As a Verified PayPal veteran, I have long stood behind PayPal as a solution to buying and selling. I’m aware there are many users that have had issues with PayPal, although I have not encountered anything worth writing about… until today. Forgive me, but I know there are countless complaints about PayPal all over the internet, yet, they are still gaining popularity and praise. Are we glutton for punishment, or what?

How many of you have had a PayPal account for years? Have you ever taken the time to read PayPal’s Terms and Conditions since eBay purchased PayPal in 2002?

Why, back in the day (tish and pishaw) eBay was not so popular, and PayPal was only beginning to gain trust. Well… that was when I started using PayPal.

After years of using PayPal as a main method of payment using my Business Account, I have recently started noticing a dramatic increase in fraudulent sales. I am not blaming PayPal for the fraudulent sellers becoming more prevalent, but I did take notice, nevertheless.

I have never had to open a Dispute/Resolution for anything until this year. Within the last 2 months I have had 3 Disputes, 2 of which were eBay Sellers that sold me broken items, and a third one that was a German company selling intangible goods, outside of eBay.

To my surprise…

The PayPal representative had no solution, but did tell me that it was basically not their problem because I didn’t make the purchase on eBay. (By the way, when did they add the little eBay link to their main menu and in the footer links?)

I felt like a child being sent to the corner for punishment, for not using eBay to purchase my software

Nothing Personal, It’s Just Business… it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to actually cover your purchases… if you don’t purchase through eBay.

I am sure many of you have already been through this horrifying experience, to end up on the short end of the stick and were afraid to admit that you didn’t know they favored Sellers and only eBayers, right? Don’t be too cocky about your internet experience though, have some respect for those that are new to buying and selling on the internet. In these trying times of hardship and recession, many people are starting online businesses to avoid bankruptcy.

WORTH NOTING: Digital goods purchased outside of eBay are not protected at all. Then it dawned on me, that’s why there are so many overseas companies selling fake digital goods and making a ton of money using PayPal, because:

Buyers are NOT protected through PayPal if they do not purchase the item through eBay (especially if it’s digital/downloadable). In other words, you will NOT be able to even submit a claim if your digital purchase is not in working order, “not as described”, fraudulent, etc. You will basically lose your money.

Based on a first-hand account of being burned by PayPal, I have to conclude that PayPal is NOT worthy of a good review, because they were negligent in handling my case and wreaked of immoral, useless, and dissatisfying ignorance that I just can’t stand in a supposedly “reputable” company that advertises “100% Buyer Protection” so loudly..

Case #1 Example (No Names were Used, for Protection of both Seller and Buyer)

A) A digital file was purchased, overseas, in Euros that were converted to the lowly American dollar;

B) The digital file was misrepresented as having been built to be used with specific software, which I have, and the Requirements were met, before making the purchase;

C) When said file did not work, using the suggested software, developers were contacted immediately for assistance;

D) Developers advised that the software was NOT built to be used with the software they suggested, under their software description (a blatant admission to fraud, evidence #1);

E) After trying OTHER software they suggested I purchase, so I can use THEIR software, nothing is resolved – same errors and mishaps… Developers were contacted again with login information, copies of files, etc. etc.

and again… and again… waiting 24 hours for messages to be answered, since they are on the other side of the world… and yet, again…

Files submitted to developers for review, were confirmed as looking “correct”, so in other words, their software was at fault, not my files…

F) No Resolution was in sight. I asked for a refund for the purchase, and asked them to cancel the license key for the software, since it was obviously of no use.

Rather than doing the right thing, the developer regressed, similar to a child being caught with one hand in the cookie jar, and blamed me, the consumer, for being stupid. Instead of just refunding the money (35 Euros) and taking a responsible and professional approach to a deteriorated situation and unhappy customer…

Enter PayPal…

The dispute was opened.

The dispute was disputed: after several responses back and forth, between buyer and seller (all the while, PayPal has on record that the dispute is over Digital Goods)

Trying to Escalate Dispute to a Claim Upon submission of the form and over 30 minutes writing the letter of evidence to PayPal for review, the dispute which was about to be escalated with the next click, was AUTOMATICALLY CLOSED.

With a quick call to PayPal’s customer service, I was swiftly brushed off and pointed to their Terms of Use (which I thought, was buried – too many clicks to get to it) for me to review. Let’s see, first you go to the Footer links and find “Legal Agreements”… Then, click on “User Agreement” where it contains 15 sections to review, if you plan to use PayPal… Under section 13, you will finally see “Protection For Buyers” (under Sellers, of course, which is a red flag already)…

In section 13, Protection For Buyers, they explain that there are 2 different programs for buyers:

- PayPal Buyer Protection (for eligible items purchased on eBay)

- PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy (for all other items purchased on or off eBay)

So for all other purchases, you can still complain, but that’s about it.
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Notice the words “all other items”.. then notice the second type of protection for items purchased outside of eBay
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13.2 What types of problems are covered?

PayPal’s programs help you if you encounter either of these problems:

- Item Not Received (INR)

- Significantly Not as Described (SNAD) (see definition below)

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Here’s where it gets tricky
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What are the eligibility requirements for PayPal Buyer Protection?

You must meet all of these requirements:

• Use PayPal to purchase an eligible item on eBay.

• Pay for the full amount of the item with one payment. Items purchased with multiple payments – like a deposit followed by a final payment – are not eligible.

• Send the payment to the seller through:

◦ The eBay “Pay Now” button, or

◦ the eBay invoice,

• Open a Dispute within 45 days of the date you sent the payment – then follow the online dispute resolution process described below under Dispute Resolution.
• Keep your PayPal account in good standing.

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What happened to the second type of protection for purchases made outside of eBay?

Oh, maybe they just forgot to update their terms… yea, that must be it. They couldn’t be fraudulent too!

could they?