PlayerAuctions fining

PlayerAuctions suspended my account for Offsite trading and now is fining me for $150 + I need to deposit $300.

Is there any reason I should pay them this $450???

What if I dont pay them what can they do when they know my address and name but I didn't have any bank accounts attached to my PA account.

 

I wasn't even aware PlayerAuctions can fine people for 'off-site' trading. By this do you mean contacting someone via the messaging system and asking them to do direct Paypal/other methods?

If you received this notice by email, be careful it isn't a scam email. Seems a little sketchy in my opinion.

 

I got a fine as well for cancelling to many orders, when the orders I had made I was messaged by the other trader to cancel it. I tried to message them and work it out but their customer service was probably the worst I've ever experienced. I just stopped using PA after that, I'm not paying for something that wasn't my fault.

I'm halfway certain they used a debit card of mine and tried to run it as a fake hotel too. They did the small charge to see if any money was on it then instantly tried to charge $300 or something, way more than I owed. The hotel was based in the same area PA is running in, Korea somewhere If I remember right. Luckily my bank caught it and the charge didn't go through. I had never put that debit card on anything else besides the PA CC form at checkout, where they let you input it instead of going to Paypal or somewhere else, and Paypal itself. So it was either PA is illegally carding people who put their CC info onto their site or my Debit Card info was somehow stolen IRL and charged to a fake hotel in Korea.

 

Yes it was done via their messaging system to pay direct with paypal.

This email is to inform you that your account has been identified for violation of PlayerAuctions policy for the first time. For any pending orders, PlayerAuctions will process the necessary refunds within 3 working days.

To reactivate your account, please acknowledge your understanding and acceptance of our policy by replying this email.

Please be advised that future violations of our policy can result in a permanent ban from PlayerAuctions.

The PlayerAuctions Trust & Safety Team
www.PlayerAuctions.com

PlayerAuctions sent this email to you because you are registered user on PlayerAuctions. This is a one time communication.
There is no need to unsubscribe.

Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.

Learn More to protect yourself from Spoof (fake) e-mails.




and the next email was



PlayerAuctions takes very seriously the safety of our marketplace. While it is a rare occurrence, it has been reported on occasion where honest people are harmed by the fraudulent actions/intentions of dishonest people. Trades conducted and completed within the PlayerAuctions platform ensures that the order has gone through PlayerGuardian’s verification checks and cleared appropriate protocols. Trades conducted off site will not receive support from PlayerAuctions either in mediation or recompense as we are not responsible for the actions of individuals taken outside of our trading platform.

We have enacted a policy for members currently to demonstrate a tough stance against soliciting offsite trade. Even if intentions are pure, things can still go wrong, and therefore these proactive steps are being taken to ensure the safety of our honest members. If a seller is caught soliciting traffic from PlayerAuctions to complete trades offsite, their account will be suspended and a fine will be levied to the account. The specifics for this policy are found below. If a buyer, or seller tries to lure you to engage in offsite trading activities, immediately report this to our Customer Service personell. You may after all, save yourself and others from being unnecessarily affected by fraudulent activity.



Offsite Trading Behavior Caught


Penalty Details

1st Time


A fine$150 will be incurred.

Your PlayerAuctions account will be suspended for 3 days.

Your deposit requirement will be $300. Your account will not be reactivated until the balanced is fulfilled.

2nd Time


For second time offenses, the fine will be doubled to$300.

Your PlayerAuctions account will be suspended for 6 days.

Your deposit requirement will be doubled again to $600. Your account will not be reactivated until the balanced is fulfilled.

3rd Time


For third infractions, your deposit will be revoked and your account permanently banned.

 

Fuck you are so gay Playerauctions. You greedy whores.

 

dam so much greed, don't pay them anything

 

Wow.. I wouldn't think they'd have the rights to fine someone like that. But I do understand their concerns with people pming others about paying with direct Paypal..

I would like to say don't pay them, just because that is truly being greedy on their behalf. But you really don't know how far they're willing to do. Last thing you need is a bad credit rating and debt collectors at your front door.

 

They cannot force someone to pay this "fine". It is basically a request with punishments if you don't, worst case scenario banishment from their site.

 

thank god i don't use playerauctions anymore, that is just ridiculous for fine people 'offsite trading' what about the others lol 99% sellers on PA could have a: goldselling website, taking paypal,mb and other many payment methods. and the 5% garuntee fee people who are on the top, they have their own goldwebsite. this is just stupid logic lol. makes no sence to me, it's really unfair.

their 10% + 0.99$ + addtional 2% paypal fee are stupid enough, they should be atleast happy and apriciate the people who take that offer and try to sell their gold. way to go playerauctions -.-

 

So basically I can just ignore the fine if I don't want my PA account back and they can't do anything else?

 

Don't pay them anything. The deposit is a ripoff also.

 

You only have to pay them if you want to use their site again, it is only to reinstate your account. They won't charge you even if you have a card on file, you need to send money yourself to their account if you would like to use PA again.

 

Exactly, I don't think they can charge you that directly, it is probably just what you have to pay if you want to keep using their service.

 

Yeah this happend to me aha. If your not a large gold reseller it's probably not worth it to pay the fine IMO. $150.00 is so stupid for something they don't even state in there TOS.

 

Most definitely do not pay them the money the say you owe them. You're not bound to, and it really is just them being greedy.

 

PlayerAuctions has fined me 2 times also. There is nothing on their ToS that I have seen which justifies this action. They're a very crooked company. They also force PowerSellers to pay them a $300 deposit, and even tried to collect the deposit twice from me. I have never heard of anyone ever recovering this deposit.

 

RsProd recently managed to recover his initial deposit from PA by simply contacting livechat.

 

Hey guys,

Just want to weigh in here. First off, yes, that warning letter is legit and DID come from PlayerAuctions. HOWEVER, we are currently in the process of reviewing ALLLLL of our policies.

First off, PlayerAuctions is under new management... as of... last week pretty much. Quite a few of you may already know me, or may have heard of me (Jacob) as I've been with the company for a lonnng time.

First off all, I agree that the fee is exorbitant. And actually, it should only be levied against certain types of sellers. Unfortunately however when this policy went into affect, it did not distinguish different types of seller classes (or buyers for that matter) and is therefore levied against everyone at this time. OP, just reach out to me directly, and I will look into how bad the infraction might have been ;-)

Some PlayerAuctions History
So basically, yes its true. We do not allow off-site trading. But really, we (I) don't care if people conduct digital trades off of PA. It is really up to the individual if they want to assume the risk of not having the protection of PA throughout the process.

HOWEVER... we DO care if people come to PA and try to lure legitimate buyers/sellers who are already planning on trading within our architecture to do it off-site. Not because we are greedy money grubbers (we only make 10% mind you), but because our whole platform and systems are built upon policies and rules which aim to protect. Therefore if someone comes to PA originally, and is lured off the site and something wrong ends up happening, we ultimately have to either get involved, or it is a smear to our community in general. It is also very expensive having to put resources into trying to help folks who get scammed offsite. That's point number 1.

Point number 2: there are some very cunning individuals who (generally speaking) when trying to get you to trade off of PA, THAT is where they will trap you. Time and time again, something as innocent as exchanging skype, means that they will get some smidgin of personal information from you, and turn it against you. We want to prevent social engineering from happening to our honest users.

Third, the off-site trade "fines" are really only intended for high volume sellers, and this is meant to keep them "straight" so to speak. Some of our sellers make a GOOD amount of money on PA just playing games for a hobby. But once you know the system inside and out, there can sometimes be the temptation to get a sale or two done off PA witht he guise that you'll get a 10% discount because the PA fee isn't involved anymore. But what some of you may not be aware of, is that some of these high volume sellers have a lot of employees working for them. And an offsite trade, might mean a direct PayPal payment for inventory that an individual employee might have control over but doesn't have the right to sell independently. We also want to make sure that our highest volume sellers maintain the quality of service that they provide.

Things are going to be changing at PlayerAuctions in the coming months. Pretty big changes, and I would love to be able to engage the Sythe Community on how we can become a more "customer focused" business. For too long we have been merely a "tech" platform, but we want to really start engaging our users.

You guys/girls are welcome to connect with me here (be sure to let me know you're from Sythe. I don't add people, I do not know): http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=47621714&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

Cheers,
Jacob

 

Please review the way you fine for "failing to deliver an order". Many times in the past I have been fined ridiculous amounts like $70 just because my buyer changed his mind and waited out the delivery guarantee, just to claim that I did not deliver on time, when really he was just playing the system to get out of having to pay his own fee. $70 for one order is ridiculous and is pretty much why I have stopped merchanting on PA. Put a fine cap on it or something.

 

Thank you for replying here, I would like to voice a couple concerns:

1) Some customers contact us first through our website, Skype, etc. and ask to buy gold. Sometimes specifically through PA. After several purchases on PA, they may start buying on our site. From my standpoint, if someone contacts me personally, that's fine. If they want to pay through PA, I tell them to do so, and if they want to pay through my website, I tell them to do so. However, I am quite sure that PA would see this differently and consider this to be "off-site trading".

2) Where are these fines you speak of mentioned in the ToS? Where are the amounts specified? Assuming that most of them are not mentioned, how can you justify charging people arbitrary amounts for things like "advertising", "off-site trading", etc.? Is this legal?

3) How does PlayerAuctions incorporate sellers' countries' sales-tax laws into its platform? With platforms like the Blizzard RMAH, buyers are subject to sales-tax when purchasing items from people in applicable geographic locations. Does PA have anything similar?