I was going to sell an item on eBay today. So I went all through the process of making up the auction. When I got to the end just before I clicked on the button to start the auction I see that my payment would be held. So I click on the link, It tells me that the PayPal (That was my choice of how I want payed) funds would be held until the item is confirmed delivered to the buyer.
What kind of fool is going to agree to sending off what ever it is he is selling before he gets paid for it?
I for one want the money in my hand so to speak before I go shipping off anything.

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Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Crazy. I hate having the payment held.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Happy to hear that you caught that one in time. The guy on the other end might have picked a freebie.
----Danny,

+1

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Have you sold much stuff on eBay before? They put that hold on new sellers to protect themselves (because new sellers are often as flaky as new buyers). If you're an established seller contact them -- they just screwed up somehow (unless buyers currently have pending PayPal disputes with you -- PayPal might put a hold on the money then). They'll sometimes waive the hold even if you haven't sold a lot of stuff if you contact them and complain.

I had to file a PayPal dispute against a first time seller. He kept stalling on shipping it, giving me excuse after excuse. 5 weeks after I paid he gave me a fake tracking number so I filed a claim. After that he finally shipped it Parcel Post (instead of UPS like the auction specified). 7 1/2 weeks after I paid I finally received the item and dropped the claim. If they were doing the holds back then he would have had more motivation to ship promptly so he could get his hands on the money.

The money is held by PayPal -- they take it out of the buyer's account and the only way the buyer can get it back is if there's a dispute and PayPal finds in their favor. Which can happen even if they don't put a hold on it -- if you've already taken the money out of your account when they refund the buyer, they debit your account and give it a negative balance so they get the money back the next time you sell something. With sellers who haven't established a good history they worry that the seller will stop using that account and leave them holding the bag. That happened a lot before they started doing the holds -- you could set up a throwaway account, sell something with no intention of ever shipping it, take the money out of the account before the buyer had time to file a claim, and then walk away -- leaving PayPal to refund the buyer's money out of their own pocket. Those were often big hits -- it's too much work to go through that over and over, so the con artists would "sell" a lot of stuff at once then take the money and run.

If you get a shipping insurance, delivery confirmation, and a receipt when you ship the item you're safe (and you can require the buyer to pay for those -- just include them in the shipping price). UPS & FedEx delivery confirmation is almost instantaneous -- the signature is transmitted from their PDA's before they even finish their day's deliveries (USPS is usually end-of-day). If it gets lost in shipping and the buyer never signs for it, then the insurance pays you back.

Granted, because they own it, e-Bay wants PayPal to be their financial transactions monopoly but this is yet another reason why I want nothing to do with PayPal. All I read and hear about is irritating, totally unnecessary problems like this where oftentimes it takes an Act of Congress to resolve where the root cause lies in the innocent continually suffering for the sake of the guilty. I guess this comes under the heading of, "Their ballpark, their rules."

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You dig?

I tried eBay about 13 or 14 years ago when I was looking for a Vibrolux and was dissapointed, frustrated and swore I'd never do it again. I still cruise the site once in a while because lots of commercial vendors list their phone numbers so you can bypass the flaky eBay system. In September I saw that PRS I had posted on here about. The vendor only took Paypal, no credit cards. I wanted the guitar bad enough I joined eBay, joined Paypal, deposited enough cash into my Paypal account and then couldn't buy the guitar because even though my bank said Paypal had my money the minute I clicked to transfer funds the Paypal account balance didn't reflect the deposit for 10 days!. 10 days? Excuse me? WTF? Electronic funds transfers are instantaneous regardless of locations. Needless to say I missed the auction. Frustrated, I decided to transfer the money back out of my Paypal account and it took another 14 days to get my money back. They had my money ($5K) for almost a month without the courtesy of giving me any interest for my trouble and cost me some grey hairs. I am NEVER using Paypal again for as long as I frikken live. Period.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

when i am looking to buy used gear, i turn to guitar center's used gear page. i have been treated very fair by them.

1 time an amp i bought came through without the reverb working. i called, they gave me a partial refund, i bought a new reverb tank, and all was well.

another time i found a great deal on a used tube amp. when it arrived, i thought it sounded horrible. took it back to the local g.c., and got my money back with no problem

i won't, however, sell my used gear there- they just never want to give me enough

I have been a member of eBay and PayPal for over 10 years. I have bought and sold many items on eBay.
This is just not right.

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Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Its funny coming across this page... and it made me think that ya'll might just the people to ask this question:

So I opened up a paypal account about two weeks ago so I can order a beanie from a certified dealer (its actually one of those "BEARDOS" with the built in knitted beard... ) But I haven't received it yet, and I am thinking its because paypal has my address as "unconfirmed." Is this true? I can't really change it... after all its the only address I have (its my university address, is that why?)

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Kid: "Hey Smokey! Where did you get your name?"
Smokey the Bear: "Well..."
(former user jimbo612)

Me too and I agree. I list items on a regular basis, but haven't seen what you saw Chet.
I'll have to keep an eye out for that!

edited to add - I hate the deadbeat bidders and if not paid in 4 days to the second,
I have the automatic deadbeat bidder assistant handle it.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

+3

cheers

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It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting - paulo coelho