I have no sympathy on this one.
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| cjcox Sep 20, 2007 8:03 AM EDT |
1. Guy uses Paypal and ASSUMES that somehow these folks are regulated like a bank. 2. Guy SELLS hardware to someone in NIGERIA. 3. Oddly enough, guy in Nigeria isn't paying up (weird isn't it?). 4. Guy wants Paypal to give him the stolen money from the Nigerian scammer. If you're going to get into business, you NEED to understand the risks and realize that YOU have to do your own due diligence with regards to sales. Especially if you are using an unsafe, unregulated broker like paypal. No news here. IMHO, the person needs to get hit for the $900+ as a LESSON LEARNED. Shoot, it's a whole lot cheaper than taking a class nowadays. |
| jdixon Sep 20, 2007 8:11 AM EDT |
> I have no sympathy on this one. Oh, I sympathize. The school of hard knocks is always a rough teacher. However, you are absolutely correct. There's no way Paypal can or should be responsible. |
| softwarejanitor Sep 20, 2007 9:34 AM EDT |
I don't see from the article how Linux figures into this at all... It seems to me that had he been selling laptops with no OS or even with Windows he'd still be out the $$$ in this case, or did I miss something? Anyway, I never do any kind of business with foreign buyers/sellers on auction sites... especially not from places like Africa and most especially not from Nigeria which is known to be a haven for scammers of all sorts. |
| Sander_Marechal Sep 20, 2007 11:25 AM EDT |
Oh you can do business there. Just make sure you get paid up front. In cash (the fake cheque scam is also very popular with online scammers). |
| thenixedreport Sep 20, 2007 11:50 AM EDT |
It was Malaysia if memory serves correct. Here's what actually happened. 1.) Person wants to purchase a computer with Linux on it via E-Bay. 2.) Justin Breithaupt checks out the username on E-Bay and the user in question has a high rating. 3.) After checking the username out, he goes ahead and puts together the computer and ships it to the country in question. Now here's where the first one to post a comment screwed up. 4.) Justin got paid through the username's PayPal account into his PayPal account. 5.) It turned out that the person in Malaysa (unsure of spelling btw) had hijacked somebody else's account. The real owner of that account got their money back. 6.) Here's where things get tricky. There is FDIC Insurance involved. However, in their agreement, PayPal misdirects people by not making things clear up front. As it turned out, FDIC Insurance only applied to those who sold in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. 7.) The person in the escalations department told him that the agreement was not clear and the intention was to make sure that it was not clear (not good, especially since the phone call was recorded). 8.) E-Bay (or the people there anyway) were surprised that PayPal refused to protect Breithaupt, and instead charged him an additional fee and according to them, he owes them money. Folks, I've heard of problems with PayPal before, which is why even though I am PayPal certified, I generally do not use it at all at the moment. I know these things can happen, and when they do, a coporation provides no assistance whatsoever. Justin checked out the username, and there was a high rating. How was he supposed to know that the account in question was hijacked? Answer that one. |
| tracyanne Sep 20, 2007 12:39 PM EDT |
I have no sympathy fo the bloke.... he used Paypal. |
| herzeleid Sep 20, 2007 12:57 PM EDT |
Quoting: I have no sympathy fo the bloke.... he used Paypal.Why do you hate paypal? -- KDE/SuSE 10.2 - Unix since 1984, Linux since 1993, SuSE since 2004 Linux 2.6.23-rc7-default #3 SMP Wed Sep 19 20:20:53 PDT 2007 i686 |
| cjcox Sep 20, 2007 7:55 PM EDT |
Because paypal gets to have all of the (monetary) advantages of a bank without the gazillions of dollars of regulations that banks have to adhere to. It's sort of like creating your own government and tax system because it's more convenient. Or perhaps creating your own police department... etc... |
| tracyanne Sep 21, 2007 1:17 AM EDT |
{quote]
Why do you hate paypal?{/quote] I don't believe they can be trusted. They are able to make up the rules as they go along, and in the years that I've been watching them they have. They spam you for ever and a day if you supply them with your real email address. Lastly they are not a bank, and are completely unregulated, they are basically a law unto themselves. |
| usacomputertec Oct 17, 2007 6:51 PM EDT |
I didn't sell to Nigeria. I sold to Indonesia and in the phone conversation the guy even says it's not a bad place to sell to. |
| usacomputertec Oct 17, 2007 7:03 PM EDT |
ya cjcox you are right. PayPal gets to have all of the advantages of a bank without any regulations. They claim you are 100% protected against any kind of fraud with FDIC insurance no matter what. However their seller protection only applies in the US, UK, and CANADA. Seller protection is separate from FDIC insurance. They both have different policies and user agreements. The information I received from PayPal via e-mail about 100% protection is not the same as what it says in their actual user agreement. FDIC is world wide protection. However the US FDIC insurance is only supoes to protect bank accounts, credit cards, and the like. PayPal is trying to extend it to their own "money handling" service. It's not an account. Yes PayPal does hold your money and invest it, Yes PayPal does take it out of your account without asking you if they think you owe them, Yes if I gave them my credit card number or account number they would suck my money out. Now as far as what this has to do with Linux? 1. I sell primarily Linux Laptops. Very few people request Vista. 2. PayPal uses Linux on their servers I believe so PayPal is giving us a bad name. Now PayPal says they are very secure right? Ok maybe they are but if they are so secure then how come people get into other people's accounts and take them over? It's because of phishing and weaknesses in IE + flash + Myspace. The fastflux viruses that in tale IE + flash + Myspace = spyware, fraud, phishing, and Trojans. And as if all this was not enough now M$ puts their spyware in Windows. Yes thats right. They are watching you if you have WMP11, Vista, or those spooky automatic updates without your permission. |
| NoDough Oct 18, 2007 5:17 AM EDT |
Although I haven't used it in some time, I just closed my PayPal account. I referenced this story as the reason for closing. Don't know if that will help Justin or not, but... |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 18, 2007 9:43 AM EDT |
> It's sort of like creating your own government and tax system because it's more convenient. Or perhaps creating your own police department... etc... I disagree, because PayPal is entirely voluntary. If you don't like their service, don't use it. Not so with government, by definition. |
| vainrveenr Oct 18, 2007 12:35 PM EDT |
Bob_Robertson wrote:
Quoting:I disagree, because PayPal is entirely voluntary. What popular alternatives remain besides so-called "voluntarily" using PayPal for online payments? Providing online bank-account routing-information ? Providing online credit-card information ? And really just HOW secure are both these and PayPal's online payment services anyway?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud Given all this, plus their ever-increasing fees and add-on conditions as best noted by others above, just HOW exactly is the "voluntary" monopoly-aspiring PayPal your payment "Pal" !!!??? Hmm? |
| jdixon Oct 18, 2007 12:43 PM EDT |
> What popular alternatives remain... Google Checkout? You could also deal with a professional credit card processing service, but that's probably cost prohibitive. |
| tuxchick Oct 18, 2007 12:57 PM EDT |
'If you don't like them don't use them' is one tactic. 'Hold their feet to the fire and make them keep their word' is another, though obviously a lot harder. Kudos to the people who put up a fight. |
| dinotrac Oct 18, 2007 1:39 PM EDT |
TC - Have to agree. Caveat emptor is not the law of the land. People who lie and defraud should be liable for their acts. |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 19, 2007 5:45 AM EDT |
> 'If you don't like them don't use them' is one tactic. To be used before getting burned. > 'Hold their feet to the fire and make them keep their word' is another, though obviously a lot harder. Once damages have been incurred. > Kudos to the people who put up a fight. Couldn't agree more. > Caveat emptor is not the law of the land. Yes, it is. If I don't read a contract I sign, that's _my_ problem. By law. Be careful, first. > People who lie and defraud should be liable for their acts. I've never said anything contrary to this. |
| Sander_Marechal Oct 19, 2007 1:12 PM EDT |
Quoting:What popular alternatives remain... Here in The Netherlands we have a system called "Ideal" which works pretty well. In essence it's just a common API that the Dutch banks built together. When you're on a webshop and head for the checkout, Ideal is listed as a payment option (just like credit card or PayPal is). When you click it, you're taken to your own bank's website. You login as you would normally with whatever system your bank uses (one-time codes, dongles, request-response, whatever) and you use you own bank's system to make the payment. When the transaction is complete, you're taken back to the webshop. It works pretty well. The major advantage of this system is that I do not have to trust the webshop's or some other 3rd party's transaction system. I only use the one from my own bank (and if you don't trust your own bank then you had better look for another bank). All the webshop ever sees is that I want to pay amount XXX through Ideal and whether I completed the transaction or not. |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!