Mamamontezz's Mental Rumpus Room

Making Online Payments

I don't know about most of you, but I am a devote of online auctions. I adore them. The very idea of being able to select items, new and used, of countless variety, from the sanctity of my own home is more than just appealing. It has become a habit.

And I buy all manner of things. Recently, I have purchased such things as a "Korean Mink" blanket (simply beautiful, by the way), restraints, braided whips, beautiful long and detailed skirts, a DVD of Queen Live from Wembly Stadium, some runes for a friend's Christmas that are compatible to the online Diablo 2 game, the coolest corset in the world... Well, you get the picture. And overall my experience has been exceedingly good with the exception of my dealings with Paypal. And then...

...It started with my order for some clothing from ebay online seller HolyClothing. I ordered four items. I attempted to pay. Paypal refused to pass along the payment, giving me a message invoking some sort of "Temporary Technical" problem with a 4001 tag at the bottom. This went on for days. I even tried Bidpay, which I admit I screwed up on my own. But the Paypal payments... that was quite another matter.

During this episode, I continued to purchase items and paid for them successfully through my Paypal account. Still, each and every time I tried to pay for those clothes I was thwarted cruelly. And cruel thwarting is a "Hard Limit" for me.

Eventually, I managed to get Bidpay to cooperate, primarily by virtue of the fact that I pulled my cranium from my anal pore and did it correctly for once, and payment was extended and received for my HolyClothing items. This all, of course, after a payment dispute and an extended exchange of emails, not to mention more damage than I care to imagine to my poor little Ebay reputation.

Now, it seems, it is happening again. I only recently was able to clear up the HolyClothing situation, and now Paypal is denying payment to a gentleman in the UK for three whips, and another for a harness. And each of these vendors has active Paypal accounts in good standing.

Frustrated? That does not even begin to cover what I feel at this moment. I was forced to go Western Union to pay for the whips at an exhorbitant fee in order to resolve that situation. I will bet you that I end up having to do the same for the harness, and I so wanted it to arrive in California in time for Christmas. So much for shopping early on Ebay and using Paypal for payment.

What concerns me most, however, is the fact that I am in the process of working up a small online business and had been counting on Paypal to take care of payments for it. After this fiasco, I have several concerns about that. Most of the problems I have had were with vendors who sell items "outside of the mainstream" which is exactly how I would classify what I intend to sell. Artwork, one of a kind items... And not necessarily of the vanilla variety.

I hate to think of the problems I may have because of the sort of merchandise I plan on selling. It's all perfectly legal, above board, hand made items. Drawings, cards, perhaps some sculptures if I find the time to do a few, my leather crafts...

*sigh*

At this point I'd be happy to pay for the items I've bought. Everything else would be gravy.

Posted by Mamamontezz at December 20, 2005 09:31 PM | TrackBack