Wedding photographers - Fraud via paypal?

[haring]

I am a wedding photographer. I have received founds via paypal. I haven't accepted the payment yet.
My question: can anybody scam me by paying via paypal?
I just want to make sure that I don't make any mistake....
Thanks for sharing you ideas!
Otto

[lonni]

I dont think they can scam you, but you need to make sure you have a very firm contract outlining exactly what they will get, what style etc beceause they can ask pay pal to get their money back if you do not provide products as described.

There is a process, they request, you get to answer and provide any documents etc to support adn pay pay makes a decision. It can take a while adn if you loose pay pal refunds them the money and then asks you for it.

I think that might be your only danger. But the same can happen with people paying by other means as well, they would just see you about it instead of pay pal.

love your work

HTH

[Jim Poor]

Not really much danger of being scammed by receiving funds.

The thing to remember about Paypal is that they are not a bank and are not subject to banking laws. They can (and will) do what they please with your funds in a willie-nilly fashion.

The love to put security holds on larger purchases, and say even swear up and down that they've contacted the buyer for resolution. The kicker is that if your buyer happens to not have a Paypal account, then they don't get contacted.

I know this because Paypal froze the funds from a rather large purchase from a friend and frequent customer of mine. They swore they contacted the customer, but I knew good and well that they didn't. Finally, three levels of elevation got someone to admit that they don't contact non-paypal customers, but that their "form" emails say they do.

Long story short, I'm switching to Pay Junction and running far from Paypal as soon as practical. Jamie Cowbelly has a blog post with a similar nightmare.

[OsmosisStudios]

I try to avoid Paypal. Is there any particular reason youre taking their payment via PayPal instead of by cheque?

[naeno]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Long story short, I'm switching to Pay Junction and running far from Paypal as soon as practical. Jamie Cowbelly has a blog post with a similar nightmare.

Sorry to thread-jack for a moment, but Jim, do you know what the fees are for Pay Junction? I can't find them on the website.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by naeno

Sorry to thread-jack for a moment, but Jim, do you know what the fees are for Pay Junction? I can't find them on the website.

I'd hate to misquote them off the top of my head, but they are pretty good. Less expensive than Paypal.

I can give you my POC with them if you'd like.

[naeno]

Yes, please. I would appreciate that.

[Jim Poor]

Sent via PM.

[theosus]

Originally Posted by haring

My question: can anybody scam me by paying via paypal?
Otto

Yeah - PayPal can.

If you are accepting money via paypal, dont let it linger, get it out as soon as it comes in. They're known to freeze accounts for any old reason and hold the money up to 6 months.
They are owned by ebay. 'nuff said.

But - if someone wants to run a scam on you, they will, by whatever means they can.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by theosus

Yeah - PayPal can.

If you are accepting money via paypal, dont let it linger, get it out as soon as it comes in. They're known to freeze accounts for any old reason and hold the money up to 6 months.
They are owned by ebay. 'nuff said.

But - if someone wants to run a scam on you, they will, by whatever means they can.

Not only that, but they can also remove funds from your bank account connected to Paypal. I don't leave any money in that account because Paypal isn't very good about determining what is and isn't fraud and they really like to reverse transactions out of the blue.