Pandora Payments

[Jadedidle]

Though I would like to order a Pandora.... it seems that the only ways to pay are a very bad idea...


why is the only form of payment a bank transfer or a check?

neither of these have any way of getting your money back if something happens and they fail to produce the product...

I will be more than willing to do a paypal or other credit card payment but not a bank transfer or a check....

is there some way to pay with paypal/credit card?

 

[lulzfish]

No, because Paypal and the credit card companies don't trust OpenPandora enough to let them use PP or credit cards.

You should probably just wait for the second batch. At that point, they'll either have credit cards open or the bank transfers will be easier to trust since some of them will have shipped.

 

[Rygiz]

No, because Paypal and the credit card companies don't trust OpenPandora enough to let them use PP or credit cards.

BUT WE DO!

 

[Jadedidle]

No, because Paypal and the credit card companies don't trust OpenPandora enough to let them use PP or credit cards.

that does not make sense, anyone can use paypal... it is a free service open to all there is nothing about it that would stop anyone from using it... as long as the transferer trusts the transferee then a transaction can be made... as for credit card companies go the same thing applies...

 

[gruso]

In a nutshell, the banks freaked out during preorders because a startup company had a huge amount of money pouring into their account without having produced a product yet. Most of the money was from credit cards. The bank said no, prove yourselves first, we'll let you take credit payments later. So everything was refunded, and everyone re-paid via cheque / money order / transfer.

Also, Paypal's fine print says that you can't accept payment for something that won't be delivered within a certain timeframe. Paypal does not like being used for preorders.

 

[AireTamStorm]

that does not make sense, anyone can use paypal... it is a free service open to all there is nothing about it that would stop anyone from using it... as long as the transferer trusts the transferee then a transaction can be made... as for credit card companies go the same thing applies...

It does make sense, in the quantity of units and amount of money they were talking. This isn't some measily couple thousand dollars here- it is literally in the millions.

This topic has already been discussed at length, please search to find out what exactly happened yourself (we actually did, at one point order via credit card).

 

[Chip]

Here is a more in depth description of why Paypal did not work last time and wouldn't work in the future:

Paypal is not a reliable option. Their fees are absurdly high, and they locked our account the last time for no particular reason. I know a lot of you have latched on to the idea that it had something to do with the delay between ordering and shipping, but I assure you Paypal is not that smart or involved. There was never a person who said "Hey, I wonder what all these orders are for" and went and did some research and found out that the product wouldn't ship for a couple months. You could pay me $200 for a bucket full of unicorn poo over Paypal and it wouldn't be a problem for them. But if I tried to sell a million dollars worth of actual merchandise that I have ready to ship today, there is a very good chance their "fraud detection" algorithms would lock my account and keep my money for 90 days just because they can.

Craig had a Paypal account that rarely saw more than a few hundred dollars per month in transactions. Then, all in one week, there were tens of thousands of dollars in international payments. An algorithm in Paypal's computer system flagged that as "probable fraud" and locked the account. If we take Paypal again, the same problem will occur. There is no way around it.

 

[Raz]

You've got nothing to worry about as far as the Pandora team... They've shown us the hardware and the capabilities.. I trust them completely..

You just gotta put youre trust into your bank or your mailing company

 

[valhalla]

why is the only form of payment a bank transfer or a check?

neither of these have any way of getting your money back if something happens and they fail to produce the product...

This is not true: there is no fast way to get your money back, but you are still protected by various laws, and even in case of bankrupcy you still have changes to get at least some of your money back.

bank transfers are commonly used for payments inside the CE, also because they cost less than credit cards.

Also, credit cards are not that safe: when the big pandora refound occourred amex refused to refund the money, and AFAIK it still lies somewhere in limbo between the buyer and OP.

 

[tsh]

neither of these have any way of getting your money back if something happens and they fail to produce the product...

And who do you think takes the risk that makes that process of getting your money back possible? Credit cards are unique in that if the vendor goes bust, the card company becomes legally responsible for your loss. In effect, this is the card company offering an unsecured loan. Nor surprisingly at the moment, the card companies don't like to make significant bets on individual companies, and decided to take their ball home.

Note that there is no guarantee that you will get your money back, you just have the right to sue AMEX or whoever, in addition to the vendor in the event that there is a problem. AMEX have bigger lawyers than most companies you would ever buy stuff from...

 

[God Ginrai]

Also, credit cards are not that safe: when the big pandora refound occourred amex refused to refund the money, and AFAIK it still lies somewhere in limbo between the buyer and OP.

That's a load of bullshit. I'm one of the users who ordered with AMEX. It was the bank that didn't refund the AMEX orders. I won't go around talking about AMEX being all noble or anything because I haven't been with them long enough to know if they treat their customers well, but I do know that it was never a problem of AMEX not refunding the money. The bank just never refunded the money back to AMEX in the first place.

-God Ginrai

 

[Kramy]

Also, credit cards are not that safe: when the big pandora refound occourred amex refused to refund the money, and AFAIK it still lies somewhere in limbo between the buyer and OP.

AMEX is utter shit. They're always pulling crap like that - worse than Paypal.

You should see what they charge for currency conversion. I'm surprised people refer to them as a credit card company, rather than as loan sharks.

 

[Chip]

Ginrai is right on this. The problem with AMEX orders had nothing to do with AMEX themselves and everything to do with the bank simply refusing to refund AMEX orders. The bank kept the money and the cost of the units ordered by people with AMEX cards is coming out of our pocket.

 

[dflemstr]

Just a general question that has been bouncing around in the back of my head for some time...
How the heck can you still run this project with profit? I mean, you'll need at least 2 more batches (don't see the problem with that; people have been eager to order till now so it will probably continue to be that way but still) to regain all the money that has been spent over the years, and the AMEX problem only adds to that big negative number...

 

[Chip]

How the heck can you still run this project with profit?
The lead devs are in it for the long haul. If any of them had known two years ago what the project was really going to cost, I don't think any of them would have bothered. But by the time the bank really fucked us over, everybody had already decided to get the Pandora out there no matter what, so they kept at it. Yeah, the project keeps getting further in the hole, but we're so far past the point of no return that there is no option but to see it through.

If the Pandora is half as successful as we hope it will be, then in the long run the devs will make their money back and then some. We'll even be able to give something to the volunteer devs who have been working for free.

 

[Bronek]

... The bank kept the money and the cost of the units ordered by people with AMEX cards is coming out of our pocket.

let us know when & where donations are accepted, so shat you have enough to sue the bank (HSBC , IIRC ?) for your extra cost.

I am serious. This is likely not the first time they pull this trick to keep the money they do not have right to.