Whats is a Paypal 'eCheque' payment?

soolin

rogernigel wrote: »

Just be aware that paypal have just charged me £2.97 for the pleasure of having someone pay me by e-cheque instaed of paypal!!:mad:

Are you sure it isn't just the normal paypal fee? Like RFW says there is no additional fee for an echeque.

Incidentally, is it just me or are echeques getting less common now? I haven't had one for absolutely ages (that will probably mean I get a batch today now).

mjtopping

eCheques are horrendous and Paypal security software is faulty. Further Paypal actually do not have anyone who can override their computer or correct the database errors it has caused.

I've spent two days exchanging messages with Paypal and getting no where.
Briefly, despite the fact my Paypal account had adequate cleared funds and also was backed up with confirmed and linked direct debit bank account instant access Paypal failed to use the available funds for a small Ebay purchase. Paypal say their software suffered a 'glitch' at the time and the purchase was then processed by them using one of their slow eCheques.
They admit and apologise for the 'inconvenience' but flatly refuse to do anything to help. They leave me no real option but to wait and I have also to go through their process of re-confirming and re-linking my cards.

The sellar is anyway a Power Seller of high repute so why does it take so long for Paypal to pass my money from its right hand to its left hand? And how can they justify not actually trying to improve their service?

I've spent 20 years in Business Quality Management sytems and have never known such a high profile company perform so poorly. I think people should be warned to take extra care and try to ensure eCheques are never sent. It would be much quicker to send your own cheque, or a postal order, or arrange a BACS payment.

Norma_Desmond

AND don't forget that eCheques can 'bounce'; A buyer 'paid' me for 2 items worth nearly £100 a few months ago and the cheque failed to clear.
I ended up selling to the next highest bidders so only lost a couple of pounds but it took ages to complete the transaction!

MacsReturns

It's not as bad as it used to be a year or so ago, but we found that about 1% of PayPal payments were coming through in the form of eCheques - without the buyer having done anything to specify an eCheque. When we questioned PayPal about why, it was usually "security checks"... Often as not it happened when the buyer was in a real hurry to get their order as well.

But call me an old cynic if you like but my reckoning is more along these lines: how many transactions does PayPal conduct per day? Must be millions. Assume this 1% eCheque rate is pretty common, and it's across the board. Now factor in that period between the buyer paying, and the seller receiving the payment (usually a full working week). Where is that money, for that week? EARNING INTEREST FOR PAYPAL. Funny, it seems to happen a lot less now the bank interest rates are so low :rolleyes:

Rosemary7391

I just don't see why an eCheque takes longer to clear than a normal paper cheque that has to be posted around! I ended up paying for a few things by eCheque as I didn't realise that it would be quicker to post and wait for a real cheque to clear than it would be to wait for a transfer to my paypal account from my bank account ! What is it that takes so long about it all? Does anyone know?