Comment by prof_hobart | Hacker News Reader

Comment by prof_hobart | Hacker News Reader

Meanwhile, as a purchaser on Paypal, you only get 45 days after the day of the transaction - which caught us out last week.

We ordered some stuff from (at least theoretically) a reputable company. We had to pay about 2 months ago, but kept getting emails telling us that the stock hadn't arrived yet and to just be patient. Then a couple of weeks ago, they told us that they actualy didn't have the stock and that we'd have to get a refund. But they were refusing to respond to any of our requests for the refund, so we contacted Paypal and they told us that we'd missed out on the 45 day window and they couldn't help us.

The company we ordered from eventually (after over a week of chasing) paid up, but if they hadn't we would have been left high and dry by Paypal.

I pay for stuff once in a while on PayPal. However, I do not maintain a cash balance with them, nor do I have a linked bank account. I have only my American Express card linked to my account.

A few years ago, I ordered some dirt cheap magazine subscriptions on eBay. I had done the same on eBay once before without a problem, but that was before the scamsters caught on.

You see, there is an inherent vulnerability with magazine subscriptions: they are not expected to start serving until approximately eight weeks after you order them. That's plenty of time for you to give positive feedback and a crooked seller to make more sales. It's also beyond that 45-day window you mention.

In the event, a couple of months passed. No magazines. I checked the magazine subscriber service sites and found that no subscriptions had been entered for me. I had paid on PayPal, via my American Express card. The action I took was to dispute the charge on the Amex website. It didn't occur to me take up the matter with PayPal first, so I didn't run into the problem you had. In any case, the chargeback was resolved in my favor.

Not long after that, eBay stopped allowing subscription sales on their site.

This happened to me. I ordered something, it took time to build and then by the time i figured out something was up i was out my cash. paypal wouldn't do anything. still trying to get it back over a year later.

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