In a thread about someone and their eBay transactions, there were some back and forth about eBay and Paypal.
Someone suggested a user intentionally drained their Paypal account and thus must be bad. I don't think this always has to be the case.
First of all, Paypal and eBay shut down accounts with and without reason all the time (though I believe most of the time they shut down an account without reason they think they have a reason, though their due diligence in coming to their conclusions may be sorely lacking.)
Secondly, unless you spend money via paypal, why leave it sitting in their hands. Since Paypal can be a tad unpredictable (though seems to be getting better), why risk your funds. It costs nothing to 'bring it home'. A quick Google search will bring up numerous pages from people who lost because Paypal pulled them or froze the accounts. [And of course, a lot of people need the money so they pull funds]
Third, even if you spend money via paypal, it still makes sense to pull your $ out of there the minute they come in. I almost always drain my account the same day $ come in. Why? Frequent Flier miles. If I pay for an eBay transaction with a PayPal balance, I don't get any FF miles. It is not uncommon for me to log onto PayPal, request a free ACH transfer of the full balance into my bank account, and then no more than 2 minutes later start paying for my outstanding eBay purchases via Paypal and my favorite credit card. Even though the ACH transfer isn't instant it locks up the funds, so you can then pay for transactions with a credit card. If you have a balance in your Paypal account, eBay won't let you use a credit card to pay for the transaction...
[Speaking of which, I hate having to change my method of payment to credit card manually on every batch of items I pay for.... I miss the old days, when you could just set your default payment to credit card'].
Back to eBay/Paypal in general:
I know someone who sold a game for 1500 and shipped it to the buyer using their on-record eBay address. It turned out to be an old address and the machine disappeared. The buyer wanted his money back and the Paypal pulled the $ from the seller's account. Why? Because the seller shipped to the address eBay had on file, and not the address that Paypal had on file. The seller lost the $ and the machine for using the address eBay gave him. While I suspect eBay has synced the eBay and Paypal sites and databases better now it didn't help this seller.
I myself had a special account with eBay pulled for 10 weeks this year due to the actions of someone in Australia. I didn't know this person in Australia and never did any business with them (on or off of eBay). I don't believe this person in Australia had any intent on causing my any problems and might not have known who I even am. All I got from eBay was 'you were bad, and we shut you down'. Email's and phone messages for 10 weeks went no where productive until I explained that I was two days away from showing up at the eBay developer's conference at eBay HQ and planned on screaming bloody murder. Then they finally spent the time to look at what they did and fixed (turned back on) the account. At the developer's conference I got a 'sorry' and 'too bad that happened to you' and 'trust and safety gets a little zealous' , but definitely no offer to make good for any of the real economic damage that their actions created.
Overall I'm pleased with eBay and Paypal and both provide services I appreciate. Perfect they are not though, and draining one's Paypal account doesn't mean anything.
Someone suggested a user intentionally drained their Paypal account and thus must be bad. I don't think this always has to be the case.
First of all, Paypal and eBay shut down accounts with and without reason all the time (though I believe most of the time they shut down an account without reason they think they have a reason, though their due diligence in coming to their conclusions may be sorely lacking.)
Secondly, unless you spend money via paypal, why leave it sitting in their hands. Since Paypal can be a tad unpredictable (though seems to be getting better), why risk your funds. It costs nothing to 'bring it home'. A quick Google search will bring up numerous pages from people who lost because Paypal pulled them or froze the accounts. [And of course, a lot of people need the money so they pull funds]
Third, even if you spend money via paypal, it still makes sense to pull your $ out of there the minute they come in. I almost always drain my account the same day $ come in. Why? Frequent Flier miles. If I pay for an eBay transaction with a PayPal balance, I don't get any FF miles. It is not uncommon for me to log onto PayPal, request a free ACH transfer of the full balance into my bank account, and then no more than 2 minutes later start paying for my outstanding eBay purchases via Paypal and my favorite credit card. Even though the ACH transfer isn't instant it locks up the funds, so you can then pay for transactions with a credit card. If you have a balance in your Paypal account, eBay won't let you use a credit card to pay for the transaction...
[Speaking of which, I hate having to change my method of payment to credit card manually on every batch of items I pay for.... I miss the old days, when you could just set your default payment to credit card'].
Back to eBay/Paypal in general:
I know someone who sold a game for 1500 and shipped it to the buyer using their on-record eBay address. It turned out to be an old address and the machine disappeared. The buyer wanted his money back and the Paypal pulled the $ from the seller's account. Why? Because the seller shipped to the address eBay had on file, and not the address that Paypal had on file. The seller lost the $ and the machine for using the address eBay gave him. While I suspect eBay has synced the eBay and Paypal sites and databases better now it didn't help this seller.
I myself had a special account with eBay pulled for 10 weeks this year due to the actions of someone in Australia. I didn't know this person in Australia and never did any business with them (on or off of eBay). I don't believe this person in Australia had any intent on causing my any problems and might not have known who I even am. All I got from eBay was 'you were bad, and we shut you down'. Email's and phone messages for 10 weeks went no where productive until I explained that I was two days away from showing up at the eBay developer's conference at eBay HQ and planned on screaming bloody murder. Then they finally spent the time to look at what they did and fixed (turned back on) the account. At the developer's conference I got a 'sorry' and 'too bad that happened to you' and 'trust and safety gets a little zealous' , but definitely no offer to make good for any of the real economic damage that their actions created.
Overall I'm pleased with eBay and Paypal and both provide services I appreciate. Perfect they are not though, and draining one's Paypal account doesn't mean anything.


