14 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
14 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Paypal "quirk" to look out for!

by DavidO
11 replies
I'm visiting Spain for a week and on my first day her I logged into my Paypal account through the Spanish paypal site. It's just what came up when I tried to open Paypal. I speak Spanish pretty well so I didn't bother to change it.

Over the following day I had zero sales from my site, which hasn't happened for ages. While wondering what the hell could cause this during my busiest time of year a sale notification finally came in from Paypal... in Spanish!!!

This is the same notification the customer receives. I figured out that because I logged in to Paypal through its Spanish site this became linked to my account...

Buyers were getting a Paypal payment page in Spanish (and I'm a U.S. company and website) and no doubt abandoning the purchase within seconds!

I've now fixed it by logging into my account again through Paypal.com (U.S. version) and re-linking my account with the U.S.

This totally unpredictable "quirk" of Paypal has cost me at least a couple hundred dollars and probably some confused visitors. Don't let this happen to you!
#paypal #quirk
  • Profile picture of the author craigc1980
    Wow i didnt know Paypal did that.

    Thanks for the tips.

    Craig
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1631519].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JKhoury
    Ouch. Definitely such a silly and pointless thing for paypal to do.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1631526].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rondo
    That's weird.

    David can you please explain what you mean by "re-linking my account with the U.S."


    Thanks,
    Andrew
    Signature
    Online courses
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1631527].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rapidscc
    Hey thanks for the heads up..

    Do you think that will happen if we use services
    like openDns to protect our IP?

    All the best,
    Signature
    Medical Billing and Coding
    Petition Against RA 10175
    http://www.change.org/petitions/junk...prevention-law
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1631528].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author R Hagel
    I thought you were going to say that they froze your account due to suspected fraud (which sometimes happens when you log in from a totally diff location, especially a different country). But that's just plain weird! Did you ask PayPal if they're aware of this quirk?

    Cheers,
    Becky
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1631909].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
      Originally Posted by R Hagel View Post

      I thought you were going to say that they froze your account due to suspected fraud (which sometimes happens when you log in from a totally diff location, especially a different country).
      This is a good point to remember if you're a mobile Warrior.

      I've been in Canada for two months and one of the first things I did when I got here was to call PayPal and let them know that I would be logging in and using my PayPal debt card from a different location. Apparently they can only keep the notification active for two weeks, so I need to keep calling them every two weeks to let them know that I'm still here.

      Bill
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1633528].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author crecemedia
    Hi David,

    To prevent that, you can append the english language of the checkout page by putting this at the end of the purchase url:

    &lc=EN

    (Note: I actually use it the other way around and use the "&lc=ES" call to direct users to the spanish payment page (spanish market) but Im pretty sure it'll work the other way around)

    Francisco
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1632840].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by crecemedia View Post

      Hi David,

      To prevent that, you can append the english language of the checkout page by putting this at the end of the purchase url:

      &lc=EN

      (Note: I actually use it the other way around and use the "&lc=ES" call to direct users to the spanish payment page (spanish market) but Im pretty sure it'll work the other way around)

      Francisco
      When you use paypal or paypal express, PAYPAL handles the payment VIA HTTPS!!!!!!! HTTP(s) clients have, SINCE THE BEGINNING identified the preferred language of the user. THAT is what PAYPAL GETS, paypal CAN use, and what they SHOULD use! OH YEAH, ironically, paypal PRO(the ONLY version that CAN'T do this), does NOT provide emails, so the MERCHANT provides that as THEY want to.

      So EVEN if fransciscos patch works, this IS a paypal BUG! Besides, such an important selection shouldn't be set unless YOU authorize it.

      Steve
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1633704].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
    Oh jeez...yet another Paypal quirk to look out for! Thanks for the heads-up!
    Signature
    Sign up to be notified when Success on Demand goes live, and receive a FREE mindmap that you can follow to create and launch your OWN IM PRODUCTS!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1633553].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mo Faisal
    Paypal policies sucks but there is no better alternative
    Signature


    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1634124].message }}

Trending Topics