Beware Paypal... an Ebay company

Any of my fellow numismatists who have tried to recently buy or sell a coin (or 30 in my case) will know that Ebay requires payment in the form of a credit/debit card, preferrably through their own payment clearing house, called PAYPAL.

I have had an account with Paypal since 2001, and for the most part it has been (major) problem free. Well... this past week I had 30 auctions end, and of couse I am basically forced to have paypal as my only form of payment, as I am not a merchant, and do not have a merchant account. So my customers paid into paypal, to the tune of 1450.00. Today, when I logged on, my money was gone, and in its place were 35 identical charges from the same company in Germany.

I have filed a fraud alert with paypal, and they assure there will be an investigation, and I will most likely get my money back... but not for at least 10 business days.

So the only means that common ebay sellers have to receive their money, is NOT safe and protected. In place, supposedly are passwords, and security questions and automatic stops when fraud is recongnized. Why did it take 35 identical transactions to the exact same company to finally trigger a stop??

Perhaps they thought I was just an obsessive compulsive buyer. Perhaps they thought I could not count to ONE, so I just kept hitting the "BUY-IT-NOW" key. I will have to rethink wether I wish to continue this relationship with Ebay, who forces you to use Paypal, and then lets people walk right in and take your money... Hell, with 35 identical transactions hitting my account... not only did they walk right in, PAYPAL held the door open for them.

Michael Cooper

ps I would have posted a picture of a coin, as usual, but it is sitting in Germany with my Paypal funds.