unconfirmed address

Horlock

pinkgem wrote:

I have just received a paypal payment for over £100 from an unconfirmed address and buyer with only 3 feedback

i am not going to accept the payment as i will not be covered by paypals seller protection so i will suggest that the buyer pays by another method eg bank transfer, cheque or postal order

if the buyer wants to pay by paypal to have buyer protection, how can he go about getting his address confirmed? what would he have to say when he phones paypal?

i have had buyers phone paypal in the past to ask about getting their address confirmed and paypal customer services have not known what they are talking about.

thanks in advance

I don't quite get this! You got the money! Why do you need protection? Now I could understand you not wanting to send money to someone who isn't validated, but not receiving it - that I don't get.



On a separate, but related issue, I always have opted against getting validated - it seems to be a negative thing to me unless I've missed something.

When i read through the whole terms (which I forget what they were) it scared me. Seemed as though if someone hacked my account they could do much worse stuff to me than what they can do at present! Anyone else thought the same. I can live with having limitations on how much I spend on paypal etc - but someone spending thousands from a bank account - na da - no thank you very much! Comments?

frivolous_fay

Horlock wrote:

I don't quite get this! You got the money! Why do you need protection? Now I could understand you not wanting to send money to someone who isn't validated, but not receiving it - that I don't get.

Hang around here some more and it will all become horribly clear A paypal payment is not necessarily a permanent thing - you need to cross all the Ts and dot all the Is to make sure you get to keep the money - a confirmed address is one of those things.

Using your hacker example - if someone got your paypal account details, bought something on ebay, and had it delivered to an address they could get the item from - you'd be extremely happy if the seller didn't send the item to your 'confirmed address' (a confirmed address is one of the ways paypal uses to guarantee the account is being used by its owner) - because it would mean you'd be refunded the stolen money. Think of it from the seller's point of view - that money gets taken back - you're ok, but the seller has no item, and no money. That's why sellers try to make sure they qualify for buyer protection, to stop this happening, by being reassured that the payment is legitimate.

Horlock wrote:

On a separate, but related issue, I always have opted against getting validated - it seems to be a negative thing to me unless I've missed something.

Can you explain why you think this?

Horlock wrote:

When i read through the whole terms (which I forget what they were) it scared me. Seemed as though if someone hacked my account they could do much worse stuff to me than what they can do at present! Anyone else thought the same. I can live with having limitations on how much I spend on paypal etc - but someone spending thousands from a bank account - na da - no thank you very much! Comments?

Well done for reading the T&Cs - most people don't. I don't think it's quite as bad as you think - when it comes to hacking, it's all about common sense - protect your passwords and be sensible on the net and using email.

pinkgem

I wrote to the buyer and explained that as i had already stated in the auction, i could only accept paypal payments from confirmed addresses due to the high value of the item. I told him I would refund his original payment and I said he should be able to confirm his address by receiving an automated phone call at home from paypal and entering a 4 digit number into his phone. Other than that he could pay by another method (cheque, bank transfer, postal order)

I have not yet refunded his payment as I thought while I have over £100 of his money it is an incentive for him to reply and to do something about getting a confirmed address or let me know how he wants to pay. If I refunded straight away he might decide he can't be be bothered with the hassle etc and may not bother making payment again once I have refunded.

Anyway I received this reply:

"Hi,

Sorry about the problem with PayPal, I haven't used it in a while.

I have validated my address via the phone as you suggested and PayPal now says I am verified.

Hopefully you will now receive the money."

I didn't ask him to validate his address or verify his account I asked him to confirm his address. Is he just getting the terms wrong? or now that he has done the thing with the phone call will his address be confirmed?

Don't know what he means by "hopefully now you will receive the money" as he has not made another payment, I just have the original payment from his unconfirmed address.

I told him that account verification was a separate thing to address confirmation and have told him to go to his profile and see what status his address has by it to see if it confirmed.

If he says that is confirmed I will refund him and ask him to pay again.

Is this the correct thing to do? I am getting a bit confused with the terms and procedures for address confirmation, verification and validation etc so may not have explained it correctly and may have confused him even more.

pinkgem

now got this response

"I have just checked my account. My address is confirmed.

Not sure why you have to refund the money again, but when that is done I will pay again.

Problems Problems...."

Hopefully his address will be confirmed now.

Am I correct in saying his original payment will need to be refunded as status doesn't automatically update?

and another payment from confirmed address will need to be made for seller protection purposes?