Odd Paypal thing today

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I sell some antique car parts and misc. on ebay. Today 2/20/08 I open my Paypal account to find that 112.50 is frozen because of a sale that happened Dec 19 2001. Yes a little over 6 years ago. The buyer claims the item was not received. This it what is called a charge back because it was a CC and the CC company must have went after Paypal which than goes after me. Anyhow I have called and emailed Paypal and they are looking into it. I would need a delivery confirmation signed by the CC holder to speed this up which I don't keep for 6 years. It will take up to 70 days to complete the investagation. One last "ODD" thing about this. The Original transaction (shown in the PP history) including shipping was $112.50 which is what Paypal froze but the charge back request was for $690.00.

I use them as last resort, but do not like them. I don't need another middleman in the payment stream to add cost w/o value.

That's the problem with them, they immediately hold or freeze or removed the money from your account, until it cleared up (Like you said, 45-90 days).

they shouldn't be able to do that after a certain period, like 3-6 months. Thats nuts. I use paypal all the time for online sales and have only had 1 charge back (thank goodness). But I keep all my business reciepts for 7 years (havent been selling that long yet), but plan on keeping them just in case.

Wouldn't you think people would check on something a week or so after they order something to find out where it is if they haven't recieved it....

Everyone be careful of the FAKE Paypal/Ebay emails stating you sent money/ or didnt send the item, or retracted a bid, etc.. to someone and click here to dispute, etc...I get these all the time.

I doubt this helps but as soon as I get a payment I immediately transfer it into my bank account.

PayPal is great but you have to learn how to make it work.

Use it in conjunction with a FREE checking account from a bank you do no other business with. If your doing other business (savings, other accounts) PP can attach to those (in the same institution) also. Its in the agreement you accepted.

Also tie it to a credit card that you do no other business on so its ez to watch for fraud.

There -- now you have some protection. When you want to buy using PayPal - use the credit card attached to the account and pay the CC bill on line before charges are assessed. If you receive money via PayPal - Transfer it monthly from PP to your dedicated checking account. Usually you need to leave 50 bucks in the free account - so write yourself a check and move the balance out of the dedicated account to your pocket.

Now your total possible loss - if PayPal comes back to attach - is 50 bucks (or less) and Ill happily risk that for the benefit of instant painless transfers and sales.

Here is the update. I spoke with someone today at Paypal who promised to take the issue up right away, within an hour the money was released from the hold. About 1/2 hour after that a phone call from a guy at Paypal who explained what had happened . Turns out that AMEX claimed they didn't know it had been submitted and was not pursuing it. The 690.00 was an aggerate amount AMEX was requesting for total chargebacks not just this transaction. Clear as mud but I am happy.