Sales PAYPAL - IMPORTANT - ALL ORDERS CANCELLED

[TrevorBradley]

There are a few solutions here:

0) Start production excluding Paypal orders

1) Start production based on people on the number of people who had pre-ordered, including Paypal.

2) Delay production and sort out issues with Paypal users.

3) Extend pre-ordering and allow Paypal users to order.

Option 0 is right out. It will cause a nerd angst rage and split the community.

Option 1 is risky. Sure the pandoras will sell and it's likely issues could be resolved as you go along, but Craig has said they were taking things slowly with no risks and no debts. They may have been relying on pre-order cash to pay for production.

Option 2 is messy, but possibly the right one. It allows paypal users to maintain their "place in the queue" and get their pandora a few days earlier if they ordered early. But it may take a long time to sort out.

Option 3 is probably the cleanest, but the paypal pre-orders may drop out of the queue. There's likely people who wouldn't like this.

Add to this there are some credit card users who may not like 2 and 3 becuase of production delays. As a credit card pre-orderer, I have no issues with delays in production to sort out these issues. As I've said before in a few threads, something weird like this was bound to happen on a first time endeavour to delay the project. (I just expected it to be an engineering issue rather than a sales issue!)

It all depends on the number of paypal pre-orders. Option 1 is best if the paypal orders are small, but it's suicide if the numbers are high. I'd guess the answer probably lies between 1 and 2.

Hope you guys can sort it all out soon. Good luck!

 

[Nailz]

My credit card went through, but my bank did actually call me to confirm it was a legitimate charge. Those guys NEVER call me. Regardless, bummer to hear that the PayPal folks are having trouble, I really HATE PayPal, they have stiffed me on a couple of occasions as well.

I'm sure it will get straightened out though and whoever did order through PayPal will get the opportunity to pay with an alternative method instead of just getting bumped.

 

[MDave]

Well, looks like paypal comes up and bites people in the ass as usual. Feel sorry for you guys. Paypal is good for ebay, but not much else.

I didn't know there was a 20 day delivery regulation thing though, who knows what other snags and traps there are in Paypal's system.

I feel more sorry for ChronoTiggerFan though, completely ignoring our facts on why paypal sucks on the other forum.

 

[dneuge]

Wow, I'm speechless... I never thought there could be any limit in delivery days in their service conditions. I wanted to sign up for a credit card 2 weeks ago, now I think I should have done that earlier... I didn't have any other choice to pay in time because I first read about Pandora on Wednesday and a wire transfer would have taken up to a week to complete; I would really be in for some kind of voucher or a second payment to be made if necessary (and provided that PayPal returns my money in time if the transfer is canceled) but that would have to happen real fast since PayPal charged my bank account today and I surely would have to contact my bank and PayPal's support the next days to revoke the transfer in case the the money is lost in nirvana without any further information.

Anyway, I ordered from the German shop. Transactions are all shown as done on PayPal and the shop system, no sign of any problems yet. I assume the shopkeeper already forwarded the money to OpenPandora, so it's up to him what to do next in my case?

I never had any problems with PayPal in years and always thought of it as a nice alternative to the credit card I wouldn't get from my bank (and still don't; I just found another way to get one 2 weeks ago). Now this may have come to a bad end.

Just one final thought: Since PayPal shows the transfer as completed, does this mean it won't be revoked (withdrawn from the shop keeper's bank account) if the money has already been transferred to his bank in time?

 

[digitaladdictions]

My credit card was locked and I received a call from my cc companies fraud system the next day as well. I do not consider this a bad thing though and glad they are paying attention. It had no affect on the order I simply had to confirm it was legit.

 

[craigix]

They have frozen both accounts, however I think they will just refund it and the people effected can just pay another way, credit card, cheque, bank transfer, money order etc.

We will work it out, it only effects about 100 orders thank god!

 

[prairiefire]

phew

 

[PoisonedV]

They have frozen both accounts, however I think they will just refund it and the people effected can just pay another way, credit card, cheque, bank transfer, money order etc.

We will work it out, it only effects about 100 orders thank god!

I'm relieved. i was worried that It might end up causing some sort of ripple effect

 

[Eisner]

They have frozen both accounts, however I think they will just refund it and the people effected can just pay another way, credit card, cheque, bank transfer, money order etc.

We will work it out, it only effects about 100 orders thank god!

That is great news Craig. Please let us know when this goes through and more information about alternate payment methods.
I would like to pay via Money Order or Bank Draft if possible.

David...

 

[Prophet]

We will work it out, it only effects about 100 orders thank god!

Well that's a relief at least. Not enough to stop Pandora production plans.

 

[disjfa]

Only 100. That`s like 25.000 euros. Thats a lot of money. But my money still is gone. I wanna know more about what they are gonna do about it and send the money back so i can pay again or via bank transfer.

 

[Anemos]

i have pay in Oct. 1, 2008 and still say Completed, will see..

 

[Chip]

I wanna know more about what they are gonna do about it and send the money back so i can pay again or via bank transfer.

At this point, the "They" is Paypal.
Paypal has your money, so I suggest you try contacting them and ask when they will return your money. Nobody else can give you a more detailed explanation than what has already been said.

 

[TrevorBradley]

Only 100. That`s like 25.000 euros. Thats a lot of money. But my money still is gone. I wanna know more about what they are gonna do about it and send the money back so i can pay again or via bank transfer.

Let's be conservative and say there were 3000 orders, 100 of which were paypal. That's 3%. Yes they have 25000 euros to re-acquire, but they have 725,000 euros in cash on hand. I'm presuming the profit margin on each device is more than 3%.

Yes, it's a risk, but far more sane than if there were 10% or more paypal orders. And even if the paypal users can't come through with a credit card, the chance of reselling those 100 units is much higher.

Things are generally looking good for Pandora, just more pain and less pizza for Craig and our Paypal brothers.

 

[Series-8]

Strange

This affects all Paypal pre-orders place for any Pandora, or only specific ones for specific merchants? I've noticed NO messages saying anything has been canceled.

Perhaps this is just a misunderstanding or over reaction on pay pals part.

I find it odd then they would not indicate there is some problem.

 

[Lafazar]

According to EvilDragon on the German board it is still possible (for him) to cancel each individual transaction, even though his PayPal account was frozen, so that the money goes (hopefully) back to the sender. He offers everyone who ordered at his shop (http://www.gp2x.de) to send him a mail (shop_at_gp2x.de) with order# and the information that you want to switch from PayPal to another payment method (bank transaction, cheque by mail).

It would also save him 5,08€ in PayPal fees per Pandora... ^_^

EvilDragon:

ABER! Ich habe festgestellt, dass ich noch Geldeinzahlungen RÜCKGÄNGIG buchen kann. Ich kann also JEDEM PayPal-Zahler sofort auf Wunsch das Geld zurück aufs Konto fliessen lassen.
Wenn hier also jemand lieber von PayPal zurücktreten möchte und das ganze per Banküberweisung oder auch versendetem Scheck machen will:
SCHREIBT MIR EINE EMAIL (an shop_at_gp2x.de)! Mit Bestellnummer und Info, dass Ihr lieber weg von PayPal und hin zu einer anderen Bezahlmethode wollt! Dann wird das Geld umgehend rückgebucht.
Das spart mir obendrein auch noch 5,08 Euro Gebühren, die PayPal pro Pandora einsacken würde...

He also says that the majority of the order money is already transferred to his normal account and that he can pay the remaining amount from private resources. So the orders made at gp2x.de are safe.

 

[polkunus]

This is bullshit, my father told me it was a scam... I convinced him it is not, how is he going to believe me now?

 

[Lafazar]

I can confirm that the refund works. I just got all my money back to my PayPal account, surprisingly without any currency exchange losses as well. I will pay by bank transfer now. Screw PayPal!

Edit: To clarify: I got the money back from EvilDragon's Shop www.gp2x.de

 

[Ryzure]

This is bullshit, my father told me it was a scam... I convinced him it is not, how is he going to believe me now?

Paypal has never been reliable, but you'll probably get your money back. If your father doesn't believe the device exists, grab his credit card and pay him back later :wink:

 

[Etinin]

Waiting for GBAX to tell us about their refund options and then I'll repurchase the Pandora directly with my credit card.
Bah, I thought PayPal was more trustworthy than this.