Hi,

Just creating a -ful guide for new users (and in some cases, seasoned veterans) who are thinking of using (or currently using) Paypal to pay for their goods or items online. It is draft, and I will keep editing and updating this in my spare time.

(1) How do you know if someone is safe / reliable enough that you can transact with them on Paypal?
Always request the Member's Information screenshot. See attached picture below.
The Member Information box will display:
(i) The seller's reputation. This is the number of Verified Paypal members who have made paypal payments to that member. Unverified members who have made payments don't count towards that score. It is very hard to increase and means that the member is less likely to defraud you. To increase this score, the member must have transacted regularly with just Verified Paypal members (e.g. often rejecting payments from Unverified members). If this score is <200, be wary...
(ii) Account status. Only deal with Verified members. Verified members have completed some steps towards verifying their identity with Paypal. If they are unverified members, be wary...
(iii) Account type. Preferably, only deal with Premier / Business account holders. These are members who regularly transact on Paypal and pay commission charges to Paypal. This means they are less likely to cheat you. If they are personal account holders, be wary...
(iv) Account Creation Date & Paypal Member For. This shows how long he / she has been on Paypal. If they have been on Paypal for some time, they have often built up a track record on Paypal - they are less likely to cheat you and get their account suspended. If the user has been on Paypal less than 2 years, be wary...

(2) How do you "test" if a Paypal account exists?
I usually create a Money Request for US$0.01 with the subject line "test". Once this Money Request is sent, it tells me:
(i) If the account exists. If it doesn't exist, Paypal will let you know that the email address has not been registered to use a Paypal service. In which case, the Paypal account, once created, is totally new! Be wary...
(ii) The name of the person behind the Paypal email (or at least, the name that is registered to that Paypal account). If the name differs from the person you expected to be dealing with, be wary...
(iii) The verified / unverified status of the recipient's account. If it's unverified, be wary...
(iv) The personal / premier / business type of the recipient's account. If it's personal account, be wary...
(v) The Paypal rating of the recipient's account. If it's a low rating, e.g. below 200, be wary...

Feel free to PM me with questions or suggestions, and I will improve / update this guide.

This post has been edited by Playbook: Nov 10 2007, 10:29 AM


Attached thumbnail(s)

Useful information, should pin it up.

Oh gawd, I checked 2 sellers today.
1 just created his paypal unverified account today A scammer I suppose.
Another was for 26 days. Premier member but unverified

Playbook you rock !!
Somebody pin this

This tip is great! I didn't know that.

Another vote for the mods to pin this up.

I encountered some potential paypal conmens here in LYN..

When I posted that I only do COD. The seller immediately replied: PM REPLIED (Lies) and then close the topic.

Hi SeeD,

Kind of forgot about this thread Glad I was able to help over all the various PMs.

You have got my cellphone number also, so feel free to call me or text me in case you need any other advice or other security measures you can take. I am going to put up something on Western Union, cos I have been receiving a lot of queries on this payment method...

- Mark -

To protect your security, PayPal offers information on the status of this member.
Seller Reputation: (0) Verified Buyers
Account Status: Verified
Account Type: US Premier
Account Creation Date: Aug. 22, 2007
PayPal Member For: 4 months 24 days

Is this dude safe to deal with ?
How come there's a double email for this person?
Say I searched for abc@gmail.com

But up there it's "About cba@cba.com"

There is no prevention for paypal, even if you have received the money, paypal will still reversed it.

No offence, but this statement is a bit too sweeping. There are protections built into Paypal, under the Seller Protection Policy. For all Paypal users who intend to use Paypal to receive payments, they are highly recommended to read and refer to this policy.

In fact, this is a good opportunity for me to introduce a new service - a Paypal recovery service* haha ... I know some people who have been scammed by other Paypal users before, and they have come to me to help them recover their lost funds. Provided you know the right steps to take, and if you have been taking the right steps all along in compliance with the Seller Protection Policy, your funds are not lost, and can quite possibly be recovered.

... I know the Paypal screens to resolve disputes can be confusing.

... I know that you can be inundated with all sorts of emails from Paypals during dispute resolution.

... I know that the steps required by Paypal to deal with fraudulent claims can be daunting.

... I also know that some territories are easier to recover fraudulent claims from, compared to other territories.

But have no fear, with practice, with guidance, you can easily work around them and recover your funds.

Nonetheless, prevention is better than cure. So be very careful about who you are sending payments to / accepting payments from.

*With regards to this "service", I will be happy to do this on a case-by-case basis. Do write to me regarding the circumstances of your Paypal fraud, and I will see how I can help you resolve it. It is my practice to charge a small portion of the funds recovered, only on a success fee basis.

This post has been edited by Playbook: Jan 16 2008, 04:04 PM

Playbook, do you work for paypal or something ?

Hi SeeD,

With regards to the potential scammer's email address you asked me to test out - I have narrowed it down to 2 real world identities. Have let you know over PM already. Feel free to discuss further over there, or call me if you have more details you can share with me. I have sent you his real world telephone number and fax number too.

As for working for Paypal, no lah... just some experience over time...

This post has been edited by Playbook: Jan 17 2008, 07:41 AM

Hey Playbook
Seller Reputation: (491) Verified Buyers
Account Status: Verified
Account Type: US Premier
Account Creation Date: Dec. 31, 2003
PayPal Member For: 4 years 21 days

These kind of buyers should be very safe to deal with right?

Yes, seems safe. I envy his account Just make sure that whomever's dealing with you has the same email address and same name as that account i.e. they are not hijacking someone else's Paypal account identity.

i would agree with chen9wei to some degree. I was typing out the incidence but deleted back, fearing it might become an example to conmans. Just that time it wasn't paypal reversing the money, it was the issuing bank. I've yet to find a finance-related centre that is truly customers friendly when it has to deal with troubled/distressed customers.

Ah - but in the instance you are describing above, it's not Paypal reversal, it's an issuing bank / credit card company reversal. That's different.

Still there are plenty of steps that you can take.

This post has been edited by Playbook: Apr 15 2008, 09:29 PM

Great info for all.

paypal will swipe the service fees both ways irrespective whether a transaction is fully completed or otherwise. Paypal can freeze accounts too. For the incident that i briefly mentioned above, a prominent seller from USA simply bans buyers from south east asia. I don't quite like paypal for many reasons but i'm still using it when required. It receives a lot of criticisms for many things but perhaps those are coming from sore competitors.

Additional horror stories are here and also here

I find the statement *too* sweeping. For example, where a refund is processed as a result of a claim, the paypal charges are refunded.

Any service provider, not just Paypal, can freeze accounts to investigate suspicious account activity. And we also have to remember that we live in the world where money-laundering laws apply so account freezes can happen for all sorts of reasons, not just the obvious (e.g. consumer fraud) reasons.

Just a view.

Hie ....just to clarify ... paypal has discontinued its paypal rating system.Therefore a paypal owner with 0 transactions does not mean he is unsafe

Sure? I just checked the Paypal system, the number in brackets next to the verified / unverified status.

Seller Reputation
The Seller Reputation Number measures how many Verified PayPal members have paid that seller. New transactions are added 30 days after they occur, to ensure that the Reputation Number reflects successful exchanges.