eBay Sellers BEWARE!!! You are NOT Protected by PayPal's "Seller Protection" Policy!!!

Most if not ALL of your shipments outside the US are NOT COVERED!!!

You could lose a LOT of MONEY!!!

You NEED to READ THIS & LEARN how you're putting yourself at RISK!!!

I've been selling here on eBay since 2001.. (6,000-plus sales) and using PayPal just as long (unfortunately!)

As most of us know, it is the price we have to pay to sell here on eBay... whether we like it or not.

If you haven't had to deal with a customer "Chargeback", false "Non-Receipt" claim or other similar dealing with PayPal yet, you're lucky!

Then you probably haven't run into PayPal's over-restrictive & USELESS excuse for a "Seller Protection" policy!!

(It is virtually IMPOSSIBLE for ANY Seller to meet ALL of the required clauses - even if the seller is TOTALLY "in the right"... PayPal WILL favor the buyer & YOU will LOSE your MONEY!)

I have had numerous run-ins with PayPal due to dishonest & "less-than-brilliant" buyers who've filed false or unnecessary claims with PayPal over the years in each of my eBay stores.

Beyond the flagrant lies of brand=new items that were supposedly "defective out of the box" (which I had tested before shipping and were fine, and inspected afterwards and found to have been mis-installed & burned to a crisp)... and false claims that their eBay, PayPal, and email account had been "hijacked" and that they'd never made the purchase - despite all evidence to the contrary... etc...

The latest, and MOST INFURIATING just happened to me... and is going to happen to you one of these days soon too if you ship outside the U.S.

In short...

I sold & shipped an iten to a buyer in Canada.

I offered the option of USPS First-Class Mail International (under 4 lbs) (Insurance not available)

Or... USPS Priority Mail International (Insured).

The buyer CHOSE the cheaper "First-Class" option.

I shipped the item next-day, with the appropriate Customs Form, and sent the buyer a very detailed email afterwards, telling him to expect it within 7-10 days... and to check with his P.O. if he didn't receive it by that time, and let me know also.

A MONTH later, I received an email from PayPal that the buyer had filed a "Non-Receipt" claim - (without his ever having contacted me first!) and that they'd frozen $50 (sale price + shipping costs) in my PayPal account!

I went thru the "Dispute Resolution" process... re-sent him a copy of the original email, scanned copy of the shipping receipt, the Customs Form # and USPS website link, showing that it HAD been shipped, and a couple follow-up emails. (PayPal's system confirmed that the item had been shipped - via the Customs #)

Over two weeks later, no response from PayPal... I left a couple notes to PayPal asking for info as to why they'd yet to respond... and to return my money!  NO REPLY!

After several calls to PayPal, I finally got thru to a low-level "Customer Service"  (and I use that term VERY loosely!) person... useless, as usual.

After a lot of pushing, I finally was able to speak to a supervisor in the "Escalations Department" and spent well over an hour battling with him over this claim.

According to this PayPal Supervisor...

PayPal's "Seller Protection" REQUIRES (among many other clauses)...

That ALL shipments MUST have a TRACKING NUMBER to PROVE Shipment AND Delivery!

For those not aware....

USPS FIRST-CLASS INTERNATIONAL is NOT Insurable or Trackable outside the US.

USPS PRIORITY MAIL INTERNATIONAL is automatically Insured - but NOT Trackable!!

ONLY the much more expensive USPS EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL is Insured, AND Trackable!!

(which STARTS at $30-34 for the first ONE POUND and goes up very quickly from there!)

So... in order to ship outside the U.S. and be covered by PayPal's "Seller Protection" Policy

You must use USPS EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL or UPS, or FEDEX to ship outside the US!!

AND... the REAL SHOCKER....

As far as PayPal is concerned, the SELLER is RESPONSIBLE for a shipment till it is RECEIVED by the Buyer!!!

They don't CARE if you have a receipt or even a US Customs Form # showing PROOF of SHIPMENT!!

If the package is LOST or STOLEN during transit, or NEVER DELIVERED (with PROOF via Tracking #) they CAN & WILL refund the BUYER the full cost of the ITEM AND SHIPPING!!!

So YOU the SELLER lose your PRODUCT AND SHIPPING COSTS!!!!!!!!!

This is REGARDLESS if you have a very clear shipping policy warning buyers that THEY are responsible for their choice of shipping, adding Insurance, Tracking, etc... and that their purchase agrees that they will not hold you responsible for lost or damaged shipments...

PayPal IGNORES ANY & ALL terms in your Auction Policies!!!

So...

Even if you OFFER First-Class & Priority International (with warnings that they are not insured or tracked and could be lost), and options of Express Mail, UPS, or FedEx (recommending these to buyers) and the buyer CHOOSES First-Class or Priority, PayPal STILL holds YOU responsible for NOT shipping it via a service that includes a Tracking Number!!!

PayPal will TOTALLY DISREGARD that the buyer CHOSE a non-trackable (or insured)  shipping method, and WILL take YOUR MONEY AWAY & give it BACK to the BUYER!!!

So...

If you ship ANYTHING of any serious value (whatever amount you're not willing to lose...) out of the US you MUST NOT offer USPS First-Class or Priority Mail shipping as options.

The Catch-22

eBay constantly tries to promote our selling to Canada and other countries, but if we do, and don't follow PayPal's rules and shipments get lost, we lose... if we follow PayPal's rules and only use Express Mail International, UPS, or FedEx, buyers won't be able to justify the high shipping costs for many items!

So we either risk losing sales, or risk losing when PayPal refuses to support us on shipping claims.

After the dramatic increases in overseas shipping costs over the last two years, most of us have probably already lost most of our overseas sales, and now to follow these rules, we lose the rest of them!

With the steadily worsening economy, dramatically decreased sales, and ever-smaller profit-margins here on eBay, this is just one more nail in the coffin...

Isn't selling on eBay fun???

Hope this helps!!!

(There are a NUMBER of VERY unfair restrictions in PayPal's  so-called "Seller Protection" policy that I will write about in future guides here...)