Intentional PayPal Screw-job AKA "Software Glitch"

[gmarguli]

Anyone else notice this: You go to pay for an auction. It is automatically set to take money out of your bank account. You cannot change this default, but must do it everytime you want to pay someone.

 

Now the screw-job / glitch: If you have more than one address registered, you have a pull down menu of addresses. If you use this to select another address, it automatically completes your payment without warning and takes the cash from your bank account. No chance to change your payment method.

 

Now I'm sure PayPal would never do this intentionally to save themselves that 2% credit card processing fee they are charged. It must be a system glitch. Just like those prior glitches from a few years back where it changed your already selected payment method from credit card to bank account without warning when you edited your payment amount.

 

PayPal!

[Paratrooper]

FYI, you can change the default where the money comes out from.

[gmarguli]

How? I just searched the PayPal help site and it states that you have to change it every transaction.

 

Question: Why is my bank account the default method of payment instead of my credit card?

 

Answer: If you have registered a credit card and a confirmed bank account, Instant Transfer from your bank account is the default method of payment when the PayPal account balance is insufficient to complete the payment. The default method of payment cannot be changed; however, if you would like to fund your payment with a credit card, click the Change link when sending a payment and choose the credit card you would like to use.

[Paratrooper]

I have 3 bank accounts, probably why it works for me

[MikeInFL]

Now I'm sure PayPal would never do this intentionally to save themselves that 2% credit card processing fee they are charged. It must be a system glitch. Just like those prior glitches from a few years back where it changed your already selected payment method from credit card to bank account without warning when you edited your payment amount.

 

Assuming your comment was not tongue-in-cheek, I'm not so sure it was not intentional. Seems rather sneaky and right up PayPal's alley, if you ask me...Mike

[pendragon1998]

My favorite scammy thing they do is to immediately draft your checking account when you're paying through them, but they take 2-3 days to pay you the balance in your account if they're paying you. They effectively get another couple of days worth of interest on your money before they have to pay it to you, and you lose a couple of days worth of interest when they immediately debit it from your account.

 

This has got to add up to large amounts of profit for PayPal.

[CHABSENTIA]

I refused to use my Bank account.I use a debit card.After $2,000 of bids I had to get a Pay Pal credit card as a back up .

 

If you decise to pay by Pay pal there is a heading called "Other funding". If I don't click on this then the purcahse is paid for by the Pay Pal credit card.If I click on "Other Funding" then I can pay with my choice of cards.

[EZ_E]

How? I just searched the PayPal help site and it states that you have to change it every transaction.

 

Question: Why is my bank account the default method of payment instead of my credit card?

 

Answer: If you have registered a credit card and a confirmed bank account, Instant Transfer from your bank account is the default method of payment when the PayPal account balance is insufficient to complete the payment. The default method of payment cannot be changed; however, if you would like to fund your payment with a credit card, click the Change link when sending a payment and choose the credit card you would like to use.

 

I also tried to change the default setting to the credit card since I lost $200 from a pi$$ant fraudulent Canadian seller. Paypal has a long way to go towards customer satisfaction!

[kryptonitecomics]

All I can say is that I have been using paypal for a long time and have never had a single problem....I see threads all the time on both boards complaining about paypal, and how they rip folks off and are sneaky......I can only say....I don't get it becuase I find it hard to believe that I am somehow special becuase I have avoided all of the Paypal pitfalls. As for where they take the money from....seems very clear to me and I always go in and insure it's pointing to the correct source???

[RGT]

I got caught like this a couple of years ago. I don't remember the exact circumstances but I managed to send payment from my bank account instead of my credit card by accident. I keep a tiny balance in the account connected to PayPal so I innediately tried to find a way to change the payment after the fact. I couln't find any way on their site to cancel or change the transaction.

 

Unfortunately I have no way to add to this account except by mail (at least I didn't at the time). So my transaction bounced and I was charged a $20 fee by the bank. Then, instead of using my backup credit card payment PayPal sent the charge through a second time and cost me another $20. Since then I have been very carful to change the method to credit card. I also make sure that I always transfer cash out of my account before I pay so that I never pay with my account balance. That's my small petty way to make them always pay the credit card fees as payback for screwing me out of $40 in bank fees. I think I have cost them more than the $40 they cost me by now and it's still adding up. I don't think they will go broke over it but I need some small satisfaction.

[gmarguli]

All I can say is that I have been using paypal for a long time and have never had a single problem....I see threads all the time on both boards complaining about paypal, and how they rip folks off and are sneaky......I can only say....I don't get it becuase I find it hard to believe that I am somehow special becuase I have avoided all of the Paypal pitfalls. As for where they take the money from....seems very clear to me and I always go in and insure it's pointing to the correct source???

 

I'll admit that a large majority of the complaints about PayPal I've read have been really due to a person not following proper procedure. However, my complain is that PayPal confirms a transaction and takes the cash from your bank account without you actually confirming the transaction. Never once did I say it was OK to pay. All I wanted to do was change the ship to address and PayPal - without warning or confirmation - went ahead and authorized this transaction.

 

 

 

 

[DC Dawg]

I'll admit that a large majority of the complaints about PayPal I've read have been really due to a person not following proper procedure. However, my complain is that PayPal confirms a transaction and takes the cash from your bank account without you actually confirming the transaction. Never once did I say it was OK to pay. All I wanted to do was change the ship to address and PayPal - without warning or confirmation - went ahead and authorized this transaction.

I don't know Greg, I have two bank accounts and two credit cards--including the PayPal debit card--attached to my account and I have not seen any of these problems. I use the same account to buy and sell. Money that I collect is deposited into one account and the money that I use pay for items will come out of either account, depending on what I buy (inventory v. a personal purchase). All of my foreign purchases are put on a credit card.

 

In over five years of using PayPal, I have had ONE problem... and that was the seller's fault, not PayPal's. PayPal was great in helping me get it resolved.

 

Maybe the issue is that there an error somewhere in the area between the chair and keyboard?!

 

Scott