PayPal Changes Customer Identity Program, Amends Privacy Policy (no rights, no more privacy online)

Auction Bytes ^ | 2-27-12 | Ina Steiner

[STARWISE]

PayPal is making changes to its privacy policy that will go into effect on April 1, 2012. The online payments unit of eBay is also adding extensively to its "Identity Authentication" section that all buyers and sellers must agree to as part of the User Agreement.

PayPal said it was making changes to its Customer Identification program "as a result of changes in the law."

Somewhat ironically, an alert reader noticed that PayPal users are unable to opt-out of AdChoice, a program that allows PayPal and other eBay entities to share information about visitors' past activities with its partners in order to serve up targeted advertisements, both on and off of eBay websites.

When attempting to opt-out of AdChoice on PayPal, the following error message is displayed: "We're sorry, we can't change your preference at this time."

As part of the changes that take effect beginning in April, Section 2.3 of the User Agreement addresses the types of information PayPal collects and currently reads:

Identity Authentication. You authorize PayPal, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries we consider necessary to validate your identity.

This may include asking you for further information, requiring you to provide a taxpayer identification number, requiring you to take steps to confirm ownership of your email address or financial instruments, ordering a credit report, or verifying your Information against third party databases or through other sources.

Effective Date: April 1, 2012, Section 2.3 will read as follows:

You authorize PayPal, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries we consider necessary to validate your identity.

This may include asking you for further information, requiring you to provide your date of birth, a taxpayer identification number and other information that will allow us to reasonably identify you, requiring you to take steps to confirm ownership of your email address or financial instruments, ordering a credit report, or verifying your Information against third party databases or through other sources.

We may also ask to see your driver's license or other identifying documents at any time. If you use certain PayPal Services federal law requires that PayPal verify some of your Information. PayPal reserves the right to close, suspend, or limit access to your Account and/or the PayPal Services in the event we are unable to obtain or verify this Information.

PayPal is also amending its Privacy Policy and recommended users review the updated policy in its entirety. The amended Privacy Policy is effective April 1, 2012 for existing users and effective upon acceptance for new users.

Among the changes is how PayPal collects information about users. "We have amended this section to address how PayPal collects data from your computer, mobile phone or other access device," according to the notice. "We may also collect information about your use and interaction with our website, application or the PayPal Services."

PayPal also have amended the section on cookies "to reflect our use of session and persistent cookies, Local Shared Objects (commonly referred to as "Flash Cookies") and the use of pixel tags," and amended the marketing section "to address opting-out of notifications via our application and SMS messages.

More information is available on the PayPal Upcoming Policy Updates page.

[STARWISE]

I'm so appalled at google's and now ebay and paypal's outrageous arbitrary, overreaching data/fee grabbing and fund withholding policies.

I have a friend who's been a successful ebay seller and buyer for nearly 15 years, and has also sold some unneeded items for me from time to time. It's not a business, she just does it randomly all these years with a sterling record. All of a sudden 4-5 months ago after she sold an item, she was told that she needed to have x # of current sales auctions, and her payment was being withheld until she reached that #, excluding totally her years of the perfect rating both as a seller and buyer. PayPal was of course the conduit of payment.

After much unleashed fury and outrage, a supervisor finally told her this was the policy but that she'd release the funds 'this one time.' These people are just mad with greed.

Found a cached post from ebay's site that's since been removed from the site:

SELLERS DON'T GET MONEY FOR 21 DAYS! OPEN MASIVE LAWSUITS NOW!

Feb 26, 2012 02:50 PM

EBAY&PAYPAL ARE 1 ! THEY MAKE INTEREST OFF OUR MONEY ALL YEAR LONG, IN THE BILLIONS! DO YOU?---NOPE!---- YOU GET CHEATED! URGENT READ!

ALL SELLERS HAVE NO ACCESS TO MONEY ANYMORE DUE TO EBAY & PAYPAL HAVE BEEN 1 ENTITY FOR YEARS THEY "BOTH" ARE OWNED BY THE SAME!

NOW THEY MAKE MONEY OFF HOLDING 3 WEEKS AT ALL TIMES ALL YEAR, OFF YOU, THATS RIGHT "YOU"!!

TAKE A STAND ALL SELLERS OPEN A MASIVE LAWSUIT NOW WE ALL JUMP ON BOARD & TAKE THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE & HAVE BEEN TAKING FROM US!

SOME POOR SOULS HAVE NOTHING TO LIVE ON BUT THEIR SALES, YOU THINK EBAY OR PAYPAL GIVES A S**T!

*********************NO*************THEY DO---NOT!

NOW IT IS TIME TO OpEN LAWSUIT & ALSO REPORT THEM TO THE IRS THEY NOW MUST CLAIM ALL YEAR LONG OF HOLDING ALL OUR MONEY 3 WEEKS AS THEY (EBAY & PAYPAL) """MAKE INTEREST"" OFF OUR MONEY.TIME TO WAKE UP IS ---NOW----!

~~~~~~

If there are other reasonable and fairly run options out there, I'd love to pass them along to my friend.

[STARWISE]

.. Ping!

[ChuckHam]

Amazon payments is good. No fees currently.

[Retired COB]

I keep getting an automated response from PayPal every time I make a purchase on eBay. They tell me that I'm approaching my $10,000 limit, and that if I want to eliminate that limit I need to either (1) Apply for their captive credit card or (2) Give them direct access to my bank account. It has taken me about three or four years to have my cumulitive online purchases reach this amount.

I routinely reply that I have never owed PayPal a single dime and that everything I buy online and charge through them is immediately paid for with the VISA card I have listed with them (by the way, it has a $15,000 limit). I further state that I have privacy concerns and do not give out my banking information (or Social Security Number for that matter) to anyone who doesn't have a legal need to have it.

So far I've not been able to make that problem go away, so I'm going to have to find another way to shop online....or maybe return to shopping locally.

[Lazlo in PA]

Swell. I have to give Paypal a cut off the top of an Ebay sale so I can have the privilege of having my information sent to who knows where. This type of stuff may turn enough people off that paypal will suffer the consequences. At least that is my hope.

[Yo-Yo]

When I opened my PayPal account a few years ago, I had to provide all of that information, as well as allowing PayPal to send a $0.01 transaction before they made my account “certified.”

eBay and PayPal offer buyer protection, so I’m sure they want positive buyer identification first so minimize fraud.

[CodeToad]

There is NOTHING that I NEED PayPal for. I have used it for a few online purchases but overall it could go away without any notice by me.

[STARWISE]

As far as I know, Amazon can’t be used to purchase on ebay .. right?

[Lady Lucky]

Sooner or later, Paypal makes every user miserable. It should be avoided like the scam it is.
Buy on ebay if you like, but sell on bonanza.com. Bonanza doesn’t require a Paypal account.
If you buy on ebay, ask the seller if he’ll accept a money order or check. If he won’t...don’t deal with him.
Paypal needs to be prosecuted but I’d settle for seeing it starved out of business.

[gramho12]

If you open up a checking account these days it is amazing the paperwork you have to go through to open it. Federal regulations, fraud and frivolous lawsuits result in this onerous, burdensome information gathering. Companies pass on these costs to users, same as that cell phone you use with the additional "fees". I can't put all the blame on PayPal for charging for their service - nothing is free these days, and nothing is private anymore.

Conservatives should put the blame where it belongs - on lawmakers and criminals. "Greed", I'm sorry to say, is a liberal, non-free market word. If Paypal starts to charge too much over what the buyer demands, then someone else will pick up where they lose out - it's the capitalist way.

[GVnana]

You friend's communications sound like an Occupy Snit, begging for a faux political response.

It's not the money or the delayed payments that worries me. It's the collection of identifying information.

[Minutemen]

I am no lover of Paypal. I hate them.
Paypal has never held my money (received payments from Ebay sales) for 21 days. Takes 3-4 business days for money to “clear” and be available for use. Where did you find that info?

[STARWISE]

Good info ... thanks!

[STARWISE]

My friend with the perfect rating for over 10 years
was told it would happen .. until she screamed up
numerous levels. I found this

http://thebrewsnews.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/the-keys-to-surviving-the-paypal-21-day-hold-policy/

I see being suspicious of newbies on ebay or paypal.. but this person was far away from that with her long standing
perfect record as both a buyer and seller.

Very arbitrary and unfair policy ..

I hope it does cost them dearly. I’m definitely telling her to check out Bonanza for selling. I just remembered Glenn Beck talking about some other site .. U Pillar .. will pass that along too.

[STARWISE]

Frequently Asked Questions - Payment Holds
Overview

When some sellers receive payments, we may hold the money in a pending balance for up to 21 days to help make sure that there are funds in the seller’s account to cover potential refunds or claims. The funds may be released early if PayPal determines that the transaction has been fulfilled and customers are satisfied.

While funds are pending, the money belongs to you but isn’t available to spend or withdraw.

If payments on your account are held, we’ll notify you. PayPal will re-evaluate your account every 35 days and decide whether or not to continue holding payments. If we decide to stop holding future payments, we’ll contact you.

https://cms.paypal.com/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=security/paypal_holds_faq%C2%A0

Makes no sense. If the funds are extracted from your bank and sitting at paypal .. it’s clear the funds are absolutely there and they know it.

[STARWISE]

Also

21 May

You may also be interested in these guides: EBay Expands 21 Day Payment Hold Policy To All Sellers? and eBay and Paypal Seller Protection Policy – What’s Really Covered

At the beginning of 2008, Paypal instituted a policy dubbed the “21-Day Hold.” This policy gives Paypal the right to restrict sellers from withdrawing a buyer’s payment from their Paypal account. In effect, this denies the seller access to their money for at least 21 days, depending on whether or not the buyer is satisfied with the item they receive.

http://www.auctioncope.com/guide/paypal-21-day-payment-hold-on-ebay-sales-what-it-is-and-how-to-deal-with-it/

[goat granny]

Years ago when I sold on ebay I opened a new bank account with 50 dollars and that was the account # ebay got. I would do electronic transfers into that account when my pay pal account got 300 dollars in it. I would leave 100 in pay pal only...I was a small time seller but was not going to give anyone access to my real bank account....it worked out fine until I quit due to a big problem with pay pal since I had changed IP and had a different email address. They wouldn't put in 5 sales I had made because of that and after 2 weeks of fighting with them told them to go F themselves and notified the buyers that the money would be returned to their accounts by pay pal...

Pay pal could only freeze 100 dollars if a problem came up. The money in the checking account for pay pal was empied as it grew....people had pay pal freeze their accounts with thousands in it due to a complaint....

[af_vet_rr]

These people are just mad with greed.

If Ebay and Paypal were "mad with greed" they wouldn't be doing everything in their power to piss off their customers.

Everything I've read lately makes me think that the folks running both companies are complete morons, because both companies depend on customer transactions and pissing off customers more and more and driving them to competitors is not the way to increase customer transactions.

I remember hearing that Paypal was founded by libertarians. I find that hard to believe, it's turning into something that sounds like it's run by Democrats.

My nephew used to buy and sell military memorabilia on there, and did quite a bit of business. From what he said over Christmas, Ebay has went from being an auction website to an overstock company, and he said they are doing their best to drive people like him away who sell unique items or only sell an item or two a day in favor or companies that are selling surplus crap out of China. He's been moving his business over to Amazon and a few other places. He said Ebay and Paypal are getting more and more hostile towards smaller sellers like him.

It now makes sense why Ebay bought Craig's List - Craig's List could have been a serious contender or alternative.

If I were a stockholder of Ebay, I would just be furious at the direction they are going. I would also dump my stock, because I can't see how Ebay can keep up their current financial performance if they are driving the smaller sellers away in favor of the overstock people. I guess Ebay thinks they can make a business out of people selling $3 USB cables or something.

Amazon on the other hand, it's easy as hell to sell on there, and they are run by some incredibly competent people who are looking down the road rather than at the next quarter.

[PvtHudson]

Seriously? This new policy takes effect on April Fools Day?

...or did i just ruin a trolling attempt with my first evah post?

[GOP Poet]

time to pull my paypal account