PPPay and Google Checkout

[inversions]

I was trying to funny with that quote of mine BTW! I obviously failed to be funny.

Anyway this is what has happened to me recently:

At 01:15 on Saturday a new member bought an item off me for £10.64 inc P&P. At 01:28 he started a PPPay payment. At 02:29 he bought a second item valued at £19.64 inc P&P.

When I woke up later I sent him the following email from my Google mail account at 07:43:

'Hi,
thanks for your payment. We now have to wait for you to verify your PPPay account for me to accept payment and post your item.

For the second magazine, can I ask you to not use PPPay? The only reason I accept PPPay is because it is free to send money to other PPPay account holders if the sender already has money in their PPPay account. Otherwise there is a charge for both the sender and the receiver. In this instance you have been charged 49p and me 35p. And we have to wait for the verification. If you use Google Checkout to pay there is no wait to verify, no fee for you and I am charged a smaller amount.

Thanks
Andre'

At 19:52 the next day (Sunday) he sent an invoice request for the item that he had started payment through PPPay for. And shortly after he sent me 2 messages through the AAL. These are:

'DEAR SIR,I AM HAVING TOUBLE IN SENDING YOU THE PAYMENT FOR THE MAGAZINE I BOUGHT FROM YOU,CAN I CONTACT YOY DIRECT TO PAY YOU THE PAYMENT ? ,YOURS SINCERLEY name deleted'

and

'DEAR SIR,CAN I PAY YOU DIRECT FOR THE MAGAZINE THAT I WON FROM YOU ? ,AS I AM HAVING TROUBLE IN SENDING YOU PAYMENT FOR THE MAGAZINE,YOURS SINCERLEY, name deleted'

I responded with an email from my hotmail account saying:

'Hi,

Thanks very much for your communication. First of all let me say that I am not a business seller and I have no facility to take payment by any means other than the 'normal'. It is unfortunate that you have instigated a payment using PPPay. The reason why I accept PPPay (which is owned by eBid) is that it is free if the sender has money in his or her PPPay account. Thus it works well for traders on eBid but not so well with new customers. I wish you had used Google Checkout as this is very similar to Paypal only much cheaper for the seller to accept.

Anyway the situation as it stands is that you have started a payment for one magazine with PPPay. I cannot take this payment until you have verified your new PPPay account. They should have sent you an email explaining to you how to complete verification. It may be possible for you to cancel this payment. I would try that if I were you. If you do not verify your PPPay account within 60 days then the transaction will be canceled.

If you verify the account successfully then I will accept payment and then send you an invoice for the second magazine from Google Checkout, which is my preferred payment method. If you manage to cancel the PPPay payment then I will send you a Google invoice for both items. Paying with Google is simple and quick and there is no need for verification.

Thanks
Andre'

And then, the next day (yesterday) I sent a message through the AAL saying:

'Hi, have you been getting my emails? I have sent you 2 or 3 but have had no response from them. Maybe they are ending up in your junk mail folder? Thanks, Andre'

And I have had no response. This is not looking very good! I dont know what else to do. It seems that the guy isnt that bright and that my correspondence is ending up in his junk mail. I dont think that there is anything else I can do! At least I wont end up with even more money in my PPPay account! there is a silver lining n all that!

I think that this experience is going to make me remove PPPay as an option for payment.

[hollandnumerics]

inversions,

This may help you, if you buyer doesn't verify, or you don't confirm the payment, then PPPay will automatically refund the payment after 14(?) days. This means that your buyer could give up on the PPPay verification altogether and pay you through Google Checkout instead, you can remove PPPay from your accepted methods of payment, PPPay will automatically refund the un-virified payment, and everyone will live happily ever after... Except PPPay, who have lost business!!

.......hollandnumerics

[inversions]

Hi, thanks for the info! I must say that my PPPay account says the sender of the cash has 60 days to verify!

I dont think the guy is going to pay via google as he hasnt answered any of my emails!

[kengillam]

Is he getting your emails perhaps a quick letter by snail mail might be the answer, before it all goes pear shaped.

[ToyCrazyUK]

I've had a similar problem with a new user paying by pppay. I explained to them about the penny check but they said they didn't know anything about it. They said they had made an instant payment so I should have the money. I couldn't get them to understand about the penny check and that the money wouldn't clear in my account until they had done it. It's been a while since I registered with pppay, is there instructions on the penny check when you sign up? I assume there is - I wondered if they were just trying to pull a fast one and get me to send the items and never confirm their account.

Also with pppay, mine defaults to pay by credit/debit card, so I have to remember to change it every time to avoid the charges. pppay could be useful, but it needs a big overhaul. I assume eBid make a decent amount of it, that is why they keep it going.

[ugrow]

I signed up for pppay when I first joined eBid but very soon realised that it was more trouble than it was worth. Luckily I didn't have any sales at the time so no money was paid into the account so I stopped listing it as a method of payment. If people are new to this site and have a bad experience paying with pppay then I feel that they will just give up and move onto another site. I know that I would.

[inversions]

Ken, I guess that is going to be the only way. I shall compose and write a letter tomorrow.

As for PPPay making money, I just dont have a clue! but its going to be making a lot less money now Google Checkout is around.

[inversions]

Cor blimey gov.

I posted a letter to the chap yesterday morning. I had to work much later than normal yesterday so I insisted on an hour break so I could quick march home and check if I had anything to post etc. I didnt (thank some deity or other as I was knackered) but just as I was leaving to go back to work the phone rang. I almost didnt answer but I did and it was this buyer I have been talking about! Anyway, he confirmed he hadnt got any email from me and asked to pay over the phone. I explained why I couldnt take phone payments and asked if he could wait for the letter as I was already 5/10mins late getting back to work. he said that was fine. So heres hoping its all going to go well.

But now, this evening, I sell somthing else that is listed as PPPay/Google/Cheque/Bank Transfer etc. And this guy has apparently tried to use PPPay. I got these emails from him before I got round to answering:

email 1:

'I have bought the CityTech Reinforcements and Maps from eBid. I have only just joined ebid today to buy these items. Is there anychance you could point me in the right direction as how you would like me to pay.'

email 2:

'I have tried to pay via PPPay can you confirm that you have received.'

email 3:

'Sorry, I should have stated this in the last e-mail - If the PPPay doesn't work. I will send you a cheque.

Please advise a.s.a.p.'


Full marks to the bloke for trying but it does say in my payments info section that I only want PPPay payments if the buyer is already registered and has money in the account to cover the transaction. Not only that but my PPPay account has no record of this attempted payment. I could weep I really could.

Is the address I can email to ask if they will remove PPPay as a payment option from all my items: support@ebid.net ??? When I upgraded to seller+ I emailed some section of eBid to ask if they would turn all my auctions into gallery which they did really quickly, great! But I cant remember what the email was.

Thanks!

[kengillam]

Since your buyer is new has he completed the PPPay verification procedure so he can make payments?

[inversions]

Ken, I dont know what he has done. I do know that I have recieved no emails from PPPay and that my PPPay account has no record of any attempted payment. Except for the first guy. Whos payment is awaiting verification.

I am not confused, I am just weary!