Amazon Payments not so great after all......

Exeodus

Exeodus

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
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After reading a scammer thread on Anandtech, I have to say I think I will be avoiding Amazon Payments. It appears their policy for a dispute is that you can't file for 14 days from the date of the transaction, and you only have 30 days total to file any dispute. Also, if both parties used personal accounts, they won't do anything to help you. They told the individual who was filing the dispute to take it up with their bank??

I think that is ridiculous. What is the point of using an online payment service if they offer you no kind of protection? At least you have a shot with Paypal. I am more tham willing to pay 3% for some piece of mind if things go sour. I also don't like how with Amazon it takes 5 days for a bank payment to post to the other parties account; with Paypal, it is instant.

I have a feeling that Amazon Payments will be the scammers newest tool, so it is back to Paypal for me.

What do you guys think?
 
I've never had any delays when transferring funds to my bank account with Amazon Payments, it's always 1-2 business days. That being said, I've never had any trouble with transactions, so I can't comment on any protection (or lack of).
 
Melon said:
I've never had any delays when transferring funds to my bank account with Amazon Payments, it's always 1-2 business days. That being said, I've never had any trouble with transactions, so I can't comment on any protection (or lack of).
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This is exactly how I feel also, and I have had around 200 transactions this year through them as a seller.
 
Has Paypal been any better? Scammers aren't there? Isn't scams on Paypal and them not helping is the reason many of us left?

It comes down to not being greedy for deals that you know are shady.
The guy on Anantech didn't have any references or Heatware, yet people still sent him money because the prices were so good.
We can't substitute common sense for some flaky protection Paypal or Amazon may have.
 
If I want to buy something, I make sure I use PayPal. Extremely easy to get your money back if there is a problem.

If I want to sell something, I make sure I use Amazon Payments. Much more difficult for scamming buyers to get their money back.
 
I had about 5 dispute via Amazon Payments in the past, all went smooth.

Perhaps some recent policy change? More people, not one, should confirm this first though.
 
asudi said:
what is heatware exactly??
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http://www.heatware.com/

basically a way to give feedback(like ebay feedback, but for outside ebay for selling things through various forums' classified section)

when you ask a seller/buyer for Heatware, you can see how often he trades, what problems there might be from previous trades and how other people feel... generally, higher the better, though I would trust someone with 10 sold items feedback > 10 bought items feedback

also, message the person via the Heatware system, to make sure you are dealing with the right account holder. Some people might take someone's nick with 1000 feedback, and open an account here intending to trade using that nick
 
Eiolon said:
If I want to buy something, I make sure I use PayPal. Extremely easy to get your money back if there is a problem.

If I want to sell something, I make sure I use Amazon Payments. Much more difficult for scamming buyers to get their money back.
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So you want protection if you're buying (by using Paypal) but you're not willing to extend the same courtesy to someone buying from you just so you can dodge a 3% Paypal fee?
 
I think people get a little too crazy about what payment methods they accept and which ones they don't.

I've never had any problems with Paypal over 6+ years or Amazon Payments in the brief time I've had that one (also have Google Checkout but no one's used that one yet with me personally). Seems to me like as long as you ship stuff when you're supposed to and provide documentation like you should, you don't have problems. Then again, maybe it's just me; IDK. [shrug]
 
The only thing any online payment service is committed to protecting is themselves. PayPal is jokingly easy to scam and nobody should expect AP to be any different. The difference is AP doesn't charge fees for bogus "protection." Your only real protection is your credit card which AP makes it easier to pay with.

No matter what you use it's on YOU to protect yourself. If you are relying on a silly "protection guarantee!" then you are only guaranteeing that you'll get burned.
 
AP blows, there is no way to confirm the shipping address is in fact a billing address in order to protect against chargebacks and when you calling Amazon none of the reps even know about Amazon Payments. PayPal is FAR superior.
 
oilfieldtrash said:
One of the other buyers that got scammed confirmed it as well.
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Yeah, read the thread later.

I'm thinking Amazon either dropped the dispute process for this service since it's free, or it might affect only certain account types.
 
If you have issues with personal accounts, why not use a regular credit card? I don't like having my bank account info in payment services simply because if something happens, I directly lose money, not credit that I can dispute.

Plus, if you use the Amazon Visa, you get triple points on AP stuff like you do on normal transactions :D
 
Well, they told me to get my money back through the bank. They didn't cover me sending money to one of the guys on here since he it was not a registered store (?) something like that. I'm not sure why the wording in the ToS isn't clearer, but it sure as heck should be changed to clearly state what they cover or not.

Not this whole BS story, ooh call your bank we can't do anything about it. That's just unhelpful. They can't spend some time to at least contact the guy, verify the story, yank on his chain a bit and maybe help a little to get the money I sent back? Nah.
 
You want them to hold your hands? Amazon is correct on telling you to just call your bank/credit provider and dispute it through there. Once that happens they will give you your money back. If someone is scamming, neither PP or AMZ will change anything nor will they be able to contact the person and beg on your behalf. It's been said over and over again, protect yourself. Do not place hope in their hands or you will be surprised. Try to fund all of your trades with a CC. If you cannot protect yourself and need AMZ/PP to do it for you, don't trade.
 
I haven't used AP myself. I have used paypal for years. While paypal has some drawbacks as long as you pay via credit card you are pretty safe. I always do chargebacks for scamming morons and I have never had any problems. Paypal usually will wait and defer to what the credit card company says.
 
I am still unclear on this- why do people expect a company to provide protection for something that they pay absolutely nothing for? AP is free...

I don't complain about VLC when it doesn't play a movie file I want it to...
 
I use amazon with traders I have dealt with before. Otherwise i use PayPal for most transactions. One think I don't like about amazon is that there is confirm verified address when you receive payment so you don't know if the transaction is authorized or not
 
As others have said, make trades and transactions with people who are not shady and that is your best bet in terms of protection.

If you're buying, ask for some kind of reference (eBay, Heatware, etc...) and confirm it yourself by contacting that user through their reference ID. See if they've dealt with others in the past. If they are asking you to gift the payment, it's a scam and don't bother entertaining them further. Use credit cards to make payments so you have the ability to charge back if you need to (if the normal dispute methods fail).

If you're selling, document as much as you can. Take pics of any high price items ($50-$100+) before shipping and get signature confirmation. Do all of this in a timely manner (ship 1 day after payment is cleared and email them the tracking info and expected delivery) and you shouldn't have much of an issue.

If people are smart and they are trying to scam you, it can happen. Luckily, most con-artists on the internet are idiots so just be vigilant and if you sense something is wrong, just walk away. The only method short of perfect is doing the transaction in person in a very public place.
 
oilfieldtrash said:
One of the other buyers that got scammed confirmed it as well.
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As buyers, they shouldn't have problems getting their money back by opening a dispute. FCBA protects them. In both systems, such an act will result in the seller out the money. I don't see why I should pay paypal for the same thing.

To be honest, as a buyer, it's almost not worth it contact such payment services for help.
 
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