I've been using Playerauctions for years, never had a problem with them.

[Deflator]

I've got about 15 feedback from buying various characters since 2009 or so, 100 percent positive, and on an old account from the early days of EQ I had about 25 feedback, with zero problems. (That account got closed because I refused to pay fees on a sale that was bought by a scammer who did a chargeback, and they wouldn't remove it, so I guess I did have a problem once before.)

So, this week I bought a WoW account with two level 90 characters for $120. Played it about an hour one day, tried to log in the next, and it was password changed.

So I e-mailed the original e-mail on the account which I thankfully saved, and the original owner said it had been stolen a few days prior. Come to find out, this guy is also on PA, with about 45 feedback.

I then find, googling the e-mail address of the guy I bought this account from, he bought it from another site just a day before for $60, so I don't believe he knew he was selling a stolen account either.

So, naturally, I go to my account page on PA and click the button that says something about report account takeback. Within about 20 minutes the status changed to:

"Completed. Unknown Reason without compensation."

So, I e-mail them, about three times, and this has been about a week, not a single response. I even told them in e-mail I was going to do a PayPal chargeback, still no response.

So, this morning, I just filed a PayPal dispute claiming tangible goods not delivered, and no tracking number received. Can't wait to get the e-mail saying I'm banned from PA.

 

[Deflator]

Waddayaknow - - about an hour after filing a PayPal dispute and not getting an e-mail response all week even saying they were looking at it from PA, they e-mail me this morning in typical broken English and say they're looking into it.

I'm still not cancelling the Paypal dispute, though.

 

[kirbanmanaburn]

Unsurprising. Definitely don't cancel the PayPal dispute. I've had a few issues with them over the years, all consistent with what you described.

 

[hoppy96pgtbs]

Yea, I dont mess with them unless I am selling. Have heard of too many nightmares.

 

[wunaye]

I got some stolen wow gold off there once and they didn't give a shit. GM took the gold back from me and will do for anyone else who was buying the gold too. They just allowed the seller to continue to sell this gold that would be taken back.

Haven't used the site since.

 

[orion949]

Wouldn't touch PA with a 100 foot pole.

 

[Yoda007]

I don't think you will get anywhere with Paypal unfortunately.

Paypal does not offer buyer protection for virtual items.

Just been through this myself (not PA, but with virtual items)

Unfortunately, we are refusing your claim because your purchase was for a
virtual, digital or intangible item, which is not covered under PayPal
Buyer Protection. We only cover claims involving physical items that can be
shipped and tracked.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Man how PA has changed ... that was the first time in early 2000s I used to buy platinum off of... that and IGE eventually.

Also good luck on your PayPal dispute. I'd wage it will be difficult to win, being the goods are virtual and intangible.

What a shame.

 

[Deflator]

I don't think you will get anywhere with Paypal unfortunately.

Paypal does not offer buyer protection for virtual items.

Just been through this myself (not PA, but with virtual items)

Unfortunately, we are refusing your claim because your purchase was for a
virtual, digital or intangible item, which is not covered under PayPal
Buyer Protection. We only cover claims involving physical items that can be
shipped and tracked.

Quite correct.

That's why I'm lying and claiming it was tangible items, right down to lying about the descriptions of them. It's worth a shot, anyway. I even told them the seller refuses to give me a tracking number. They might not buy it. I followed a guide I found on the internet about how to win a PayPal dispute for virtual items.

Anyway, I'll be satisfied enough if PA gives me a "store credit" or whatever it is they do for stolen accounts.

If/when I use that store credit, it'll be the last thing I buy off of PA.

If none of THAT works, I'll tell my own bank it was a fraudulent PayPal charge or something.

 

[SiegeTank]

I also used PA for years, to buy and sell, with great success. Then things went downhill. I know at one time a few years ago if you bought a toon on PA, you could buy some kind of "PA Guarantee", for like 15% of the toon's price, where PA claimed to guarantee you against getting the account slammed. Supposedly they would log in first to confirm everything was as stated, including previous owner info, etc.

Well, I bought an account, paid their guarantee fee, and within 2 weeks the account was claimed back. I don't remember exact details but despite the guarantee, which they used to hype as 100% solid, they found some excuse to deny me any money back.

Last time I ever used PA.

 

[Deflator]

I also used PA for years, to buy and sell, with great success. Then things went downhill. I know at one time a few years ago if you bought a toon on PA, you could buy some kind of "PA Guarantee", for like 15% of the toon's price, where PA claimed to guarantee you against getting the account slammed. Supposedly they would log in first to confirm everything was as stated, including previous owner info, etc.

Well, I bought an account, paid their guarantee fee, and within 2 weeks the account was claimed back. I don't remember exact details but despite the guarantee, which they used to hype as 100% solid, they found some excuse to deny me any money back.

Last time I ever used PA.

They've still got it. I think I paid like $6 or $8 insurance on $120.

 

[Deflator]

They finally got around to banning me from Playerauctions since I filed a PayPal dispute. I only know that from trying to log into PA. They still haven't sent me any kind of e-mail telling me so. At least I'm forcing them into some kind of action. The original owner of the account e-mailed me today with the message he sent to PA telling them it was a stolen account.

 

[Wendel]

I had the same thign happen to me. Paypal did give me my money back.
Charlie Chinglish started to get really rude with me to, I was like... sure... come on over and kick my ass... I'll be waiting...
Years ago when PA was run in North America, they had an admin there(Sean I think), he was a cool guy... always helpful. They even had their own scammer board.
I had over 400 feedback on that site(sold a shit load of plat back in the day, then did some power leveling to).
I wouldn't send anyone to PA, there are lots of well respected trustful sellers here, and if they don't have what I'm looking for I'll wait

 

[Deflator]

Yep, I remember the days when it was owned and ran by Americans, when they had the messageboard and everything.

I guess they got a pretty good offer to sell the place.

What did you tell PayPal to get your money back? PA hasn't even responded to the dispute yet, which is good for me. If they never respond I get the money back. I'm told not to escalate it to a claim, as that forces PayPal to investigate and allows them to make a decision.

Whereas if I simply leave it open as a dispute, they have to respond.

 

[jarori43]

Ive just recently sold 2 accounts that didnt sell here , on PA ive never ever had any problems ive been dealing with PA for over 6 yrs now. I have 100% Feedback over 75 transactions.

Shrug

 

[Aquaplex]

I also used PA for years, to buy and sell, with great success. Then things went downhill. I know at one time a few years ago if you bought a toon on PA, you could buy some kind of "PA Guarantee", for like 15% of the toon's price, where PA claimed to guarantee you against getting the account slammed. Supposedly they would log in first to confirm everything was as stated, including previous owner info, etc.

Well, I bought an account, paid their guarantee fee, and within 2 weeks the account was claimed back. I don't remember exact details but despite the guarantee, which they used to hype as 100% solid, they found some excuse to deny me any money back.

Last time I ever used PA.

Ya, pretty much same thing that happened to me. I hate PA now. I would never buy an account there, but there is a couple of trustworthy sellers on there that i used for plat.

 

[Deflator]

Score one for the good guys.

 

[xzav]

Gratz on your win Deflator. You should post a link to that guide you found, it looks like it was effective.

 

[Deflator]

I could never find the link again. I tried to find it once before when I was posting in this thread. Tried all different ways in Google.

Here's what happens, though:

When you start a dispute, at some point there will be a checkbox where you pick what kind of goods / services / whatever you were trying to buy.

You pick something that says "Other tangible goods."

Then, state a description of the item you were trying to buy. Make it up. Train set, baseball cards, whatever. Claim that you never received tracking information. It was emphasized that it's VERY IMPORTANT to claim you didn't receive any tracking information. Do not skip that line.

The dispute will then open. After a few days, you get the option to escalate the dispute. This forces a PayPal employee to look at your arguments. You DO NOT want to do this. They'll notice the site you're buying from and almost certainly close your dispute, not in your favor.

Instead of escalating the dispute, simply leave it open as is. This forces them to respond within, I believe, three weeks, or else it automatically closes in your favor without a real human ever looking at it. In my case, they issued a refund before this time was up. Since you weren't really buying a real, tangible item from them, they would be forced to simply say you're lying, and apparently it isn't something they want to get into.

The guy who wrote the guide went on to say PA and other companies like this don't like to fight these kind of disputes because it ruins some kind of internal PayPal "credit rating" or something to that effect, and PayPal doesn't like these kind of companies in the first place. I believe Playerauctions even states in their own TOS they dislike PayPal disputes because they can foul up their PayPal if they get enough of them, which is why you're (supposed) to agree to let them handle arbitration.

 

[Crippie]

so selling a toon on PA is a bad idea? my friend wants to sell a toon not a member here and was thinking about PA, not a good idea?