Dibbell’s chat with PayPal

by Alphaville Herald on 27/10/03 at 6:03 pm

In the Oct. 17 entry of his web log, Jullian Dibbell has a hilarious transcript of a phone conversation with PayPal in which he presses them to explain why virtual goods cannot be covered by their Seller Protection Policy, while say tickets to a football game are. A lot of you will have read this piece, but if you haven’t it is definitely must reading.

3 Responses to “Dibbell’s chat with PayPal”

  1. entropy123

    Dec 13th, 2003

    Considering paypal itself offers an essentially virtual service, I found this conversation quite amusing.

  2. Niekon

    Dec 17th, 2003

    ok… now I’m really confused. PayPal is an online bank, correct? There are no brick and mortar branches avaiable for me to visit and sit down with a branch manager.
    So a virtual bank does not cover virtual goods? So based upon this, whenever I subscribe to an online newletter that has a free version and a paid version there is no guarantee for either myself nor the publisher of the newsletter. UGH!!!! Something stinks around here…

  3. khuong

    Mar 9th, 2007

    Dear sir
    My name is Khuong, my nickname on eBay is khuongchi. Last month, I sold my item on eBay. this is wonderful ring-white gold-with diamonds and sapphires-7, the number of item is 270092907821. On 1/3 I received the letter from ebay, with detail gareth5849 bought my item (the buyer used email: garethlives88@hotmail.com ). After that, the buyer sent me a letter and require me send this item to Negeria. 2 hour later, paypal sent me a letter with detai: (This letter from Customer care help.pp.onlinelink@accountant.com to khuongvov@gmail.com)
    (Dear Tran Khuong,

    Gareth Allan has paid for an ebay item bought from you through
    PayPal(r).

    Gareth Allan is a Verified Buyer.

    Payment Details

    Buyer’s User ID: gareth5849
    Buyer Email: garethlives88@hotmail.com

    Amount: $199.00 USD
    Shipping & Handling
    Postal: Compensation: $50.00 USD
    $0.00 USD
    Total Amount: $245.00 USD

    Transaction ID: 5Y758872CS5622331

    Subject: Pls Shipping before
    03/03/2007

    Note: You have been paid for
    wonderful ring-white gold-with diamonds and sapphires-7

    Shipping Information

    Address:

    B . T Oreyelu
    19 Ogunleye Av Off Joyce-B Rd Oke Ado,
    Ibadan.
    Oyo State
    Nigeria.
    23402)

    After that I had sent my item to Negeria by USPS, the tracking number is: EB 022304468 US. So 2 day latter I sent a letter from eBay with detail the buyer didn’t buy it, and don’t pay money to me. I don’t understand why? And I don’t know what matter will happen to my items, because I sent it to Nigeria, and now it left out of USA. I had to pay insurance for this item. After that I try to contact with paypal, buyer and eBay, but no one answer me about my items. Please help me to solve this. I’m looking forward to hearing your answer as soon as.
    Thank for your help.

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