I thought I'd forward this along since it explains PayPal's policies and is timely. It doesn't address Jim's dilemma, but it's worth a read. It has some HTML so beware. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: 20 Aug 2000 08:01:27 -0000 From: PayPal Business Account Verification <busacctverification(a)x.com> To: vcf(a)vintage.org Subject: PayPal's New Fraud Protection Policy Dear Business Account User, Businesses who use X.com's PayPal service have asked us to clarify our new fraud protections. These safeguards were introduced last week to increase the confidence of both buyers and sellers in our payments network. We'd like to take a moment to describe these protections. Buyer Protection Guarantee For online commerce to thrive, buyers must feel safe and secure purchasing from sellers they don't know. X.com's new Buyer Protection Guarantee protects buyers who pay for goods that were never shipped. In such cases, sellers are required by law to refund the purchase. However, if the seller turns out to be fraudulent, there is often no remedy. Recent cases on eBay have demonstrated this unfortunate problem. X.com's new Buyer Protection Guarantee is simple: if a buyer pays a seller who has been Verified by X.com, then we will guarantee the buyer's money back in case the seller turns out to be fraudulent. This Guarantee is like free insurance for buyers, and will make it much more attractive for buyers to pay Verified sellers with PayPal. The verification status of any seller appears on the confirmation page before the buyer completes payment. So if you have not yet verified your account, please read how below. "Verified by X.com" is an online seal of approval that will help your business. Seller Protection Guarantee X.com also wants to protect our sellers against fraud. As you know, we have never imposed charge backs due to fraud on sellers. This is our Seller Protection Guarantee. We plan to continue this policy. However, in order for us to absorb this major source of risk and expense, we need our sellers to play by a few simple rules. Here they are: * First, starting on August 23, 2000, sellers must be Verified in order to qualify for the Seller Protection Guarantee. There is no other way for us to protect ourselves, buyers, and other PayPal users if we cannot verify the identity of sellers. This is fundamental to the integrity of our payments system. Please see below for details on how to verify your account and why we consider this process necessary. * Second, please retain reasonable proof-of-shipping. Preferably, this proof would come from a shipping service that includes date of shipment, shipping address, and a description of the merchandise whenever possible. * Third, please accept payment from only one PayPal account per purchase - do not accept multiple payments for a single item. (Payments to Business and Premier Accounts do not count against a buyer's $2,000 credit card limit, so you should always be able to sell high-dollar goods while accepting payment from one account.) * Fourth, please do not ship internationally, until X.com releases international payments (coming soon) and a list of approved countries. In addition, we are working on Seller Protection Tools that will tell sellers whether buyers are Verified and whether the buyers' requested shipping address matches their credit card billing address. Once these tools are launched (in about a month), we will be adding a fifth rule: * Only ship Unverified buyers' purchases to their credit card billing address. If the buyer is Verified, you may ship to any address. We will notify you before this rule goes into effect. As long as you abide by these rules, X.com guarantees that you will always be protected against charge backs due to fraud. How to Become "Verified" To verify your PayPal account, simply register and confirm a bank account. Just log in to www.X.com, and look for the "Add Bank Account" link in the How to Activate Your Account box. You will be able to confirm your bank account by completing a simple online process. The instructions are on the website. Why do we ask users to confirm ownership of a bank account? Because banks and other financial institutions are required by law to screen account holders. By proving ownership of a bank account, you demonstrate that you have passed this screening process and have verified your identity. In turn, this lowers our company's financial risk and allows us to guarantee you. * Please be sure to encourage all of the users you refer to PayPal to become Verified, too. As of August 23, 2000, new users will generate $5 referral bonuses for the person who referred them only when they become Verified. Keeping Your Money Safe Whenever your bank account is involved, you may be concerned about safety and security. So are we. Please rest assured that X.com will never, ever transfer money from your bank account without your permission. Regardless of any charge back decision, X.com will never transfer money out of your bank account without your explicit consent. In addition, X.com protects every account with up to $100,000 of free insurance against unauthorized transactions. And since our encryption is the safest on the Web, your financial information is completely secure. Your bank account will always remain 100% protected with X.com. * * * * * * * * * * X.com is committed to making online payments safe for both buyers and sellers, and we think that our new fraud protections help to accomplish this goal. This should encourage the growth of both the X.com payments network and your online business. Thank you for using X.com's PayPal service, the fastest and safest way to send and receive money online. Sincerely, The X.com Team www.x.com -- This email is an account status notification regarding your account with X.com's PayPal service. As a financial services company, it is occasionally necessary for X.com to email our users regarding their account status or changes in our policies. However, promotional materials from X.com will only be sent to you if you have checked the "Promotional Notifications" box on the "Preferences" page in your online user profile. Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1 San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California See http://www.vintage.org for details!