Pay Pal Scam: Are you sure of being safe using PayPal? : eBay Guides

Pay Pal Scam: Are you Safe Using Pay Pal?

Pay Pal is relatively safe, but it's not bullet-proof. This guide walks you through the techniques on how ot use Pay Pal safely without being scammed.

1. Who is Protected by Pay Pal Seller Protection Policies

Pay Pal has a set of seller protection policies in place, but certain criteria must be met to take advantage of them. Here are the main points:

• You must ship a tangible item within seven days of paymnt. Items sent electronically (e-books, for example) aren't covered under the Seller Protection Policy.
• You must ship with an online-trackable form of delivery confirmation.
• Proof of delivery for each transaction is processed individually, i.e. items paid for separately but mailed together are vulnerable to fradulent claims of non-receipt. This is because you can only prove delivery for one transaction. NEVER SHIP ITEMS FROM DIFFERENT TRANSACTIONS IN ONE BOX.
• Items that sell for $ 250 or more must be signed for upon delivery.
• You must hsip only to the confirmed address the buyer has registered with Pay Pal.
• If you have a dispute filed against you, you must respond to Pay Pal promptly usually within sever days but sometimes in as little as three days.

The following sections will explain in detail what you need to do to be covered by the Pay Pal seller protection policies.

1.1. Local Pickup Menas No Proof of Delivery

If you're a seller, Never accept Pay Pal payment for local-pickup. You must insist on CASH deal. As a matte of fact, you decrease your cost by doing cash deal, as you don't have to worry about the VERY Expensive Pay Pal service charge.

The same logic applies to shipping using regular air mail or any other services that do not provides you with a tracking number. If you used to do that, it's time to STP doing it anymore!! Guess what, you are not protected by Pay Pal seller protection policies. So if the buyer files an item non-receipt dispute on Pay Pal, you are toasted.

As mentioned above, to be eligible for Pay Pal seller protection, you must have proof of delivery that can be tracke online such as a tracking number from UPS or Fedex, etc. For items that sell for $250 or more, the rules are even more stringent in that the package mst be signed for upon delivery. So my piece of advice is that use UPS or Fedex for any item exceeding $ 250 USD in value.

1.2. Confirmed Addresses Are Your Friends

Even if you did remember to ship an item with an online tracking service, you are still not covered by Pay Pal seller protection unless you ship the item to a confirmed address!!

Address confirmation is a Pay Pal process whereby the buyer submits a credit card and Pay Pal matches up the card's billing address ot the mailing address the buyer submitted when opening hte Pay Pal account. If those addresses match, the buyer's account is marked as "confirmed".

It's a security measure because if a con artist opens a Pay Pal account using a stolen credit card, he or she is not going to have a confirmed mailing address as the credit card billiing address will not match the mailing address of that con artist. To protect Pay Pal against credit card frauds, Pay Pal requires sellers to ship only to confirmed addresses to qualify for Seller Protection.

Sometimes, the con artist will instruct the seller to ship an item to an address other than the confirmed address. The con artist claimed that the item was a gift to a friend living oversea. NEVER falls for this trick! Never ship an item to an unconfirmed address whatsoever with NO Exception!!

2. Catch-22

Always remember to log onto Pay Pal to check whether or not you have received payment for an item. Never assume that you have received payment simply because you received an online payment notification alleging to be sent by Pay Pal.

One common question being asked is that whether you are safe when you ship only to a confirmed shipping address with a reputable curier that provides an online tracking number?

The answer is shocking and surprisingly no. You are better than without Pay Pal Seller Protection, but you are still not bullet-proof.

According to Pay Pal, the Seller Protection Policies covers:

• Only the sale of physical goods; 
• Only up to $ 5,000.00 USD per year of reversals;
• Only claims other than those complaining about non-conforming goods.

For this reason, many high profile eBay seller who sell jewelry items or expensive consumer electronics accept nothing but a hearty money order or wire transfer.