. I have to advise you to get in contact with the merchant and request a refund, so you can make the payment again

Coincidental about 10 minutes later I receive an email from the merchant that he has refunded my payment.

Less than 5 minutes later I receive the following email from Paypal

We've processed your recent claim that someone used your account without

your permission for this transaction, and decided the case in your favor.

So they refuse my claim, but when the merchant refunds me they still want to take credit for solving the case.

I almost start to believe that they are crooks.

"As I said There has never been a problem with Ebay."

PayPal belongs to eBay, so a problem with PayPal is a problem with eBay. As I said with purchases either within or outside of eBay, I've found that contacting the vendor directly resolves or prevents some of the issues. If the problem is with PayPal, then eBay customer service may be of some help.

If you've sent a payment by mistake and want to retract that payment, then claiming that it was an "unauthorized payment" is not appropriate. An unauthorized payment implies that someone made the payment without your consent or authorization. PayPal did say that you should ask the merchant for a refund. The wording in their second message doesn't make much sense under the circumstances, but many of the messages are machine generated and may not always be specific to your situation.

I fully agree that both PayPal and eBay can be pains in the butt, but sometimes we create some of the problems ourselves.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Suradit69

[bender92]

I had a problem with my US Paypal account, so I added my Bangkok Bank credit card and Thai address. I think I had to use a new email address too, to link to Paypal. No problems since.

[JournalistsAreLiars]

Using a proxy is the best way to get your account frozen...

[GregBahder]

Hello everyone.

I have 2 paypal accounts, one linked to the US and one linked to Thailand to a Bangkok Bank account.

[JesseFrank]

Received an email again from Paypal and they explained that I can pay the invoice by using a " send money for goods" transaction. In that case I can change the shipping address to a Thailand address.