Have You Experienced Having Errors When Paying Through Paypal?

I have been getting this error for 2 days straight consecutively while I was trying to pay for an item via Paypal for something that I bought from eBay. The error says:

"This payment cannot be completed and your account has not been charged. Please contact your merchant for more information."

Now I googled a bit, and I found out that lots of people are experiencing this glitch since 2011 and until now, because the most recent complaints that I saw were posted just this Dec. 2012. Now I tried paying again earlier, and I managed to pay successfully, even if Paypal's customer service hasn't replied to me yet. So the glitch managed to resolve itself over time, I guess.

So I wanna ask if any of you has experienced having problems when using or paying via Paypal? If yes, what problem did you encounter and how did you resolve it?

 

Yeah it's obviously a system glitch, and 2 days later Paypal still has no reply to my ticket, so that goes to show how "efficient" they are. Good thing that the problem got resolved on its own and I won't be needing their assistance anymore. Have you tried opening another window (not tab) when you click the "Pay Now" or "Checkout" button? I read that it sometimes solves the problem, but in my case it didn't really work. It might work on your end though.

 

Actually this past 2 weeks I have been a bit active in bidding and buying in Paypal, and the error only occurs if I pay using Ebay's checkout. I have bought items from multiply.com and dx.com during the same timeframe and the payments got through smoothly. Anyway I have contacted Paypal about this because for 2 days I couldn't pay for the item that I won at Ebay and for the sake of those people who might also experience this, I'm pasting the reply of the Paypal representative:

"I hope you’re doing well today. I called you to provide a quicker answer but I was not able to reach you.

I am sorry to hear that you are unable to complete a payment using your Paypal account and I know how frustrating this can be. Don’t worry, let me check this for you.

I saw that your payment is being blocked by our internal security system that is why it did not go through. Most common reasons are the increments of the money you are sending, if this is too high or too low depending on your spending pattern, if you are logging on to a different computer while making the payment or if you are outside your country or region and also if you are attempting to pay the same person on the same day.

I know it is not the best answer for you now, but the protection that it gives you really is for the best. Please understand that since this is not a face to face business, we need this kind of security to protect our customers.

I have listed some steps that you can take to reduce the chances of your future payments from being blocked:

- Attempt to make the payment using a different funding source
- Try to make the payment at a different time.
- Ensure that you are making your payment from your country of residence.
- If possible, attempt to complete the payment from the computer that you often use to access your PayPal account.

We regret the inconvenience this may have caused. We advise that you contact your merchant to inform them of the situation as most PayPal sellers are familiar with it. You can negotiate with them if you can process a direct payment or use a different payment method available."

The thing is, I always use the same pc and IP when logging in to Paypal but the error still occurs, so I followed one post that I saw which says to pay using a mobile phone. I'm using an Android device, and luckily, my payment there went smoothly although the first time I tried using Ebay's mobile site (m.ebay.com), I was directed to finish the transaction using a pc, so I directly typed

Log In

and the payments were made without a problem. So I really think that this is a glitch on Paypal's end, after all, lots of people are also experiencing it, and some posts that I have read were posted way back in 2011 regarding the same problem.

 

That's quite unfortunate. Did you ask them why it had to be that way? Whenever I buy something I don't get any deductions because my account is just a personal starter account. Your account must be a business account since you get some deductions?

 

Yes, I haven't really considered verifying my Paypal account yet, since I only intend to use it for online purchases. I initially thought of only verifying it when I'm close to reaching the designated maximum amount of money that you can spend, but I think that it might help if I will verify it as soon as possible.

 

Yes, it also entered my mind that verifying my account would not really make a difference, because the payment easily gets through if I'm using an Android phone to pay if I buy stuff from Ebay. Well, I only intend to use my Paypal balance when I buy stuff online, because I read that if you use a debit card to pay then you will get charged some fees, but when you use your Paypal balance, then there are no fees at all.

I have also tried paying by directly signing in to Paypal and choosing the "Pay for Ebay items" option but it was still unsuccessful. Well, Paypal admitted that they can be quite strict in the reply that they sent me, but I really think that mine is caused by a glitch in their system.

 

Wow, $700, that's a lot of money. How did that happen? I have read a lot of complaints about Paypal freezing user's accounts, but they monopolize the payment processor market in the web, so we have no other choice but to use them.