Greetings,
I'm hoping someone may be able to help me understand something. My question is what is it about being "PayPal verified" as opposed to "PayPal confirmed" that would make a Buy and Sell transaction more secure for the seller?
My story is that I sent a PM to a seller on the B&S forum about a lens ($80 kit lens) offering to pay the asking price, plus the 3% PayPal fee as listed in the ad. Seller responded that he would only accept if I was PayPal verified. I explained that I am PayPal confirmed, meaning PayPal has confirmed that my name and address in PayPal match my name and address on the credit card I have assigned to PayPal, that is the shipping name and address. I checked on PayPal and in order for me to get verified, I would either have to give PayPal access to my bank account, or get a PayPal MasterCard.
Seller said I either must be PayPal verified, or pay with Gift option so seller would have "more protection." I read Fred's thread about not using PayPal gift for purchases, and decided I didn't like that option and will let the seller sell to a verified buyer.
I'm not complaining about the seller, but just trying to understand his reasoning. All I wanted to do was pay for an inexpensive lens with my credit card. In my simple mind, I am taking the risk by sending money for a used item, site unseen, and trusting the seller. Am I missing something? I'm over 50 and embarrassed to admit that I had to get my son to show me how to use our PayPal account for the two (three now) purchases I have made on the B&S forum, so figure I likely am overlooking some critical issue.
Thanks for any insight, and I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.
It sounds like the seller was the inexperienced one. I am only Paypal verified because I have a PP Mastercard. I'll be damned if I'm going to give Paypal access to a checking or savings account of mine. There are those on this forum who open a 'dummy' checking account just to become verified but as soon as funds are transferred to it, they make their withdrawal. Paypal sucks but right now, it's one of the few 'protected' transaction devices available. I would not hesitate to sell to a PP confirmed buyer.
I tend to agree with your judgment, and with Fred's opinions about using "Paypal gift" for purchases. Paypal gift makes sense for gifts, but isn't a good option for paying for purchases from strangers. And, there's no sensible reason for the seller to insist that you obtain 'verified' status from Paypal.
The seller's requests are odd enough that I'd probably just walk away. YMMV.
I think verification is only important and useful as a seller. It certainly does not hurt to be verified as a buyer (in case you want to sell items also), and if he really wants you to be verified, it's up to you if you want to continue doing business with him or not. I think he is just being cautious since you have a low post count and 1 feedback. I wouldn't read anything more than that.
From Paypal:
"What does it mean to be Verified?
A Verified seller has provided additional evidence of their identity to PayPal by passing key security checks and completing the PayPal Verification process. Verification increases the overall security of the PayPal network because most buyers prefer to do business with Verified sellers."
Thanks guys. I don't think the seller was trying to rip me off or anything like that. He did say he was concerned about me only having one feedback and that sellers are frequently ripped off by buyers who "reverse charges" after receiving their item. I have no idea how that would be done. Also, he only had two feedbacks as a seller, with eight as a buyer. It seems to me that I would be taking the bigger risk by sending the money first, but I guess the transactions have to include a bit of trust on both sides.
I just didn't understand what additional benefit he would get from a verified buyer. The only benefit I saw with getting verified was that my purchase limit would increase, but it's already much higher than I plan to spend, at least for now. I will certainly get verified if I ever decide to sell anything.
I have a savings account with a local bank which was just sitting there earning a whopping 1.8 % interest, if that much. I transferred all of the money in that account to another one except for 76 cents. I gave that account # to PayPal for them to "Verify" me. They deposit 2 dummy transactions and then withdraw the total of the 2 and then ask for you to tell them the total amount.
Whenever I buy something using PayPal, I always switch the payment method to a credit card and earn the points plus get the added protection. If I were to ever sell anything, the money would not stay in the account more than 2 hot seconds.
