Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

First thing in the am, last thing at
night...

Paypal is a banking nightmare.
1- You cannot use them to accept credit card purchases unless you "upgrade" your account and agree to a fee hike.
2- If someone disputes a purchase, Paypal locks your account by holding the $$ the buyer paid you.
3- they take their sweet time in investigating claims. UPS is much quicker.
4- They don't always discover fraudulent users.
5- Unless you add a credit card to your profile, your use is limited...
6- Paypal can hinder your use if you use your account continuously for a few weeks. (This happened to me, I had a lot of sales, and purchases, all of a sudden I couldn't pay anyone unless I gave them an e-check.)

And the e-check ( if you use it) is drawn on your bank account (not your CC) and if the seller does a runner (as happened to me) you are up s**t creek without a paddle!

Now we're beginning to get somewhere here. This is some of the iceberg that is PP. These types of procedures are what made me give up my PP accounts last winter for good.

Paypal is a real convenience, until you run afoul of one of their many arbitrary regulations, and then IT IS A NIGHTMARE.

Forewarned is forearmed.

BTW, since my last post above on this topic, I have received six very official looking phishing e-mails, all of which post links to "verify" my paypal bank account and credit card info, which take me to a URL used by the phishers that have no connection whatsoever to PP. Some of these phishes are obviously set up by non-Engish-speakers, as the spelling and syntax are atrocious.

How do I know they're phishes? Simple--I do not have a PP account anymore!

Really makes me wonder about their security--how did the phishers get my e-mail address?

Good point, Paul. Their security seems to be a real issue. I've decided that for future eBay purchases I'm going to contact the seller and try to arrange a direct bank deposit - especially those who only offer PP as payment. Bidpay seems to be an option with few if any holes - and the buyer pays the commission!!!

BTW, I got 6 second chance offers on a Strat that I missed out on. I responded to none of them but eBay put a warning message in my mailbox stating that I had contacted one of them and I have been warned. It's all rubbish and very disconcerting!!

Is Bidpay the one run through Western Union? If it is the one I'm thinking about it, it was a disaster for a guy who bought something from me once. It took forever...I got the notice the payment was coming but personal checks clear faster.

I'm thinking a plane ticket and some cash in your luggage is about the safest way - provided you get the guitar for $1.00 it may cost you the same!! A return airfare from Melbourne to the west coast is currently about $950 USD.

Howard, I got one for you. One unbelievable story. About six years ago I sold a Gibson Hummingbird to this guy in Chicago from my home here in Lubbock. I needed a good box so I sought out a friend of mine at one of the local music stores. He gave me one of the stores old packing boxes. I shipped the item UPS. As days passed I tracked it on the net, I saw where the guitar had gotten to Mesquite, Texas (a UPS hub) and a few days later, according to the tracking it was in Illonois and was on scheduled to be delivered within a day. On this same day I got a call my friend at the music store where I had gotten the packing box originally, he told me come down there he had something to show me. I get down to the store and there is the Gibson Hummingbird. UPS hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to the packing slip, but to another slip showing to ship to the music store. In other words, the shipment never even got close to Chicago and had likely made a trip to Mesquite and back to my home in Lubbock, and to the music store. It was incredible! UPS paid for air freight for the foul up.

Ha!! Glad they paid for the stuff up, Stan. How did the recipient handle the news?

I had a good one a couple of months back. I purchased Rickenbacker and Gretsch books on eBay in the UK. After 5 weeks nothing showed up so I contacted the seller who said she'd check it out. Two days later she contacted me to say that it had been returned - 'not at this address' - and confirmed my address. I live in a group of four units (villas) at number 3. She had mailed it to number 2. She re-sent it and it arrived within 6 days. The package had actually been delivered to within 20 feet of my front door!! The new tenant at number 2 had no idea who I was, of course.

Talk about well travelled books!!

Actually, the buyer took it fine however things really didn't improve. This Gibson was virtually brand new, mint. It was dead winter when it finally reached his home in Chicago. The temperature was below freezing and the guy wasn't home when UPS delivered it. They just left it on the front porch. When he gets home, finds it, opens it, there's a hairline crack in the finish. He probably should have kept it in the case to let it adjust to the climatic change but didn't. He lost his grievance with UPS. Thier word against his or for that matter mine on the condition of the guitar when it left my house. It's always going to be thier word! The only way to win a deal with UPS is if they actually lose the item in transport.

I had UPS literally destroy on art item; they settled the claim in 10 days with a lot of harassment on my part, for the full amount of insurance, which was about $3500 or so.

I have not used Fed Ex in the last year, since they don't seem to be able to find my address on one of the busiest corners in SF! I am having good luck with UPS.

FedEx, UPS, Postal Service, they're all capable of catastrophic service. The problem is, you just don't know when they're going to bless you personally with it.
I haven't had a problem with UPS since the debacle six years ago. I blame it on the guitar, since then the only acoustics I own (or play) are Martins.

If you're on a good thing, stick to it!! I've only had one guitar delivered to me here and it was sent via your common or garden interstate service from Queensland. Took two days, cost me 25 bucks and no problems! Mind you, it was summer and the temperature in Brisbane was about the same as here.

I've got a lap steel coming from Forrestville, Conneticut via USPS EMS (air freight). It was shipped last Saturday and should arrive in Australia today or tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see:

1) How long customs takes to release it and at what cost (it's marked as a $200 USD gift).

2) What condition it's in. It's in a gig bag and the seller has bubble-wrapped that and put it in a very sturdy carton (according to him).

It's the first one he's made that has been shipped overseas. He's just as nervous as I am!!

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