Amazon Payments?

Everything I've heard about Amazon Payments, is that nobody gets any protection unless it's on the Amazon.com website. In other words... you're quite possibly screwed if you give him money.

Particularly since the seller contacted you by PM. You don't say, but I'm guessing he doesn't have an FS/T thread?

To be fair, I've done biz by PM myself... but when I've done that I've also had an FS/T thread up here and I usually (far as I recall) make it quite clear that I'm offering up something that's also in my thread and include a link to that thread as well. On the occasion when I'm PMing someone about something /not/ in my FS/T thread, it's always been something fit only for the Perpetual Freebies Thread.

Make sure the guy has Heat, and good Heat at that (it should have recent stuff in it and few if ANY negatives that are all very old -- check the dates, Heatware puts 'em at the top -- that tripped me up once). Make sure he's cool with you emailing him at the address in the Heat account. If he says "oh I closed that here's a different one" chances are it's BS and a scam. If he gets all indignant about showing you Heat, back out. If he says "oh all I have is eBay and here it is" back out. eBay feedback barely means anything around here, and for a number of particularly good reasons.

Make sure he's cool with Paypal. Paypal you get 45 days to start yelling if something's fishy. Amazon you get nothing. Regarding shipping... Priority Mail is rarely more than 3 days (it happens, but it's very unusual). For sure, five days and it didn't show is bad news. First Class Pkg shouldn't be used here, but if it is... 7 days and no card means something's up. Both services now come with tracking automatically IIRC -- make sure your seller gives it to you. Use it. If after two days all it says is "Electronic Shipping Info Received" that's not good -- if it errors out ("Delivery Confirmation is not available via this website..." in red type) that's really bad, it means he never even printed a label and just gave you something that /looks/ like tracking (but isn't). FedEx and UPS usually means what they call Ground services, their lowest priority (and cheapest) service... figure 7-10 days, and no package at that point means bad stuff.

Tracking numbers... a USPS tracking # will be five groups of four digits, then a pair of digits. For Priority Mail, I can't remember the last time it didn't start with 9405. So 9405 0000 0000 0000 0000 00. If he gives it to you all in a lump (no spaces) space it out and make sure it fits the pattern. A UPS tracking # has no spaces, starts with 1Z, and is 18 digits long (including the 1Z) unless I can't count. So 1Z0000000000000000. FedEx I don't know 'cause I've not seen it in too long. My spam bin is FULL of fake tracking numbers... I can spot 'em fast 'cause I know what to look for and the spammers don't.

Lastly, the moment you suspect something is up... FILE A CLAIM. Assuming you were smart and used Paypal. (Again, Amazon will not protect you unless the deal was done on their website -- which means this one won't be covered.) DO NOT WAIT. That's important. A month and a half (or so) will go by FAST. Put it off, you'll forget, and then it'll be too late. You get 45 days with Paypal. No shipping method currently known to man (except USPS First Class International going OUT of the US, and a rare few of the slower shipping methods from HK/China/etc to the US on eBay) takes more than ten days. If you haven't gotten your package in ten days, file a claim that day. Or, if you used Amazon, cry loudly since your scammer just got free money.

I hope that helps.
 
Thank you so much, that helps a lot :)
And yeah, he don't have a fs thread, in this year and 2012 he only had 2 steam keys sales registered on he's heatware...
He also accept money order, but as far as i know is more of the same thing
 
USPS Money Order is solid. I've used it before. It's $1.15 to send up to $500.00, and cashing it is free. The only inconvenience is that you have to mail it to your seller...

Western Union can be faked amazingly well -- Craigslist was full of those for a while, dunno if they've been able to stop it. IIRC the fakes were so good that the banks would clear 'em and two weeks (or so) later you'd get a sad letter from Western Union that said "oops, sorry, that one wasn't real, your money is now gone forever". Green Dot (Wal*Mart) is probably just as easy to fake, if not easier... but I haven't heard about any of those getting faked (yet).

TBH if it was me in this deal I'd back out of this one so fast I'd get a ticket for speeding. No FS thread, almost no heat, Amazon or MO but not PP... and for a high-dollar item to boot... I can almost hear Picard yelling "RED ALERT" here ;) everything about this guy just screams bad news.
 
The plus to USPS Money order is that it's federal fraud to rip someone off using one. Now if you don't cover your bases and have no info, it's nearly impossible to track them down but if they do get busted, federal pound me in the ass prison is much harsher than a simple petty theft charge.
 
Signing into my amazon payments account recently it is asking me for my SS#, was this a new feature they implemented?
 
piker28 said:
Signing into my amazon payments account recently it is asking me for my SS#, was this a new feature they implemented?
Click to expand...

Due to recent changes in some IRS regulations, I believe Amazon Payments started asking for SS# back in 2012.
 
dj_2004 said:
Due to recent changes in some IRS regulations, I believe Amazon Payments started asking for SS# back in 2012.
Click to expand...

they did. I avoided it for the longest until It came a time when it wouldn't permit me to spend or transfer my funds in my acct.
 
SunnyD said:
Amazon's A to Z guarantee ONLY applies to items sold via the Amazon Marketplace, NOT on 3rd party sites such as HardForums.
Click to expand...

This is correct. If you are going to send money via Amazon make sure you use a major credit card which is the only real form of "protection" there is to begin with.
 
dj_2004 said:
Due to recent changes in some IRS regulations, I believe Amazon Payments started asking for SS# back in 2012.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I'm not certain HOW grandfathered folks are getting away with it, but all PayPal accounts are supposed to have SSN/TIN's attached to them as well for IRS reporting purposes as of about 2011.

Any payment processor is supposed to have tax and identification information due to newer money laundering laws that have been in effect for several years. If you don't have a SSN on your PayPal account, expect to be forced to add one within the next several months for federal compliance.
 
The sad part is that we need to be so cautious when using any of these payment methods to buy or sell, especially when it comes to a forum that you truly wish you could rely on everyone to be honest and would hope that all the members are honest. I guess that's not the case???

I for one use Amazon and hope that I can continue to into the future without any problems... Knock on wood...lol
 
I haven't entered my SS in PayPal or Amazon and if they require me to do so, i'll likely go back to good old money order. No way do I trust either of them with my info.
 
Figured I'd necrobump this thread rather than make a new one with my cautionary (but common) tale + some info about Amazon Payments.

I made the mistake of assuming since Amazon Payments is fairly common/established/old new news already that it would be mostly like Paypal only better. Never assume anything.

This service is a free money order as far as [H] sales are concerned. That's nice, but it's probably not what you are looking for as a buyer unless you are super confident in the seller's integrity. DO NOT use your bank account to make the payment as it will take as long as TWO WEEKS for the seller to actually receive the money. The only way to cancel a payment is through their phone customer support and they can't even do it without sending an email to another team.

Why is it like this? It seems like a testbed for a Paypal-like service Amazon isn't sure they want to get into. I expect in time they will start charging for these transactions and either 1)start offering arbitration and buyer/seller protection 2)just be an alternative to Western Union.

I've spoken with an Amazon high-level CS rep about these issues and they recorded the phonecall (supposedly) for a conference with their process-improvement group. Whatever... seeing this thread is so old makes it pretty clear things aren't moving to improve much at all with this service and I think it's very risky. It is almost exactly the same as sending with Paypal and marking it as a gift. So as many others in this thread have/may have pointed out:

A) Don't send money using Amazon Payments with bank account option unless you are prepared to wait a ridiculously long time for the money to arrive on the other end. There is no reason to do this, ever and the option isn't clear about the wait time. Makes me think Amazon is playing with the money during the "initiation" period of 1-2 weeks.

B) There is zero protection through Amazon Payments for either buyer or seller on [H] transactions. Use it with caution. Offer to pay Paypal fees. (only on Amazon specific sales does A-Z guarantee apply and for marketplace it rarely applies and will be specified for individual items, AFAIK).

C) If someone is 100% only willing to deal with Amazon Payments it means they have been banned from Paypal for whatever reason, fault or no--it's not a good sign and you may want to look elsewhere to purchase what you are after.
 
Bluesun311 said:
Figured I'd necrobump this thread rather than make a new one with my cautionary (but common) tale + some info about Amazon Payments.

I made the mistake of assuming since Amazon Payments is fairly common/established/old new news already that it would be mostly like Paypal only better. Never assume anything.

This service is a free money order as far as [H] sales are concerned. That's nice, but it's probably not what you are looking for as a buyer unless you are super confident in the seller's integrity. DO NOT use your bank account to make the payment as it will take as long as TWO WEEKS for the seller to actually receive the money. The only way to cancel a payment is through their phone customer support and they can't even do it without sending an email to another team.

Why is it like this? It seems like a testbed for a Paypal-like service Amazon isn't sure they want to get into. I expect in time they will start charging for these transactions and either 1)start offering arbitration and buyer/seller protection 2)just be an alternative to Western Union.

I've spoken with an Amazon high-level CS rep about these issues and they recorded the phonecall (supposedly) for a conference with their process-improvement group. Whatever... seeing this thread is so old makes it pretty clear things aren't moving to improve much at all with this service and I think it's very risky. It is almost exactly the same as sending with Paypal and marking it as a gift. So as many others in this thread have/may have pointed out:

A) Don't send money using Amazon Payments with bank account option unless you are prepared to wait a ridiculously long time for the money to arrive on the other end. There is no reason to do this, ever and the option isn't clear about the wait time. Makes me think Amazon is playing with the money during the "initiation" period of 1-2 weeks.

B) There is zero protection through Amazon Payments for either buyer or seller on [H] transactions. Use it with caution. Offer to pay Paypal fees. (only on Amazon specific sales does A-Z guarantee apply and for marketplace it rarely applies and will be specified for individual items, AFAIK).

C) If someone is 100% only willing to deal with Amazon Payments it means they have been banned from Paypal for whatever reason, fault or no--it's not a good sign and you may want to look elsewhere to purchase what you are after.
Click to expand...
I agree on a lot of your points but the last. I try and use amazon exclusively and have has bad experiences with PayPal but that doesn't mean it's a bad sign. Look up the massive site/thread on PayPal limiting account and so forth.
 
note235 said:
I agree on a lot of your points but the last. I try and use amazon exclusively and have has bad experiences with PayPal but that doesn't mean it's a bad sign. Look up the massive site/thread on PayPal limiting account and so forth.
Click to expand...

Yup. That was too presumptuous and I shouldn't have put it that way.

If a seller's feedback/heatware is excellent, I would have no problem using Amazon payments to save them or both of us some/little money.

Also, I was totally incorrect in saying there's no reason to EVER send money with bank account. If you wanted to send more than $1000 to a seller you were completely confident in, it is THE way to go, assuming you are all prepared to wait for the slow transaction to clear. This is a much more likely reason for the delay than the assumption that Amazon is making interest for the short period of time the funds are within their control.

Still. This is an extremely limited alternative to Paypal from the buyer's perspective and should be researched before using. I really wish I had but nothing bad happened, I've just had to spend a buncha time trying to undo my mistake and I had to pay twice because I was in too much of a hurry to wait or get it fixed. I went ahead and used Amazon Payments and debit instead and it took a few hours to clear, item is already in my possession and works great. Still waiting for them to interrupt the "initiation" of the BA transfer but it's not a big deal. It could be your rent money if you didn't know or have a backup source, though.
 
note235 said:
I agree on a lot of your points but the last. I try and use amazon exclusively and have has bad experiences with PayPal but that doesn't mean it's a bad sign. Look up the massive site/thread on PayPal limiting account and so forth.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My paypal account is still in good standing, I just refuse to give them any money since they've allowed scammers to take so much of mine.
 
I have used Amazon a few times and love it so far. Of course if you the buyer/seller has high heat and it is a fairly low purchase, I have no problems using it.

If it is something over $200, I'd have to do PP.
 
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