The ebay/paypal ripoff

[bodypeersur]

I know that most people selling watches utilize paypal to send and receive money. This used to be a great service. If you ARE NOT selling on ebay it still is. I recently made 2 watch sales via ebay. Now I have numerous private sales on the forums for which I always use paypal and have never had a problem. The 2 sales I had at ebay were sent out the day after the buyer paid and received by the buyer within 2 days. Both instances I received positive feedback. But what does paypal do? They hold my payments in a "pending" status. First excuse was because the buyer had over 8000 purchases (buyer for the asian market) with 100% positive feedback, but they were "protecting me" in case his funds didn't come through. How could they not come through? Paypal already had them in their account! This time it is because the tracking number doesn't show the item as being received yet the buyer left positive feedback saying what great condition the watch was in and I was great to do business with. Hence, $230 of my money being held by paypal. Now I know that's not much money but if they hold funds on 10,000 sales, which is a drop in the bucket, imagine how much money they can use at no cost to them, let alone the interest involved as money can be pending for up to 21 days! And to make them look even more like crooks and in cahoots together....I've NEVER had nor heard of a private sale having funds held as pending. Only when involved with ebay. So their claim of "protecting the buyer" only goes for buyers on ebay. WHAT A FREAKIN SCAM!!!!

[bodypeersur]

I almost forgot to mention, my fees for selling a watch between ebay and paypal was a total in excess of 13%!!!! WTF???

[bodypeersur]

Addendum to original post. I contacted the buyer regarding the funds being pending. He immediately called the Post Office and told them they needed correct their error, that the watch was received. That will take up to two days. He then called paypal, told them he received the watch. They again refused to release the funds until the Post Office said the watch was picked up even though the buyer himself said he received the watch. What do I have to do to go in to competition with paypal because this seems to be the freakin business to be in. The middleman for money transfers! Seems like all you need is a bank account and some great marketing!

[porschefan]

I'm glad I've never done paypal.

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