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PayPal Frustration/Issue Heads-Up

In just over a month I have tried to sell 3 relatively expensive pieces of equipment on Audiogon (B&W HTM-1, B&W N801 and an Oppo UDP-205) and on each occasion had the buyers PayPal transaction refunded/rejected as soon as the buyer paid. I now know why.

Audiogon Admin were very helpful trying to resolve the problem. Turns out the problem has nothing to do with Audiogon, it is purely a PayPal problem. I have just been on the phone to PayPal, a very protracted and frustrating process (not recommended!) and found out why the PayPal payments were rejected/refunded. Apparently my account was not verified for a large transaction, it is now. What really annoys me is; this is the third time in just over a month I have tried to sell equipment on Audiogon and this has happened, why did PayPal not alert me to the problem?

If you have a balance on your PayPal account, the verification process (apparently) is simple and can be done online. However, in my case I do not keep money in PayPal. So I had to spend another 30 minutes on the phone contacting another PayPal administrator to get my account verified, again not recommended.

So, my advise to anyone selling on Audiogon is to make sure your PayPal account is verified. The best way to do this is to have a balance on your PayPal account so the process can be done online. Alternatively, if you like anger, frustration, boredom and wasting time; do what I did (not recommended)!
mgattmch
17 responses Add your response
Admin
Audiogon Official
@mgattmch  Appreciate you posting this. This has been a recent problem and not at all anything to do with Audiogon. The circumstances may vary by users, so would appreciate any other members responding if this has happened to them. 
rshak
417 posts
 
Thanks for the heads up.  Any idea what the "magic number" is that triggers the rejection?  I ask because I sold an item on-line recently for just under $500., did not have a balance in my Paypal account, and had no problem.
mgattmch OP
570 posts
 
rshak, I am not sure. All 3 items were priced at greater than $1k. Maybe, this is the limit?
riley804
1,224 posts
 
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/what-is-the-maximum-amount-i-can-send-with-my-paypal-acc...
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,385 posts
 
Anyone who buys and sells here with a Paypal account shoul make sure their account is verified.  I did it when I opened my account 12 years ago.  It is not a fault of PayPal as it is there for fraud purposes, it is your fault for not verifying the account.  Why didn’t you call them after the first time you had a problem?  Did you think it would go away by itself?  I don’t keep any money in my PayPal account, but because my account is verified, I don’t have problems. The biggest transaction I have done is around 6K.  

PayPal fronts the money to the seller and without your account being verified, they could get screwed out of a lot of money.  Sorry, but this one is on you pal. 
mgattmch OP
570 posts
 
I recently purchased some speakers for $9.8k using PayPal, no problem. The 3 items I was selling are $5.5K, $1.4K and the last one was for $2.95k. The first 2 were originally rejected then processed on the second attempt. I have been using PayPal for maybe 10 years without issue, I am sure I must have verified the account at some time in the past. So I am still puzzled as to what went wrong now.

Re the comment from "riley804", your post concerns payments up to $10k, not the case in this instance.

Like the Audiogon Admin said, this is not an isolated incident. I am not complaining, just trying to give everyone a heads-up to prevent recurrence of the problem.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,385 posts
 
Purchasing is different from selling as they don’t front the money to the purchaser, just the seller. . Glad it worked out for you.
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,617 posts
 
Same thing happened to me as a buyer here on Audiogon.I use PayPal often for large and small amounts and this is the first time it's happened.I don't keep a balance ever and my account is verified.It was terribly frustrating!Tammy reopened the ad for me and the next time It went through as normal.
I was freaking out a bit because it stated that the seller had been paid but in fact he was not.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
I thought if PayPal had your CC on file, then there's no problem. In case of a transaction gone awry, the account holder's credit card is used.


steve59's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
steve59
1,761 posts
 
we should all get together and start our own PP co. charge 1% and even split 20 ways we would be set for live.
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,617 posts
 
It's a weird glitch.Doesn't matter how many cards or accounts are listed on the PP account.You pay the seller then PP immediately refunds the payment back.We tried having the seller email a request for payment as a way around it but that failed too.Read the notifications from PP carefully!
zug
41 posts
 
I already have a support ticket in to Audiogon for this but I want to ask the community also: I'm trying to sell a product, and, to set up to allow Paypal payment, I need to verify my account. I did that, following all instructions, so in Paypal it says my bank account is "Confirmed". But....  when I now get to the part in Audiogon where it says "Check to see if your account is verified" it returns "Sorry Audiogon cannot verify your account".  And I can't proceed any further. 
   So what gives? 
Admin
Audiogon Official
@zug   Send another ticket to support@audiogon.com,  but put attention: Tammy. I will be glad to help.  
kennethyeung
1 posts
 
Similar thing happened last night for me. I'm the buyer, money got refunded as soon as I paid. Does the seller need to open a case with PayPal or do we need to get support from Audiogon admins? How were the issues resolved?
Admin
Audiogon Official
@kennethyeung  It's a problem with PayPal, email me Attention: Tammy at support@audiogon.com and I can re-open the order so you can pay again. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
The same problem exists on U.S. AudioMart. Every single payment made to me via Paypal "through" the USAM system in the past month has immediately been cancelled. USAM and Paypal each blame the other.
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
I did actually have it happen here to myself as the buyer maybe 3 weeks ago.
I just sent the seller money direct to his PayPal addy referencing the Agon sale., after it had been screwed up to solve it.

No idea why it was kicked back right away, certainly nothing to do with funding, limits or verified in my case.

Tbh I never even thought about reporting it to Agon as we resolved it instantly to both our satisfaction.
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