Mar 22, 2008
Safe *Paypal* Transactions
by eventful
Although many of you are eager to sell that level 70 WoW account that's been collecting dust for ages, that doesn't mean that you should be running around putting your hard work at risk.
It is very possible to get scammed using Paypal unless you know what you're doing, what could happen, and how to prevent it. And that's what I'll hopefully teach you through this thread.
Seller's Protection
Unless you absolutely trust the person whom your selling an item to, you're at great risk of loosing your money. So to make things simple, I will show you the most possible scenarios that may lead to getting scammed:
* The amount of money being sent to you is withdrawed NOT from the account's balance, but from the bank account associated with it. And since this kind of procedure is not instant, it would take a few days (hence the not instant part). Only during that time, it is possible for the sender to cancel the whole transaction without your permission/authorization.
There is not a way to avoid this, therefor it is better to stay away from this kind of payment and refund the sender for free.
* You receive the money, it gets added to your balance, only later on it appears that you've had a dispute filled against you. This is based solely on the item being NOT as described or NOT being delivered.
Luckily though, this does not include virtual items. So in order for you to get away from this, you can either:
A. Ask the buyer to state in the description field when sending you the money that he is purchasing a virtual item from you.
B. This is in case option 1 was not done. Simply click the resolve button next to the transaction located in your account history in the overview tab. And when coming across the tracking number fields, instead fill them with a short line informing them that the items are virtual.
* All goes well until the buyer reports an Unauthorized transaction (Chargeback). This is the worst scenario as it limits your account access for a considerable amount of time and unfortunately, for most of us, the ending result is usually as follows:
To make things worse, there is one and only one way to protect yourself from this; qualifying for the Seller's Protection Policy.
To make things more clear, the Seller's Protection Policy protects you from the following:
* Credit card chargebacks from fraudulent card use
* Credit card chargebacks for false claims of non-delivery
* Buyer complaints for false claims of non-delivery
In short, it protects you from the normal sort of disputes and the occasional credit card chargebacks rendering the transaction as "Unauthorized".
But like any other security precaution, it has its downsides, as it does not apply to:
* "Significantly Not as Described" chargeback claims
* Transactions to non-US buyers
* Transactions to US buyers who do not have confirmed addresses
* Any transactions in which the seller did not follow the SPP guidelines
In order to Qualify for the Seller's Protection Policy, take note of the following:
* Have a Verified Premier or Business account
* Post to the address on the Transaction Details page
This address is displayed on the Transaction Details page along with whether or not it is eligible for the Seller Protection Policy (Note: this means that the address provided by the buyer, even if it's a virtual items, needs to be confirmed)
* Post within seven days of receiving payment
* Retain reasonable proof-of postage that can be tracked online *
* Send tangible goods
* Only accept payments in full from single PayPal accounts
* Impose no additional charges on the buyer
* Respond to all PayPal inquiries promptly
*For transactions equal to £150.00 GBP or more in value, the seller needs to provide proof of receipt (signed, or otherwise acknowledged, by the buyer) in addition to postage and tracking information. The equivalent transaction amount in non-GBP currencies at which the seller must provide online proof of receipt by the buyer is as follows:
* $250.00 USD
* $325.00 CAD
* €200.00 EUR
* ¥28,000 JPY
* $350.00 AUD
Buyer's Protection
"13.1 Buyer Protection Programs. If you buy an item using PayPal and either do not receive the item or receive an item that you believe is Significantly Not as Described by the seller, we encourage you to open a Dispute with the seller in our Resolution Center. By doing so, you will initiate our Online Dispute Resolution Process—a step-by-step system designed to facilitate communication between you and the seller in order to get resolution of the issue. If your dialogue with the seller fails to produce a satisfactory result, you can then escalate the Dispute into a Claim that we will evaluate for reimbursement under one of the following programs:
1. PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy - Our best efforts program to reimburse Users for losses only to the extent we are able to recover the funds from sellers.
2. PayPal Buyer Protection Policy - Our program to reimburse Users for losses for up to (i) $2,000.00 USD (Top Tier Coverage Amount) for eligible items purchased on eBay and (ii) up to $200.00 USD (Basic Tier Coverage Amount) for all other eligible items purchased on eBay and for eligible items purchased outside of eBay that PayPal processed through the ATM debit network. Please see section 13.9 to determine whether Top Tier Coverage Amount or Basic Tier Coverage Amount applies to your eBay purchase.
3. Buyer Protection for eBay Express - Our program to reimburse Users for the full amount of losses for items purchased on eBay Express.
4. Extended Buyer Protection with PayPal Credit - Our program to reimburse Users for the full amount of losses for items purchased using the PayPal Credit Card or PayPal Buyer Credit.
These programs only cover payments for tangible, physical goods. All other payments, such as payments for intangibles, services, airline flight tickets, or licenses and other access to digital content are not covered by any Buyer Protection Program that we offer (but may be covered by Chargeback rights)."
Now if you did not read this, and you probably didn't. This simply means that you can fill a claim against the seller as long as the item is not virtual. This can be done by going to the Resolution Center, clicking on the Report a problem link and selecting the first option.
Final words
As you can all see, doing business online is not the most delighting experience, nor will it ever be. So take a note of that and don't go throwing your money around unaware of the possible consequences.
Take everything in consideration before pulling the trigger, and hopefully you won't end up banging your head constantly against a wall attempting to turn back time.
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