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Are PayPal sellers at risk?

Now please, anyone and everyone correct me if I'm wrong. This is regarding the topic of selling directly via PayPal. So let's say you sell an autographed item to another individual directly through a PayPal-to-PayPal transaction. And in no way is eBay involved. So the buyer sends you money from his PayPal account to yours via email addresses, and in order to protect himself, he marks the transaction "Goods and Services". So from what I understand, whether the seller likes it or not, the buyer has up to 6 months to make a claim against the seller and to request a refund. And all the buyer has to say is say that the item was not as described. In particular, he can claim that the autograph is not authentic in his opinion without even so much as having a quick opinion to back him up. That's it. The buyer only has to say that he does not believe it is authentic (even if it actually is), and then he can request (and get) a refund up to six months later.

If this is truly the case, this would be quite alarming to sellers. In such a scenario, a buyer could find an item to buy at a relatively good price for the sole purpose of trying to flip it for a nice profit. He could keep trying to turn a nice profit for up to 6 months, and if after several attempts he doesn't get the money he was hoping for, all he has to do is file a claim against the seller with PayPal saying that the item is not authentic, and he gets all his money back. In other words, the buyer gets to play with the seller's money and time at no risk for the buyer at all.

So is this truly a risk that sellers now have to face while selling via PayPal!

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Permalink Reply by James on August 28, 2016 at 4:21pm

You're right, Barbara. The scammers love eBay and PayPal. Overall, I've been fortunate and dealt with a lot of good people. You just have to do the best you can and stay vigilant. Try to be aware as much as possible as to who is on the other side of the computer screen. So far I haven't encountered the empty-box experience. My organs would probably bake from my blood boiling over!

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Archie on August 31, 2016 at 9:25am

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Permalink Reply by James on August 27, 2016 at 10:13pm

So I won't go into detail now, but I recently got screwed over with PayPal. A buyer returned an item to me, and when I got it back, it was damaged. I sent PayPal before and after pics that were dated. But that wasn't good enough. First PayPal told me I should file a police report, which would then be forwarded to them. But I told PayPal I felt it was ridiculous to file a police report over something like this. Yes, the item was damaged, but it's not like it's completely worthless now. And I don't think the damage was done on purpose. Also, I told PayPal that I have a disability and very limited mobility, so I don't have the ability to just easily go in and out of places. The item damaged was a book. So because of my disability, PayPal said I could just have a bookstore or a collectibles business write up a report of the damages and then file the report with PayPal. Still, it is not an easy task for me due to my disability.

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Permalink Reply by James on August 27, 2016 at 10:20pm

So I think it is definitely a case of seller beware when dealing with PayPal. The 6 month time frame is crazy. For one thing...after six months, the money that the seller received for the item likely would have been spent a long time ago. Thus, if the seller is forced to give a refund after that much time, it is very possible that it could cause the seller's PayPal account to be in the negative. Then PayPal is going to start demanding that you bring your account current which could quite possibly cause a financial hardship for the seller. And the whole situation would have been caused by PayPal's ridiculous policy.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on August 27, 2016 at 10:24pm

Was that the jfk signed book. The policy is crazy.

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Permalink Reply by James on August 27, 2016 at 10:35pm

I'd rather not comment specifically on the item right now until this thing with PayPal is resolved. But I will say this: a friend of mine on AML said that he is almost certain that he saw the item available for bidding in a recent RR Auction!

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Permalink Reply by Ian Baldock on August 28, 2016 at 9:06am

Being a buyer and not a seller is a good thing for me. I miss not being able to send a check with the seller holding it for a week to make sure its good. Very few people want to do that anymore. Ive said it before I would be very wary dealing outside of the U.S. Make sure you know who your dealing with. Italy can be notorious for stuff disappearing in the mail,there are even warnings about it.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on August 28, 2016 at 9:14am

Or standing in the PO filling out money orders to avoid the check clearing days. Ahhhh good times.

Working at a company that deals with collectibles, we are heavily into shipping and ebay sales......Italy and Greece are nightmares to ship anything into. France has been difficult of late as well, with the restrictions on Gold, precious metals and jewelry in their mail system.

Our company policy now is to list all auctions and buy it now items as "ships to USA only," with a line about requesting that international bidders contact us before bidding or ordering.

They do have a few of options, that is if the item is not prohibited for shipping into their home country. Priority Express Mail fully tracked and fully insured, they can send us an international money order(no checks) or we can ship the item to any USA address that they request. That is it.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on August 28, 2016 at 2:28pm

Thats why nico79 was asking me to ship to italy , i replied no i donf ship to italy a 100 times.

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Permalink Reply by James on August 28, 2016 at 2:43pm

A wise move I think. Heck I'm Italian (American), and I probably wouldn't ship to Italy! Lol. And I even still have relatives there.

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Permalink Reply by James on August 28, 2016 at 1:27pm

I'm normally a buyer as well, so maybe sometime PayPal's policy will help me as well, but I certainly won't buy something from someone only in an attempt to flip it for a nice profit. And then if that doesn't work out, return it to the seller using the excuse "item not as described". I wouldn't do that, but I've dealt with someone who would and did.