Paypal buyer protection. NOT?

[Berty100]

Whenever I make a purchase on Ebay, Aliexpress or elsewhere, I try to use Paypal for the convenience of checking out and of course the buyers protection.

In the past 180 days I had to dispute 2 purchases, one with a Chinese seller which failed to ship an Android box within the agreed time period, and which refunded me promptly after I opened a dispute.

The second case which was just recently opened as a dispute, and which hasn't been escalated to a claim yet as communication is still ongoing, concerns a chlorinator cell from an Australian e-commerce company, and which performs worse than my 6 year old worn out salt cell.

Today I received the following email from Paypal.

We’ve noticed that you’ve had a higher than average rate of issues with your PayPal transactions. Such problems may include claims you have initiated with PayPal or through your financial institution or bank.

We want you to be happy with your purchases, but we may find it necessary to suspend your PayPal account privileges if we continue to notice a high number of problems with your PayPal transactions. Pending further review, we may also suspend any outstanding and future buyer protection claims, and we reserve the right to deny these claims.

We simply wanted to give you a chance to reassess your account activity for the future. You don’t need to take any action, and we don’t require a response to this message.

So what sense does it make to use such a bogus payment service, that charges extreme high exchanges rates and other fees for their services, and now also want to retract on their customer service

Paypal

[Lannig]

How many purchases within the said 180 days? I'll all a question of ratio I guess

[KittenKong]

PayPal "customer protection" is a complete joke and always has been. As with Ebay it is biased in favour of the vendor, and above all protects its own backside. They also have a tendency to block accounts (and the money in them) for long periods of time and for little or no reason, all the while making it difficult or impossible to communicate with them to resolve the issue.

There are hundreds of thousands of reports/complaints of this type to be found on-line.

To be avoided at all costs.

[Berty100]

How many purchases within the said 180 days? I'll all a question of ratio I guess

I had 23 purchases in the last 180 days. Please take note that Paypal didn't even have to step in with the 2 disputes.

[Berty100]

PayPal "customer protection" is a complete joke and always has been. As with Ebay it is biased in favour of the vendor, and above all protects its own backside. They also have a tendency to block accounts (and the money in them) for long periods of time and for little or no reason, all the while making it difficult or impossible to communicate with them to resolve the issue.

There are hundreds of thousands of reports/complaints of this type to be found on-line.

To be avoided at all costs.

I'm aware of their tendency to block accounts with money inside, that why there is never money in my PP account, and yes it becomes more clear to me now that they are a complete joke.

Is there an alternative to their service?

[Lannig]

How many purchases within the said 180 days? I'll all a question of ratio I guess

I had 23 purchases in the last 180 days. Please take note that Paypal didn't even have to step in with the 2 disputes.

That's weird indeed. Never heard of something like this happening at such a disputes/purchases ratio.

As for buyer's protection, I have used it twice over the past year 1/2 or so and frankly I can't complain. They did quite well.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Lannig

[Don Mega]

Aliexpress allows paypal now ?.

When did that happen.

[CharlieH]

Which Paypal? There are actually different centres of operation etc. USA Europe or Asia.Where is your account registered ?

Just curious

[Berty100]

Aliexpress allows paypal now ?.

When did that happen.

Each Aliexpress seller is free to accept any kind of payment service.

Whenever I see an item on AE that interest me I open a chat with the seller and ask if he accepts PP, if he agrees he sends an invoice to my PP account, if not I move on the the next seller or Ebay.

[Berty100]

Which Paypal? There are actually different centres of operation etc. USA Europe or Asia.Where is your account registered ?

Just curious

My account is registered in Europe, but why would that make a difference in the service they provide, after all they are all the same organistaion.

The email i received was from global paypal, as it was paypal.com

[Don Mega]

Aliexpress allows paypal now ?.

When did that happen.

Each Aliexpress seller is free to accept any kind of payment service.

Whenever I see an item on AE that interest me I open a chat with the seller and ask if he accepts PP, if he agrees he sends an invoice to my PP account, if not I move on the the next seller or Ebay.

ohh.

So you contact each seller outside of the aliexpress system.

So at that point in time the transaction has zero to do with aliexpress.

Thanks for clearing that up.

[CharlieH]

Inflammatory remarks/response removed.

7) You will respect fellow members and post in a civil manner. No personal attacks, hateful or insulting towards other members, (flaming) Stalking of members on either the forum or via PM will not be allowed.

[Berty100]

Aliexpress allows paypal now ?.

When did that happen.

Each Aliexpress seller is free to accept any kind of payment service.

Whenever I see an item on AE that interest me I open a chat with the seller and ask if he accepts PP, if he agrees he sends an invoice to my PP account, if not I move on the the next seller or Ebay.

ohh.

So you contact each seller outside of the aliexpress system.

So at that point in time the transaction has zero to do with aliexpress.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I contact the Aliexpress seller through the Aliexpress Live chat, and ask him to include a screenshot of his Aliexpress listing in the invoice.

If the sale has anything to do with Aliexpress is the least of my worries, since I buy from an AE seller at the AE price, but when I have an issue i go through the Paypal resolution center instead of the Alipay system which is even more useless than PP.

I never posted that AE accepts Paypal. I purchase goods which are listed on AE and pay them with Paypal.

[aber]

Paypal always is on seller side, you just had bad luck and I am sure that you can reverse this.

[aber]

in favour of the vendor ?

You really don't know what you are talking about guy...

PayPal "customer protection" is a complete joke and always has been. As with Ebay it is biased in favour of the vendor, and above all protects its own backside. They also have a tendency to block accounts (and the money in them) for long periods of time and for little or no reason, all the while making it difficult or impossible to communicate with them to resolve the issue.

There are hundreds of thousands of reports/complaints of this type to be found on-line.

To be avoided at all costs.

[Berty100]

Paypal always is on seller side, you just had bad luck and I am sure that you can reverse this.

The way I understand the email is that I'm not suspended yet, but they consider if I have any future dispute. I have send them a message to explain how my account behavior can be above average with only 2 disputes, where they didn't even have to step in.

I would think that if a seller refunds promptly within a few hours after opening the dispute, it is an admittance that my dispute was legitimate.

But since I don't fancy receiving such emails, and watching my back all the time for no reason, I ask again if there is a similar service available elsewhere.

[CharlieH]

In answer to your question, there are numerous online payment methods. You will need to satisfy yourself as to suitability and fees etc, and jndeed if you can use their services from whatever location etc.

This may be of assistance:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/paypal-alternatives/

A little reasearch and comparison will probably give you what you need.

[Berty100]

In answer to your question, there are numerous online payment methods. You will need to satisfy yourself as to suitability and fees etc, and jndeed if you can use their services from whatever location etc.

This may be of assistance:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/paypal-alternatives/

A little reasearch and comparison will probably give you what you need.

I had a look at that link, and Google Wallet and Payza I am already registered with, but none of the alternatives offers buyers protection as far as i can notice and that is actually what I'm after.

As with my latest purchase for the value of almost 500 AU$, plus import duties paid, which turns out to be an inferior product a buyers protection is a must.

[BB1955]

I ve used it twice , got my money back within two days . When the product did arrive I contacted ebay and the seller and paid them . Understand they read your conversations with the seller so they know , whats what .