Payment by Bank to Bank Transfer / Telegrahic Money Transfer and PayPal

[mysteryquest]

Telegraphic Money Transfer / Bank to Bank Transfer

Do not send money via Bank to Bank transfer to make a purchase in an online transaction when you are dealing with a person or company you don't personally know, have never done business with before or have even the slightest question or concern as to their identity or legitimacy!

Doing so leaves you open to be scammed! Bank transfers are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reverse because the bank's position will be that you authorized the transfer even if that authorization was based on fraud! In fact, all bank wire agreements say precisely that. Frequently the scammer will withdraw the money as soon as it is wired into his account. Some scammers will fulfill small orders based on a bank to bank transfer to build trust and when the victim makes a larger order, they will not delivery the merchandise and keep the money.

Many scammers will want you to transfer money to a bank account which is in the name of a totally unrelated individual or entity than who the scammer claims to be. Sometimes the scammer will claim that the individual is an employee or director who is in charge of receivables which is why the money is to be paid to his or her's account. No real company or government uses an individual's bank account to collect money that is due to the company or government. The fact that an employee is responsible for tracking payments to a company does not mean that payment would be paid to that employee's individual bank account! If you owe WalMart, you don't send a check to some WalMart employee, you send it to WalMart. The bank account the scammer has given you either belongs to a fellow scammer or someone collecting the money on behalf of a scammer for a cut of the "take." Sending money via bank to bank transfer is not much safer than sending it via Western Union/MoneyGram.

PayPal

PayPal has strict conditions on whether or not they offer Buyer Protection or will reimburse you for an item which is not delivered or is substantially different than what you ordered so make sure you meet the requirements. It is in no way "automatic!" They will only reimburse you for "certain tangible, physical goods" which does not include:

1. Intangible items, including Digital Goods
2. Services
3. Real estate, including residential property
4. Businesses
5. Vehicles, including motor vehicles, motorcycles, caravans, aircraft and boats
6. Custom made items
7. Travel tickets, including airline flight tickets
8. Items prohibited by the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy
9. Items which you collect in person, or arrange to be collected on your behalf
10. Items that violate eBay’s Prohibited or Restricted Items Policy
11. Industrial machinery used in manufacturing
12. Items equivalent to cash, including prepaid or gift cards
13. PayPal Direct Payments
14. Virtual Terminal Payments
15. Personal Payments

For example, if you pay for pet delivery or document translation or resume preparation, those would be considered services which are not covered, even if you are scammed.

There are other conditions you must comply with to get reimbursement:

You must:

Send the payment to the Seller through:

*the eBay “Pay Now” button or the eBay invoice; or

*the “Send Money” button of your PayPal account by selecting “eBay Item” and entering your eBay User ID and the eBay item number for purchases on eBay website; or

*the Send Money tab on the PayPal website, by clicking the “Purchase” tab, or by selecting the “Checkout with PayPal” button or otherwise selecting PayPal as part of a Seller’s checkout flow.

For example if you simply send the money to somebody's email address, that would not be covered. Consequently, if you pay for an item using PayPal it is always better to use a credit card because the chargeback provisions of your credit card are stronger than PayPal's Buyer Protection and have less requirements and restrictions. It is very important that you review all of Paypal's Buyer Protection provisions. See: Section 13 of the PayPal legal agreement.