New system aimed primarily at matching newer sellers with buyers
So now it seems I have to wait two hours before I can bid for a job. This is extremely unfair. Not only do experienced creatives/designers have to compete with an unfair playing field, ie people offered to do a job for £10 when it is clearly worth £100, we are now not allowed to bid for jobs as soon as they appear on PPH. What kind of system is this?!
Awful. Unfair. Unprofessional. Discriminatory.
Regards
C. Howe
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As customer service have once again failed me on an epic scale, and as you can see from above no reply has been forthcoming from the ninjas on here, I'n going to ask my fellow freelancers to see if any of you can give me an answer.
If I can accept payments in multiple currencies into my wallet why can I not buy an hourlie in euros? I have purchased them in the past in dollars so what is the difference?
PPH's only solution was for me to withdraw the money into Paypal then pay for it that way or register my credit card which I refuse to do. After emails had gone back and forth I was offered the option of having my balance changed into euros. I agreed to this then lo and behold back came another email saying they couldn't do this, it was being escalated and, of course, I have heard nothing for 3 days now.
This is not only hugely frustrating for me but the freelancer selling the hourlie is potentially missing out on work due to this cockeyed rule. Have any of you got an answer to this oh so difficult question that seems to have baffled PPH to such an extent they have gone into hiding?
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Can't really help on this one. In the old days PPH didn't mess with currencies and I thought it was probably wise not to do so since their value fluctuated all over the place, now as you point out, there's a bit of a currency and payment limbo and even PPH seems a bit confused.
It should be simple and above board.
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I think we have all kind of given up on things being simple and above board on this site Paul :/
The stupid thing was they did a currency conversion to tell me what would come off my credit card so why not just take that amount out of my wallet?
We got around it by me creating a job just for this seller and sending an invite but what a bloody palava that is now as well. This lot have clearly never heard of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" ; complete farce.
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Has anybody got any thoughts on what these so called security checks are all about regarding invoices? Around half of my invoices are resulting in the client releasing the Escrow payment but PPH then keeping the money for 3 working days. If the money has been deposited into Escrow and the client has released it as they are happy with the work do they have any right to then withhold it? Customer service once again seem unable to answer this question and while I put up with it when it was a new client or somebody new to PPH it is now happening across the board with clients I've worked for for over a year. It's taking longer and longer to get paid at a time when its harder than ever to find decent work so I'm feeling a tad disgruntled right now. Plus, I have invoices sitting 'pending' from the middle of last week and am having to chase them up to release them, not a happy bunny :(
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Supposedly money is held in escrow as a freelancer safety blanket, but it seems the security check happens only at the time of payment. They've never discussed what they do regarding security/payment checks.
PPH have always had periods of people complaining about delays. We put a lot of trust that PPH just won't disappear off the face of the earth and the money evaporate. Potentially we could do the work only for PPH to discover an issue with the buyer when payment time comes.
If it's any consolation, I've had a client (not connected with PPH) take over three months to pay me, so PPH are super fast compared to some clients, even with the delays.
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What are these security checks? Are you talking about security checks on the seller to check ID etc? That should be a one-off so that should not cause repeated delays. I am pretty sure they take the money from the buyer before it goes into escrow (otherwise it would be pointless) so it cannot be anything at that end. I can understand some time for processing (especially if, for example, the money gets released on a Friday afternoon) but if you are talking about three working days, it is definitely excessive.
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Yes Graeme, 3 working days. The client releases the money and are leaving feedback but the invoice shows as pending for these 'security checks' that I don't believe exist. I complained yet again yesterday and really let rip and got the same standard C&P'ed response I had received all the previous times telling me how to withdraw from my wallet to my bank! When I kicked off guess what? It was escalated. PPH speak for " We haven't got a clue, your complaint has been trashed now sod off".
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It's so frustrating. There's a job on PPH (I have flagged it) for people to list on ebay on behalf of a third party.
This is frequently used for fraudulent purposes. Two people have (stupidly) made proposals. I thought I'll see if I can warn them, so I sent a message to one by sending a job invitation which was actually a warning. PPH routinely let through all manner of dodgy jobs (such as the ebay one) and rejected mine. Fair enough, BUT I would have expected the PPH person to at least tell me the person was warned.
The job is still there. So annoying.
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I was invited to bid for that job Paul and both reported it and commented on it but they removed my comment and like you say the job's still there. More proof, as if we needed it, that their vetting system is an none existent as everything else they claim to have in place and I'm sure all feedback goes straight in the trash.
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I noticed a pattern of listing on eBay lasting about three months and totally about £30,000.
Basically a fraudster asks someone to sell something (the pattern I saw was for a new computer). They tell the poor victim exactly what to say and explain that when the item is bought they will ship it directly from their warehouse to the purchaser. The purchaser pays the lister via paypal, the lister pays the fraudster (less their commission).
It's all done at a bargain price and with buy it now. Of course the computer is never shipped. Paypal reverses the payment back to the buyer, leaving the lister severely out of pocket with the fraudster long gone.
If the commission was £100, then on the listings I spotted the lister (victim) would be out of pocket by typically £2,800.
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A few years ago I did a piece on working from home scams and this was one of the main ones I flagged up. I contacted several people offering this kind of work on another site, we all know which one, and there was all manner of stuff from computers to fake designer sunglasses. We listed 12 people at the time who were selling this stuff on EBay, people of previous good standing who clearly thought they were making a quick buck. In a follow up 6 months later only 2 of the 12 still had an eBay account and those 10 will no doubt have also lost their Paypal. Not big and not clever but very tempting if you are short of cash as they dangle quite a tasty carrot...
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A few years ago I did a piece on working from home scams and this was one of the main ones I flagged up. I contacted several people offering this kind of work on another site, we all know which one, and there was all manner of stuff from computers to fake designer sunglasses. We listed 12 people at the time who were selling this stuff on EBay, people of previous good standing who clearly thought they were making a quick buck. In a follow up 6 months later only 2 of the 12 still had an eBay account and those 10 will no doubt have also lost their Paypal. Not big and not clever but very tempting if you are short of cash as they dangle quite a tasty carrot...
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I reported several of them to ebay while the listings were active. It could take up to 45 minutes before I eventually reached someone who finally understood what was going on. The problem was the same fraud was being done through lots of different people, so as far as any single rep was concerned, everything was OK on a single listing.
They'd show stock of four or five computers. Usually they'd all be sold by the time ebay took notice. I only came across this when I went to buy one of these machines. I confirmed the money back guarantee from ebay first. I thought it must be bankrupt stock. ebay was very laid back about it. Ebay told me two days after I paid that i needn't pay and that there was an issue. I raised a dispute on Paypal. Sometimes these sales are done through stupid people, other times through fraudsters getting control of the account. The fraudster told me all is well, ebay made a mistake and had now resolved the issue. The computer was coming - please cancel the dispute. If I had cancelled the dispute I would have lost all of the money. Typically ebay aren't bothered because the reps reassure people that the guarantee means they are covered. That's fine as long as the fraudster doesn't fool you into cancelling the dispute.
I can only think a lot of people would have been in real financial trouble through these fraudsters.
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One of the guys I contacted was seeking 12 UK sellers and was even giving tips on how to boost your feedback by buying penny items from China. He said he had over 10,000 pairs of 'genuine' Oakley sunglasses which were Asian fit. There are clearly still too many people who don't buy into the "if it seems too good to be true it usually is" philosophy.
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Update on the withholding of funds for 3 working days fiasco. Just received an email from customer support:
I'm sorry to hear about this ordeal. Security checks typically mean that we need to verify the buyer's identity and/or the source of the funds. Investigations like this can take up to several days, and while they're going on we're unable to allocate the funds in the escrow.
While there might be a delay in getting paid, rest assured that as long as the funds are in the escrow, and you've provided verifiable proof of work in the WorkStream, you will be paid for what you completed.
My client is disgruntled to say the least as he has been on here for 2 years, is also a top cert seller and pays the money into my Escrow out of his PPH wallet :/ So you have to wonder what 'security checks' they are actually running....
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Because he is also a top cert seller who has been on here for several years and despite me being told it would be a one off they are withholding every payment he makes to me. He too has complained in no uncertain terms but is getting the standard PPH C&P reply. If they started doing security checks on me after all the time I've been on here I'd be annoyed as well especially when I was making the Escrow deposits out of my PPH wallet and not an outside source such as a credit card.
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"While there might be a delay in getting paid, rest assured that as long as the funds are in the escrow, and you've provided verifiable proof of work in the WorkStream, you will be paid for what you completed."
So if the funds are in escrow - which they are, and your workstream shows you've done the work - which presumably it does, you will get paid.
In which case, if there is no question that you will get paid, why are they making you wait until they've done their checks? In fact, getting paid doesn't depend on the outcome of the checks because they are going to pay you in any case, why bother doing any checks?
Perhaps if the staff stopped wasting time doing apparently pointless checks and started fixing bugs instead?
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When I have payment approved by a client, I don't involve them in any issues regarding delays of payment from PPH - it's not their problem it's mine. If I thought they might make any differrence, I might ask them to assist, but under almost all circumstances, provided they have paid the money to PPH, I won't involve them.
So in that sense, while payment might be an issue for me, I don't make it an issue for my clients.
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Absolutely Pie, it's completely pointless. Any security checks should surely have been done way before it reached this point. This won't affect a lot of people but as I've said before I don't have private clients and don't see why, when I have kept to my end of the bargain and completed the work on time and the client is happy and has released the payment, it should then be held for 3 working days while it goes through imaginary checks. It actually says on the work stream; "These funds will shortly be deposited in your PPH Wallet. Typically this happens within hours but on very rare occasions this can take up to 3 working days." How about every time and I am having to chase them up as after the 3 days are up as it still isn't in my wallet.
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It sounds to me as though PPH have (again!) made a mess of the requirements imposed by (admittedly very silly) money laundering laws. What exactly are they going to do if they cannot verify the sellers identity? They have assured Deb that she will get the money - and if she does not get it, it makes a nonsense of their escrow system.
@Deb, is there any pattern in whose payments get delayed? Buyers outside the EU for example? The size of payments? First time buyers?
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At one time Graeme I only had payments delayed that were from new buyers who I presumed were paying with credit cards etc now it seems to be anyone and the payments being withheld range from £10 to £180. This particular guy is a British client I've worked with for over a year, is also a top cert seller and now its every one of his invoices despite them saying it was a one off check two invoices ago! I has to chase them to release the latest payment this morning and then asked for reassurance this wouldn't happen again with this client. This is the message I got back 10 mins ago;
Now that the buyer has had their payment method verified (he pays out of his PPH wallet!) you won't have delays based on security checks any longer. Having said that, invoices can take up to three days to process just due to reasons of influx, and we do make note of that in our WorkStream notification. This is something that can happen to any user.
Yet when the last 3 have show as pending and I hover over it I get a message saying its for security checks and hat is what the 3 separate advisers have told me as well and now they're saying it's bloody influx!
Lol Paul, unfortunately the closest I've come to money laundering is washing a pair of jeans with a £20 note in the pocket :)
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