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Why Doesn't Paypal Send The Buyer And The Seller The Same Receipt Number?

by Steven Wagenheim
19 replies
Somebody please help me understand this.

John Doe buys my product and wants a refund.

He emails and says "Please refund, my transaction # is xyzabc8745

I then look at the day in question, have 20 receipts, go through them all
and don't find an xyzabc8745

Long story short, my transaction ID for that sale is abc8563nioe or whatever

Why does PayPal do this?

What is the point of trying to track purchases if the ID #s don't match?

Clickbank's match, so why not these?

To me, this is probably the stupidest thing in the world.
#buyer #number #paypal #receipt #seller #send
  • Profile picture of the author Quang Van
    That's interesting, I actually never noticed that...

    Maybe the one # is for cash out, the other # is cash in... but it makes sense to have a separate transaction #...

    Actually it might be because one transaction the person sends $ to paypal, the other transaction the $ is sent to the merchant...

    So it's not a one step process... You even seen the statements from Paypal? Confusing to say the least.
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  • Profile picture of the author Didier Faucher


    If you do a search with the customer transaction ID, you'll find the
    corresponding transaction.

    Why PayPal has different transaction ID's for buyer and seller? I don't know.
    And to be frank I'm not interested to know the answer.

    Steven, I suggest you use the search function on PayPal site. You'll save
    a lot of time.

    Cheers.

    Didier
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  • Profile picture of the author onera
    As Didier mentioned, the customer transaction id or the customer email that they use for paypal is the best way to locate the customer.
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  • Profile picture of the author novasoft
    Yeah its really retarded, and worst part is that they only send you "your" transaction id in the IPN and not the customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

      It makes sense if you stop and think about the accounting behind it.

      In their general ledger they need to show two transactions taking place. The first transaction is debiting the funds from the buyer's account and the second transaction is crediting the funds to the seller's account.

      Hence the need for two distinct transaction numbers.
      Mike, that's understandable, but the buyer thinks I have his number and I
      don't and he expects me to find his receipt with it and I can't. At least I
      don't know how to.

      It ends up with me having to send frustrated emails to the customer to
      please supply me with the name on the account that the sale was credited
      to because at least that shows up in the history search.

      There has to be an easier way to find transactions so you can offer
      refunds.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
    No reason why the customers ID number shouldn't show up if you have it handy, alternatively their PP email or their surname etc should find them if you go to advanced search options

    Kim
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    • Profile picture of the author JV3STUDIO
      It's confusing. If they really need to use 2 IDs why not include both in the payment notification email?
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by johan View Post

        It's confusing. If they really need to use 2 IDs why not include both in the payment notification email?
        Thank you. That's what I can't understand. PayPal says they can't for
        privacy reasons.

        Makes no sense at all. It's my sale isn't it?
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  • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
    Banned
    Maybe I'm missing something here,
    But isn't paypal more qualified answering this question
    than anyone here?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by lgibbon View Post

      Maybe I'm missing something here,
      But isn't paypal more qualified answering this question
      than anyone here?
      Les, I asked PayPal and I got their half assed answer. It doesn't solve my
      problem. The question I put out there is more rhetorical than anything else.

      I am trying to understand their stupid rational that they can't give me the
      customers ID because it is confidential. What kind of BS is that?

      Anyway, as I said, this was a rhetorical question and just trying to make
      sense out of something that to me, makes NO sense.
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    It makes COMPLETE sense Steve..

    They NEED to have a different record on both ends for their books, it is a legal MUST..

    Money IN and Money OUT..

    Clickbank does it differently because they send you a check, right?... they only NEED one way in for you on the initial transaction because the record of money OUT is your check.

    Now..

    I think Allen might not see your OP as a post in the "making money kind of post" category and maybe this should have gone on your blog seen as you just stated it as rhetorical, and why would you post a thread if the question was rhetorical, you do know what rhetorical means, don't you?

    You rock, Steve.. but you don't half make me scratch my head sometimes dude..

    Peace

    Jay
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by JayXtreme View Post

      It makes COMPLETE sense Steve..

      They NEED to have a different record on both ends for their books, it is a legal MUST..

      Money IN and Money OUT..

      Clickbank does it differently because they send you a check, right?... they only NEED one way in for you on the initial transaction because the record of money OUT is your check.

      Now..

      I think Allen might not see your OP as a post in the "making money kind of post" category and maybe this should have gone on your blog seen as you just stated it as rhetorical, and why would you post a thread if the question was rhetorical, you do know what rhetorical means, don't you?

      You rock, Steve.. but you don't half make me scratch my head sometimes dude..

      Peace

      Jay

      Actually Jay, it does relate to making money and productivity.

      People ask for refunds giving me transaction IDs that are useless to me.

      Thus, I have to waste time sending emails asking for additional info. This
      wastes time which in turn wastes productivity which in turn decreases
      income, and I am sure not just for me but for a lot of people.

      What if you have a business where you did 10,000 units a month and got
      a 1% refund rate. That's 100 emails to go through and find IDs for. That is
      a lot of wasted work.

      So if somebody has a better way, I think it would help a lot of people.

      Make more sense now?
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      • Profile picture of the author JazzOscar
        I just wonder;

        In the old forum you could buy someone a beer, you then posted your PayPal transaction ID, and the receiver of the beer, at least before he/she got too drunk, sent you a download link for the product you just bought.

        How did they know who you were based on your transaction ID back then?

        Or was the posting of the transaction ID totally unnecessary? Was your email address the only information they used?
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          It was unnecessary and posting of those transaction numbers began when some sellers requested they be posted as a way to inflate post counts in their WSO threads. Unfortunately, it caught on with buyers thinking it was necessary.

          All you need is the paypal email address the buyer uses. Can also use the name listed on the paypal account to find the purchase. I've noticed some sellers state in their thank you emails that any communication or questions about the purchase/product must include their paypal email address.

          kay
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          • Profile picture of the author JazzOscar
            Thank you for clarifying this Kay!
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            Oscar Toft

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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    I just search for the customer's email address to find the transaction. You can search by the number the customer was given, but I usually forget what that number is called and have to do several searches to find it.

    I'm not sure why that number would be considered confidential. What could someone do with it?

    To me the thread is completely relevant here since it's directly related to selling stuff online.
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  • Profile picture of the author Calvin Woon
    hey Steven,

    as pointed out by a couple of Warriors here, you can do a search in paypal and it works perfectly fine. Just use the advanced search feature and enter the transaction ID and the transaction will appear instantly. I guess that should solve your frustration?

    Calvin
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  • Profile picture of the author Johnny Slater
    Steve, I'm not sure why PayPal has seperate transaction id's for seller and buyer but I do know how to remove confusion between seller and buyer.

    There are several download scripts available which record the buyers transaction id into the database when setting up the customers details. For instance, with SMP when the customers transaction is recorded into the orders table it records the sellers transaction id as well as the paypal email address the customer used to purchase with. This gives you the required informtion you need to quickly look up the transaction in your own paypal account.

    Different scripts handle it different ways, but this is just another one of the many advantages that scripted solutions have over just using a direct salespage to payment to download page setup.
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  • Profile picture of the author Noel2010
    The strange world of Paypal. They are so confused over there. But they can do anything they want because not even the giant Google couldn't break them.
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