Category Archives: mailbag

Mailbag: Is PayPal Just A Big Scam ?

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This mailbag question is fresh out of the inbox from Johanna:

… I’ve been using paypal for over 3 years to sell my crafts online. Recently I applied for the debit card, but my application was denied, and my account frozen because they said they couldn’t verify my ssn. I was really confused. After several weeks I finally discovered that it’s because I have no credit history, which is quite true. I had no idea that lack of credit history would cause any kind of trouble!

Now Paypal is going to close my account, and they are going to hold my funds for 180 days. They said I could have my account reviewed again after I have built up some credit history, but that could take quite a while, and in the meantime, they have my money which I am really needing.
I promised a friend I would photograph her wedding in a couple of months as a gift to her, and I really need that money to buy some equipment.

Do you know of any way I can convince paypal to give my money back to me? I only have $100 there, I know that’s not much, but on the other hand I don’t have that much money in the first place.
There’s no chance of any customers filing disputes against me, my customers are always happy, and in the 3 years I’ve been there, not one single customer has complained, so it just seems silly for them to keep my money for that long.

It would be great if I could convince them to just reopen my account, I think I shouldn’t have to have a credit history, but at least I could surely get my money back!

Thank you in advance for any advice you have to offer.

Wow! Now Paypal is freezing accounts and holding money for no credit history? Or is Paypal so incompetent that they cant simply ask you to go through the Social Security Number verification process? Every time I read (yet another) PayPal horror story about someone’s account being closed and their money being held, it seems more and more obvious to me that either Paypal is just a big scam, their employees are totally incompetent, or as a company, paypal is just plain ‘broken’. Of course, I’m taking your word that everything you say is true, and you aren’t actually trafficking body parts or drugs or something, but assuming you aren’t breaking any Paypal rules I am shocked at how Paypal treats it’s customers. I know $100 is not a huge amount of money, but it’s the principal! Just imagine how much money/interest Paypal makes every month by just screwing-over 0.1% of their customers by holding on to their money for 180 days. Even if Paypal isn’t intentionally scamming customers I think they should take a good look at the negative PR generated each time they unilaterally seize the funds of a long-time customer.

Sorry for the rant.. Ok, on to my answer:

It seems to me that you need to nail Paypal down to the real reason they have closed your account and are holding your funds.

If Paypal is firm that the reason they have closed your account is because you have no credit history, go through the PayPal terms very carefully and find where it says you must have a credit history to use the Paypal service. If there is no mention of credit history in the terms/rules, then send them a letter (or email), similar to my Paypal letter pointing out that you are not in violation of their terms simply because of your credit history.

If Paypal tells you that the real reason for holding your money and closing your account is because they can’t verify your Social Security Number, check through their terms again (this might be a valid reason), then check through their help pages to see what the process is to verify your SSN (and do it!).. If there is nothing in the rules about SSN verification, send them a letter/email like I mentioned above. Of course you will have to change the wording in the email a bit to fit your situation, but it seems that to really get Paypal’s attention, sometimes you have to threaten them a bit.

I wish you the best of luck. Please come post a comment and let us know how it works out for you.

To submit a question just bop-over to my contact page.

Mailbag: Paypal Problem

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I get a dozen or so questions sent to me each week via my contact page.  Occasionally I will post the question with an answer here in the blog so it can benefit others.

This week’s email comes from Sherrie who has a problem with her Paypal account:

Hi Randy,
I happened to come across your comments on “Pay Pal” and became quite concerned. I put $140.00 on my pay pal account to pay for an on-line purchase. My purchase was for $113.00, but when I checked my account, I found that they had taken another $111.00 out of my account, and now my pay pal balance is at 0. How do I “un-sign-up” for pay pal before I run into more problems?

Well Sherrie, this is probably less of a problem than you might think. Although I’m not sure how your math adds up ($140.00 – $113.00 – $111.00 <> $0), but it sounds like you bought something for $X and “they” (I assume the seller?) debited your Paypal account $224, nearly double the price you agreed to pay.

Why is this not a problem? You have a few things you can do.
1) Contact the seller. In your Paypal transactions page you should have an option to contact the seller. Ask the seller what happened – maybe it was just a simple mistake that the seller can correct.

2) If you get no satisfaction from the seller, or you get no response, then contact Paypal. You can do this by filing a dispute on the transaction or you can contact them by phone or email. To contact Paypal by email log into your account and click the Contact Us link, then select the Send Us a Question by email link. To speak to a PayPal rep. by phone (probably a better idea), click the Contact Us link, then select the Contact us by phone link. There, you will see the PayPal customer support phone number (888-221-1161) along with a secure-PIN number valid for one-hour which you will have to give to the Paypal telephone rep. This secure PIN number helps the PayPal people know that you own the account you are referring to and helps prevent fraud.  I think you will find that Paypal can help resolve this problem quickly and easily.  In the past when I have contacted Paypal they were (usually) very responsive and helpful, and this sounds totally different from my (and others) nightmare scenario where Paypal was holding funds hostage.

As to your “how do I un-sign-up” (cancel) my Paypal account question:  I don’t recommend that you cancel your Paypal account just yet, or at all.  Go through the steps above to see if you can get this issue with your account resolved.  You may find that Paypal resolves your problem to your satisfaction (quickly and easily) and you may be very happy with the outcome.  But, if you still decide to close your Paypal account, that is easy to do:

How to cancel or close your PayPal account:

Sign in to your Paypal account and select the “My Account” tab, then click the “Profile” link.  From there, about 3/4 of the way down the Account Information section on the left you will find a “close account” link.  Submit the information requested to verify that you are you, and hit ‘submit’.  Again, I suggest that you wait and see how Paypal handles this situation after you contact them before you jump the gun and close your account.

Good luck and please come back and post a comment to let us know how it works out for you!

Is The “Smells Like Facebook” Theme Legal?

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Mal contacted me with a question about the legality of the Smells Like Facebook WordPress theme that I’m currently using.  It’s an interesting question so I thought I’d post it here in the blog.

Just had a read of your e-book and am most impressed. I found you through your contributions on wordpress.org re: the Smells Like Facebook theme.

I don’t know who to ask about this so am turning to you but how legal is the theme? By that, I mean, is it an infringement of copyright in terms of design, look and feel? I understand that the theme would use none of the Facebook intellectual property that is its source code but could it be argued in a court of law that it is a blatant ripoff and infringes copyright?

Also, the question is whether Facebook would bother hunting down all those who have downloaded it over 20,000 times now?

Would appreciate your thoughts.

Hmm.. Yes Mal, very interesting question.  I’ll be the first to admit that everything I know about the law I have learned by watching re-runs of South Park, but I think you might be on to something.  I suppose that if Facebook were to be inclined to do so, they probably could send their team of highly paid lawyers after the theme author or WordPress.org and request/force them to stop distributing the theme.  Facebook would probably also have legal grounds to track down all users of the theme and send cease and desist letters to every blogger using it.

But the question is, WOULD Facebook do this?  Just imagine all of the negative press that thousand of bloggers could stirr up if Facebook forced them all to stop using the theme – and it’s not like Facebook is losing money by bloggers using the theme.  So I guess my answer is, technically speaking it’s probably not 100% legal, but my guess is that Facebook does not care.  I’ll keep using the theme until either i get a cease & desist notice or I get bored with it.

More ‘Paypal Account Closed’ Questions

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The other day I was contacted by Pete who’s Paypal account was recently closed. I’ve posted his questions here in the blog since I’m not sure what the best course of action to get his account re-opened or to get his money back should be. Heck, I’m not even sure if he was breaking and Paypal or eBay rules (not that it matters to Paypal).

Here is Pete’s email:

Here is the situation with Paypal that I need help with….

I was working with two Ebay/Paypal accounts that are in relative’s names. I only logged into each account from their prospective houses hoping to avoid them being linked.

Account A I used to sell on Ebay. Account B has a seasoned Paypal Business Account w/ debit card.

Over the weekend I was selling quite a bit from A on Ebay and was transferring money to B. 6 transfers and a total of $2135. This morning I got the dreaded kiss of death from Paypal on Account A stating the closing of account due to suspicious activity and 180 day waiting period. There is only $680 left in that account so it’s not the end of the world. I’d like to get it lifted and access the money but the bigger problem is that on account B (where the $2135 was transfered) they have a hold on the transfers.

On account B I purchased some product and withdrew some funds that totaled about $1000, leaving $1300 or so in there. Paypal now shows a negative balance of over $1000. They are asking for info on the 6 transfers. When I made the transfers, I chose “personal” and gift or moneys owed on the reasons. Paypal wants more info and I need to know how to respond in order to get those funds released. Again account B is in good standing if I handle this properly.

I thought about sending a dummy item to account A’s address and getting tracking info but when I transferred I used “gift” and “money owed” as the reason. I also thought about stating that Account B was account A’s landlord and that was rent that was due. I could easily produce a lease agreement between the two.

I need your expert advice on how to respond as I only have one shot at it.

My other question is… If Paypal does not allow the transferred funds through… what happens to the negative balance? Can Paypal take it from the bank account without my consent?

I’m anxiously awaiting your response. Thanks, Pete

Pete: I can’t answer the first part of your question – I’m posting it here in my blog in hopes that other readers might be able to post a comment with advice. As to your second question regarding Paypal taking money from your bank account if your Paypal balance goes negative: I have read that Paypal can and will take money from your bank account in the event that your balance goes negative. However, since that has not happened to me, I don’t know for sure if this is true or correct.

Good luck in getting your money back from Paypal. Please come back and post comments to keep us updated.

More On Proxies & Idiots

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Alex posted this question on my post about how to block proxies:

Wow…Your information has really helped me out! I host a site on Livejournal, so I don’t know if this will work, but even a hope is better than what’s going on now!

By the way, I tried out the whois tool, and I had several questions. Sorry to bother you with them, but if you have any idea about these things (and can enlighten a little ol’ site owner like myself), I would be so appreciative!

The person  harassing my site and trying to sneak in is known to use proxies to do so. I’m just having a hard time distinguishing which IPs are proxies. If I receive a message like the one below for 202.70.58.xxx (it says under their information “Proxy-registered route object”, among other things), does that mean I am dealing with a proxy user?

http://whois.domaintools.com/202.70.58.xxx

Also, if the person’s IP says the Netype was Reassigned, rather than Direct Allocation, does that mean anything significant?  I have so many questions, but I don’t want to trouble you, especially since I can understand how awful the trolling must be for you, considering you wrote this entry. Thanks so much for your time though! This has really helped me out alot, and I feel like this situation is no longer hopeless!

Actually Alex, trolling at our site isn’t all that bad – especially since I’ve successfully blocked a large percentage of web-proxies.  We still get the occasional clown that thinks he’s (or often, she’s) a genius by finding a new proxy, but it’s rare these days.  Besides, it’s actually entertaining to watch an adult act like a fool and make himself look like a retarded 14-year old.  I wonder if they would do this kind of childish shit if they knew their own children would find out about it?  Probably not – this is why the weak-minded hide behind the cowardly shield of a proxy.

Anyway, on to your questions:

These days I don’t even bother looking at things like Proxy-registered route object or Direct Allocation.  All I look at in the WHOIS is who the owner is.  If the IP is registered to a company like “FDC Servers” or “Ultimate Web Hosting”, then it is probably a server, and almost certainly a proxy.  Sometimes the registered name isn’t clear, so I do a Google search to see what I can find.  If it’s a server-hosting company it should be pretty obvious.  If it is an Elite proxy or TOR exit-node, that should also be pretty plain to see.

The IP you say is harassing your site is registered as “Mobile Network Provider” in India.  So it looks like some sort cellphone provider or maybe a mobile/wireless ISP.  This doesn’t tell me much, so the next step is to do a Google search on that particular IP address.  Most “normal” IP address will return only a few Google hits, usually less than four or five.  Your suspect IP returns 37 hits on Google, which makes it a bit fishy, but none of the results show anything that would make me think it is a proxy.  My cunning & proxy-hunting skills tell me that this IP might be a proxy, and at a minimum is some sort of shared computer, like at a internet cafe.

Here are some examples of IP’s that are proxies that you can run through WHOIS and Google to see what they look like:

  • 74.63.75.229
  • 94.102.153.2
  • 41.207.194.160

Compare the WHOIS and Google results for the IP’s above with your own IP and you should see a pattern.

Good luck in your asshole troll hunting!

phpFreeChat and Drupal

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Michael from www.melanoma.org contacted me and asked the following question about phpFreeChat and Drupal after reading my post from last year about chat options for Drupal:

Randy,
Saw your piece on chat options for Drupal, where you recommended phpFreeChat. Are you still supporting this as the best solution? We’re trying to do something for melanoma sufferers, and could use a robust solution that integrates well with the Drupal login.

Answer:

I actually gave up on using a chat-room at GrownUpGeek.com several months ago due to issues/problems and lack of interest from members.  But after finally making the upgrade from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6, I decided to look at all the chat modules for Drupal 6 in hopes that there was something better available.

Turns out that nearly all chat modules available for Drupal 6 are also available for Drupal 5, and I had already tried them all.  But after re-evaluating all of the Drupal 6 choices I again decided to use the Drupal phpFreeChat module.  The Drupal 6 version of phpFreeChat seems to work better than the D5 version as i’ve experienced less problems and issues with it than I did when using the Drupal 5 version.  We’ve had the (phpFreeChat) chatroom back online for a little over a month now and we have had virtually zero issues.  It integrates perfectly with the Drupal logins and permissions scheme which allows you to limit who can access the chat room and also allows you to create a “chat moderator” group for keeping an eye on your chatters.  Chatroom moderators can temporarily ‘kick’ members out of the chat or permanently ban members from chatting without affecting any of their other Drupal permissions/access.  One other note:  Members with the ‘moderate chat’ permission can also access the IP address of members in the chatroom, so if privacy is an issue with your members you may want to post a warning/notice and/or update your privacy policy.

So in short, YES, phpFreeChat is still my preferred choice as a Drupal chat option.