We just had another bad experience with PayPal. A fraudulent buyer filed a false claim of an item not received. This triggered a joke of a week long investigation. The investigation forced me to let him keep the item and also pay him back for it. Even after providing proof of tracking and delivery, and proof of a private message from the buyer in which he acknowledged receipt of the item, they let him keep it anyway. I am disappointed with PayPal’s poor handling of the situation. I am also curious how many other honest businesses PayPal has let be taken advantage of by dishonest buyers.
Third Party Information
To get an idea if I was alone, I searched online for instances of businesses that had gone through similar situations. I found that 94% of PayPal’s reviews on the Better Business Bureau are negative. Nevertheless, they still they have an A rating on on the site. I will try to remember this, also, the next time the BBB calls me to sell a membership. It tells me quite a bit about how meaningful BBB ratings are. Based on those percentages, if PayPal were a Seller on eBay their feedback profile would be a whopping 3.7% positive feedback. Their account would be suspended at this low approval rating. They are not very likely to improve the seller experience without real competition from other payment methods on eBay.
We have been doing business with PayPal and eBay for almost 20 years now and the anti-seller trend has been worsening for awhile now. The services have been made very easy for buyers to use at the expense of their sellers. eBay has made it impossible for sellers to provide honest reviews of buyers and flag the dishonest buyers. It is now only possible for sellers to give positive reviews of buyers. This enables them to scam more sellers before eBay eventually intervenes and suspends the accounts of the few bad buyers out there. PayPal investigations are similarly stacked against sellers. The company wants to ensure that buyers have a smooth buying experience at the expense of the sellers. I remember when eBay used to accept different payment methods. PayPal used to treat us more fairly when they were not the only game in town. /end frustrated rant
Buyers and Sellers Beware
Here are some other links to sites online that discuss the abysmal experiences that people have with PayPal:
- Consumer Affairs – https://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/paypal_02.html
- Reseller Ratings – https://www.resellerratings.com/store/PayPal
- Trust Pilot – https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.paypal.com