Anyone else having difficulty payinf for figures with Paypal?

[dadlamassu]

In October I tried to order model soldiers from Blacktree design. I have have done this regularly over the years without any difficulty using Paypal. On 10 October I made up the order taking advantage of the sale - and got a message from paypal to say that the payment was withheld "pending validation". Blacktree design were also informed. I then got a message saying the payment was now valid and had been made. I checked my account after a couple of weeks and is showed "unpaid". So I contacted Blacktree customer services and a John answered and took on my case. He called Paypal who said yes the payment had been cleared but for some reason Blacktree had not received it. This was sorted out.

Last night I placed a second order. And the same thing happened - a message from Paypal to the transaction was "pending validation"

Text - PayPal is required to review certain transactions in order to minimise risk for us or our customers. The payment you sent is currently being reviewed and we will complete this process within 72 hours. This review involves this transaction only and does not affect the use of your PayPal account.

Please be aware that 28mm metal soldiers appear to be some sort of threat that need special verification. So if you need your model soldiers be aware that Paypal may impose a seemingly arbitrary delay.

Before anyone says "Why not complain to paypal". I tried twice once by phone and once using their "Help" page. There was no answer to the phone call it just rang out. Then after completing the process on the website I clicked "submit" and nothing happened.

If you are having difficulty with your suppliers it may not be their fault!

[stone-cold-lead]

Not had any problems myself. Long time ago there were a couple of payments that I received that were slightly delayed due to random checks by Paypal. If I had to throw out a few guesses there could be an issue of some sort with Black Tree that Paypal is monitoring or have you been making or receiving large payments recently that seem out of character with Paypal? If it's only happened with BTD though it might be them.

[Elbows]

Huh...never experienced anything like this.  I have made one paypal order from Blacktree Design in the past - didn't have any issue (other than BTD being super slow to ship and then shipping the wrong stuff...).

[stone-cold-lead]

Huh...never experienced anything like this.  I have made one paypal order from Blacktree Design in the past - didn't have any issue (other than BTD being super slow to ship and then shipping the wrong stuff...).

That was pretty normal for BTD in the past. 

[Elbows]

Yep, I knew it was risky right off the bat - and yes they never responded to my email about the wrong items.  This was only last year.

[Inkpaduta]

Likely BTD.
I use paypal all the time and have never had a problem.

[dadlamassu]

I recently bought Dr Who, fantasy and dundeon stuff from BTD without any problems.  These two orders are for historicals so the problem seems more likely to be Paypal.  Also, on another forum, a trader said they have some difficulties with Paypal "validating" orders at random intervals.

I assume BTD will sort it out quickly as they did last time - after the New Year stand down. 

[v_lazy_dragon]

Had something very similar with 4Ground - 3 attempted payments 'pending validation', which were all then failed and the payment cancelled. Meant I technically missed the Black Friday sale, but luckily 4Ground were kind enough to make an exception and extend it for me!

[Connectamabob]

I suspect it's not a problem with buying minis per se. During the holidays, financial services go into fraud alert overdrive due to the high volume of purchases, and the resultant increased likelyhood of fraudulent transactions being missed/overlooked by account holders in the scuffle.

Either you got randomly selected for extra security checks, or they noticed some activity that their security algorithms flagged as out of character in their hightened holiday paranoia, and now they're double checking everything that passes throught the account 'till they're satisfied.

I experienced something very much like what you're describing a couple years ago with my bank. When I talked to them, they said they hadn't actually noticed anything suspicious, they were basically just doing the electronic banking equivelent of holiday drunk driving checkpoints or random TSA screenings.

[dadlamassu]

It is, apparently, because I ordered "Persians".  I also asked on a couple of other forums and several other gamers who ordered Persians have had their orders paused or even camcelled by paypal.  One supplier said that he had the same problen with customers ordering Taliban, insurgents and Persians.  Another had similar transactions stopped for Middle Eastern models.

It appears that to Paypal Persia = Iran = Islam = Potential Terrorist Threat so the transactions are paused.  It may be random but two consecutive orders paused for validation is too much of a coincidence for "random" checks to me.

Big Brother is watching!

[FramFramson]

Just us no-good Persians causing trouble for everyone again!  

(Though there does seem to be a kerfuffle going on there at the moment... but that veers into politics and I doubt it has anything whatsoever to do with PayPal's absurdly hamfisted policy. I don't even know if Paypal even works in Iran, given the level of government control of the internet there)

[Connectamabob]

Probably the usual tech company overconfidence in automation. It's like how youtube thinks they have an algorithm for everything from comment sorting to copyright recognition... but they don't. Not really. They have a pile of empty cardboard boxes with the word "algorithm" scrawled on the side in misspelled Sharpie, like something made by a dog from the old Far Side comics.

[Predatorpt]

The same happened to me, while ordering an G36 airsoft rifle. Guess it's a new "security" algorithm

[DavyJones]

The same happened to me, while ordering an G36 airsoft rifle. Guess it's a new "security" algorithm

Maybe it was a misunderstanding from PayPal and they took your airsoft rifle for a "real" gun. Because paying for firearms and some gun related stuff (like magazines) is not possible there.

[Chris Steadman]

I once had an order from RB Models turned back by customs because they were described as 'replacement gun barrels'; in a 6 inch x 4 inch jiffy bag