A close examination of PayPal's much touted Protection reveals that it is full of holes. There are so many holes it is hard to understand how PayPal has the audacity to claim ownership of the scheme or that their payment service is 'safer'. Yes PayPal has a guarantee, but the merchant is the one that pays.
Dealing with PayPal as a merchant it is important to understand that PayPal protects itself first then buyers. Paypal conducts super secret investigations and has never responded to any inquiries on a reversal. They do not want seller facts to interfere with their reversals. They do not have any provision for their customers* to talk to a live human being on a phone. That should tell you something right there.
*Customers are the people who pay fees for a service.
Quick Facts
PayPal has 10 different Legal Agreements.
PayPal has no obligation to inform their customers when they amend any agreement other than by posting a notice of 'substantial change' on the website 30 days ahead of proposed change.
Signing in to the PayPal website legally constitutes your acceptance of all Legal Agreements.
PayPal posts notification of changes on your My Account Overview page via a link on the bottom of the left sidebar titled Policy Updates.
The current User Agreement reads:
4.3 Use of PayPal on eBay. Sellers who offer PayPal as a payment method in their eBay listings (either via logos or through text in the item description) must accept Card Funded Payments. Sellers must have a Premier or Business PayPal Account, or be willing to upgrade from a Personal PayPal Account to a Premier or Business Account upon receipt of a Card Funded Payment. Sellers may not communicate to buyers that they only accept, or will not accept, specific forms of PayPal payment.
This is the posted change on the PayPal website:
Effective Date: July 9, 2008
Beginning July 9, 2008 the PayPal User Agreement is being amended as follows:
1. Section 4.3 is amended so that eBay sellers must accept international PayPal transactions if the eBay listing offers shipping outside the US.
2. Section 13.1 is amended so that the Buyer Protection Programs do not cover Classified Ads on eBay.
3. Section 14.2 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) is deleted.
This is amplified according to an article on AuctionBytes in which PayPal spokesman Michael Oldenberg states that currently Section 4.3 has three parts, (a through c) and will be adding (d) and (e) as follows:
Section 4.3: Use of PayPal on eBay. Sellers who offer PayPal as a payment method in their eBay listings must follow these requirements:
(a) Accept PayPal if the eBay listing includes PayPal as a payment method.
(b) Accept all PayPal funding sources from a buyer, including but not limited to eCheck and credit cards.
(c) Have a Premier or Business account or be willing to upgrade to a Premier or Business account upon receipt of a payment.
(d) Accept international PayPal transactions if the eBay listing offers shipping outside the US.
(e) Sellers may not charge a surcharge for accepting PayPal as a payment method.
Oddly enough I can find no reference to Section 4.3 (a), (b) or (c) anywhere in the User Agreement on the PayPal website. What is quoted above under Current Legal Agreement is what is on the website.
Does PayPal think that informing AuctionBytes is legal notice?
There are major changes to PayPal Pro/Virtual Terminal Agreement, if you use this I strongly recommend you print out the current Agreement so you can compare it side by side with the new one.
PayPal offers two separate protection schemes; in the next post we will examine both.
continued . . . . . . . . .
Y'all come back
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