Can't pay for item, Seller says their PayPal not working?

BlondeHeadOn

I won a necklace on 21/07/12, and tried to pay straightaway. I got a message in PayPal that there was a problem with the sellers Paypal - turned out it is an international account. I emailed the seller to ask what to do, and they emailed back saying problem with their PayPal and that they will let me know when I can pay.

So....

I've been trying to pay them pretty much daily ever since, still no joy. No other message fron the seller either so I emailed again yesterday to say I still haven't been able to pay. Same message back, they will let me know when it's sorted and I can pay.

Frankly, I am well fed up of this by now. I am worried that it is now 10 days since I won the item, and I don't want to end up with an NPB claim. I don't really want the item any more either - and I wouldn't have bid on it in the first place had I realised the seller is in China (not obvious from the listing).

So, please does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do?

JimmyTheWig

They have to accept Paypal, so I would have thought they can't give you a NPB mark if they don't let you pay through Paypal.

Sounds to me like it's either
(a) item sold for less than they were happy with, and they don't want to sell it at that price
(b) they will keep this going, then pressure you into paying by some other means (Western Union, probably!), probably threatening a NPB if you don't, and not send the item.
or
(c) a geniune error in which case they should let you walk away.

soolin

It has to be an error as sellers can't suddenly disable their PayPal account, it is possibly that PayPal have closed them down for some reason or they just haven't managed to set up the account properly.

Crowqueen

If you can't physically pay then there is something wrong with their account.

I had this a long time ago before Paypal was compulsory and before non-performing sellers. I won a trading card at a good price, probably below the proper price, but the seller did not accept Paypal and I had to wait for him to send me an address to which to send a cheque. I diligently kept emailing, but no joy. So after two weeks I gave up and moved on. Nothing came of it, not even an NPB dispute.

I suspect the reason I got it cheap was that he didn't offer Paypal - it was right before it became compulsory. I also think he may have used it to filter out people buying things too cheap - though of course it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy - don't offer Paypal so buyer has to wait for an address, don't send the address when they win it too cheap, but because there isn't a way for the buyer to pay instantly a lot of buyers at that point may not have bothered bidding at all, which means his prices would be lower, his owed fees higher and he would have gone out of business unless he decided to accept PP.

Might be an idea to report them for not having a working PP account. That way you have something to appeal a non-paying bidder strike with if they are audacious enough to open one against you when the fault is at their end.

BlondeHeadOn

Crowqueen wrote: »

If you can't physically pay then there is something wrong with their account.

I had this a long time ago before Paypal was compulsory and before non-performing sellers. I won a trading card at a good price, probably below the proper price, but the seller did not accept Paypal and I had to wait for him to send me an address to which to send a cheque. I diligently kept emailing, but no joy. So after two weeks I gave up and moved on. Nothing came of it, not even an NPB dispute.

I suspect the reason I got it cheap was that he didn't offer Paypal - it was right before it became compulsory. I also think he may have used it to filter out people buying things too cheap - though of course it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy - don't offer Paypal so buyer has to wait for an address, don't send the address when they win it too cheap, but because there isn't a way for the buyer to pay instantly a lot of buyers at that point may not have bothered bidding at all, which means his prices would be lower, his owed fees higher and he would have gone out of business unless he decided to accept PP.

Might be an idea to report them for not having a working PP account. That way you have something to appeal a non-paying bidder strike with if they are audacious enough to open one against you when the fault is at their end.[/QUOTE]


^^^ This sounds good, how do I do this?

I think the seller is probablky going to keep messing me round as the item went very cheaply - which was the sellers fault as the start price was so low. I have by now lost all confidence in this seller anyway, and don't expect that I'll ever receive this necklace!

BlondeHeadOn

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

They have to accept Paypal, so I would have thought they can't give you a NPB mark if they don't let you pay through Paypal.

Sounds to me like it's either
(a) item sold for less than they were happy with, and they don't want to sell it at that price
(b) they will keep this going, then pressure you into paying by some other means (Western Union, probably!), probably threatening a NPB if you don't, and not send the item.
or
(c) a geniune error in which case they should let you walk away.

I suspect both (a) and (b) actually!

DiiFMaritime

soolin wrote: »

It has to be an error as sellers can't suddenly disable their PayPal account, it is possibly that PayPal have closed them down for some reason or they just haven't managed to set up the account properly.

Could it be that the seller has reached the receiving limit in Paypal if he/ she is a private seller?