To All:
I have only made one overseas purchase through Paypal, so I'm not very experienced with them, but I ran into this "Get Verified" problem right away since my only purchase was for ~$1000.00. They would not ok the transaction because neither I not the seller were "Verified", i.e. neither of us had our checking account linked to Paypal and neither of us were willing to link our checking accounts to Paypal.
So...we just did multiple credit card charges of ~$500.00 ea. and they were approved. It worked for me, the seller, and I guess it worked for Paypal since they approved it. If I had not been able to use my credit card, I would have walked away from the deal, since my credit card is my first line of protection. I didn't feel manipulated by Paypal. I felt like I had used the system to my advantage.
By the way, I received my bike from Switzerland nicely packed in 10 days via the postal service.
Donald F. Dunstan Winters, TX
"Never understood the concept of being a "winner" of an auction. E-speak, I guess."
> There are a lot of reports, some posted on the Internet, about PayPal
making unauthorized withdrawls from user accounts, then refusing to return
the money or taking many months to do so. It seems that in most instances,
this happens when a buyer files a complaint and PayPal agrees with the buyer
and withdraws funds from the seller's account to refund the buyer's payment.
I may even have benefitted from this as it is possible that is how I
received the recent refunds in connection with my PayPal complaints. So as
a buyer I am at considerably less risk. Also I don't know whether PayPal
has actually made unauthorized or erroneous withdrawls from users' bank
accounts, or only from their PayPal accounts.
>
> But I was never comfortable with having my checking account linked to
PayPal. In fact, the rather negative post I made about PayPal a few weeks
ago was because I felt and still feel that Paypal deceived and manipulated
me into doing this. They urge you to open an account with a credit card and
never reveal (or maybe hide in small print) that this is only good for $1000
or so for all of eternity. Then, if you wish to continuing making
purchases, you have to let them link to your bank account. In my case, I
had just agreed to buy a bike and found I could not PayPal for it unless I
"Got Verified" meaning I let them link to my bank account. I called them
and protested at the time, but they sort of have a monopoly, especially if
you want to buy eBay items from Europe. If I had known in advance about
this and had more time to consider it, I would have set up a separate
checking account just for this purpose. But they manipulated me into
linking to my regular checking account, meaning that when I concluded this
was a mistake, I had to close the connected savings and money market
accounts, open new ones and a new checking account, order new checks, order
a new ATM card, and transfer all but minimal funds out of the old accounts
into the new ones. PayPal should have to clearly state before you sign up
that you will be forced to link a bank account to purchase more than $1000
or so.
>
> Now that I've gone through all that trouble to protect myself, I find that
PayPal is a great convenience, and I have to admit they recovered most of my
money on undelivered eBay items. But I still find their marketing practices
deceptive, abusive, monopolistic and of questionability legality.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Houston, TX
By the way, I still resent the way PayPal manipulates members into
> linking
> >>in bank accounts, but I have to admit, they are 2 for 2 in
recovering
> all or
> >>most of my money in eBay fraud cases. Credit where credit is due.
> >>
> >>Regards,
> >>
> >>Jerry Moos
> >>Houston, TX