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Has Paypal gone batty?

by VanessaB
17 replies
This morning, when I checked my Paypal account I noticed that there was less money in there than there should have been.

I scrolled down and saw that Paypal had a 'hold' on one transaction.

I haven't had any refund requests or complaints from any buyers, so I wondered what was going on.

I finally came to a page that said there is an unresolved issue with my account.

Only, no message regarding the issue.

When I finally did find the 'message' and could view the details of the case report, I got this:

This payment has been selected for review and we have opened an investigation.
This is a security measure meant to protect you from problem transactions.
We have placed a temporary hold on the funds until the investigation is complete.
Please provide some additional information about this transaction.

There have been 11 sales of the same product in the past few days, but this one they have selected for review?

Now, when I try to 'resolve' it, it seems they want proof that the item was shipped and reads as though the buyer is requesting a refund based on non-shipment?

But I see nothing from the Buyer with a no shipping complaint or a refud request? An d Paypal seems to have just 'selected' to review this particular transaction. Has Paypal gone batty? What am I missing here?


-Dani
#batty #paypal
  • Profile picture of the author cgcmarketing
    The wonderful world of PayPal. They may have selected to review the transaction because their system detects it may be fraud.
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    • Profile picture of the author VanessaB
      cgc, I was thinking that, but then why only select one transaction to review? Why not review them all?

      Normally, if there was a refund request, I would just refund and be done with and move on. Fighting refund requests is never worth the hassle.

      But there is no refund request that I can see.

      -Dani
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Here is the answer to your question.

        The transaction is being reviewed because the email account that purchased
        the product is suspected of being hacked. Most likely, there have been
        several sales credited to that email account and they look suspicious.

        Another possibility is that the account in question has had problems in the
        past and has been flagged.

        What I don't understand is this.

        If PayPal already knows these email accounts are suspicious, why don't they
        do the check before the purchase and disallow the purchase before it goes
        through?

        This would save us all the hassle and aggravation of seeing our sales
        reversed for what seems to be no valid reason.

        That's my only complaint about the whole process.
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        • Profile picture of the author globalpro
          Steven,

          As weird as it sounds, it's like if someone threatens to do you physical harm, the authorities can't do anything until they actually follow through and harm you.

          I think in this case, the transaction has to go through first to verify that the suspicious account has been used. To do it the way you are saying could cause 'false positives' to happen and really create a mess.

          As much as I wouldn't want to go through the 'review' process, I wouldn't want PayPal to help by programming some system check into the process.

          Thanks,

          John


          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

          What I don't understand is this.

          If PayPal already knows these email accounts are suspicious, why don't they
          do the check before the purchase and disallow the purchase before it goes
          through?
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  • Profile picture of the author cgcmarketing
    The other transactions could be legit. This one single transaction could have alerted the fraud checks in the PayPal system, so they selected it for review, could possibly be a stolen PayPal account, or things just don't add up, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author VanessaB
      cgc, thanks. I wondered if maybe they were looking to see if the purchaser was committing fraud, since it was the only transaction.

      What has me confused is why they are asking ME to verify the 'shipping information.'

      I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

      -Dani
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  • Profile picture of the author nasstil2
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author VanessaB
      Hi Steve,
      That's what I was thinking! I'd rather just 'reverse' the transaction with a refund and move on.

      nasstil, I took the steps they wanted me to take. Guess we'll just have to see what happens next.

      -Dani
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  • Profile picture of the author cgcmarketing
    They want you to confirm shipping on the transaction probably to see if you qualify for seller protection maybe? Who knows, I stopped using PayPal and now use Google Checkout/Real Merchant Account.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    That has happened to me on a few transactions. Usually I get an email saying the payment is under investigation and not to ship. I have to tell my site buyer that Paypal is investigating the payment and that usually stirs up the buyer to contact Paypal and get it straightened out so I can give them the website. Sounds like you did not get that email. I would let it ride for awhile and see if they complete their investigation. They usually do.
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    • Profile picture of the author VanessaB
      Art,
      no. I thought it best not to contact the seller. If they are using a stolen Paypal account or something, I'm not going to tip them off that Paypal is on to them.

      sbucciarel, thanks.

      Thanks everyone else!

      As much as I hated the idea of starting another "paypal sucks thread" around here, this was something I'd never heard of. I appreciate everyone's input.

      -Dani
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      • Profile picture of the author khushee
        Here is a thread where this and other Paypal situations were discussed:
        http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...re-paypal.html

        I had a situation where I was the buyer and paypal reversed the funds into their account (not to my account) and I had not requested a refund. I had to call them and talk to them before they sent the funds back to the seller.
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        • Profile picture of the author VanessaB
          khushee,
          WOW! I just read that thread. I had no idea how deep this rabbit hole went. Lucky for me it's only seven bucks being held, but that's not the point.

          -Dani
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          • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
            Happens to me all of the time. It's PayPal's attempt to collect a larger amount of interest from the money being transacted through their service, not actually any type of fraud detection.

            I sell several products a day on eBay, and I get the "Held" notice on my funds every other day. Just how PayPal is.
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            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
              Originally Posted by FaJeeb View Post

              Happens to me all of the time. It's PayPal's attempt to collect a larger amount of interest from the money being transacted through their service, not actually any type of fraud detection.

              I sell several products a day on eBay, and I get the "Held" notice on my funds every other day. Just how PayPal is.
              Unfortunately, it isn't that simple, because every transaction I've ever had
              held for no reason ended up being reversed.

              I don't even bother trying to make a stink about it anymore because I
              already know beforehand what's going to happen.
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  • Profile picture of the author BeanCounter
    I would think it is probably just a randomized quality control. Don't take it personal
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    • Profile picture of the author VanessaB
      I'm not taking it personally. For that matter, I'll be happy to just issue the refund and move on. I just dont care to feel like I'm the one 'under the microscope.'

      -Dani
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