PayPal payment to a Chinese company - is it safe?

Hi I''m about to make my first payment to a Chinese company for some samples of their product.They have been verified by SaleHoo but what is the safe way to do it without annoying them-just a straight payment? I'm just not sure and don't have much experience with PayPal, luckily it's only 80 dollars but still want to be careful, any advice be great, Rich

If they accept PayPal, that's a good sign. PayPal has safety features that protects the interest of the buyer.

About payment methods, do not hold back in asking them for the most secure way you could send them your payment. As a customer you are within your right to request this. If they seemed annoyed with you for asking too many questions about secure payment methods then its time to walk away from the negotiation. They should be the one to do the wooing and guaranteeing that once payment has been sent and received they would ship you the products.

We do our best to make sure all companies we list here are true and reliable suppliers. But it wouldn't hurt you to triple check any company you want to do business with. :D

Hi fishy327,

Good on you for ordering a sample first!

It's a great way to make sure the product is exactly what you want, and check out a suppliers service, without risking big bucks.

I don't think any supplier will be annoyed to receive your payment :)

On their website, they will probably list which payment options they accept. PayPal and credit card are the best options, as its easy for both parties, and provides you with a level of protection if something goes wrong.

Which supplier are you using? (You can PM me if you like) I can take a look at their website if you get stuck.

Hi fishy,

As Alice said, smart move ordering in some samples, however I would suggest going one step further on top of that. It's easy for any company to send you a good quality sample when we are talking about one or two of each item only, but the big test of assurance is the level of quality based on a large load.

If you are happy with samples, then I suggest not jumping straight in with a large order, just kick it off small. Build up to a big number as you get comfortable with the quality level being maintained over several growing loads, and are satisfied with the level of customer support you are getting.

It's a really good way to build a safe and trustworthy business relationship with any supplier!

Good for you fishy327 :)

Just make sure that your PayPal account is linked to your credit card rather than your bank account. It offers added security on your part. Although there were plans of expanding PayPal's buyer protection program beyond eBay, I'm not sure if this has been finalized and carried out.

At least if ever anything goes wrong you can do a chargeback through your credit card company.

Do leave a review on the supplier's profile page. We would love to hear more about your experience especially when you receive your products. All the best!

Hi fishy327,

Most suppliers have a process already in place to purchase and pay for samples/orders from them, so I would look for their list of policies to find out what that process is. I don't recommend just going to PayPal and clicking on "Send Money" to pay for the samples. That's such a general payment method that the supplier may not be able to make the connection between your payment and your order on their website.

If all else fails, by all means, send them an email and ask them what you should do.

Regarding what Richelle mentioned, about doing a chargeback through your credit card company if you pay the supplier through PayPal and don't receive the samples -- I would only do this as a last resort, if every other possible method of recovering your payment fails.

PayPal frowns upon chargebacks, mostly because they undermine PayPal's own payment protection policies, and in many cases, if you do a chargeback through your credit card company instead of submitting a dispute through PayPal's website, PayPal will immediately and permanently close your account until and unless you repay the money.

And by the way, (attention Richelle!) PayPal DOES indeed protect off-eBay payments! If there's a dispute, the burden is on the seller/recipient to prove you received the goods you ordered.

Hi Erika,

Thanks for pointing out that PayPal does offer buyer protection off eBay :) That's a relief!

I didn't mean to make credit card chargebacks to be their first resort but rather a safety option they can take just in case things go bad.

My suggestion to link his account to his card instead of his bank account is based on a previous experience of one of our members, who had purchased products from a site(off eBay) that accepted PayPal payments. Unfortunately she did not receive the goods as described (she initially corresponded with the supplier to no avail) so she filed a dispute to get her money back but was turned down by PayPal.

Cheers!

Regarding off-eBay PayPal protection, I just want to clarify this a little further (sorry for hijacking your thread, fishy327!):

PayPal DO offer off-eBay protection for goods not received. For example, if you place an order with a wholesaler, and the items never show up, PayPal can ask the supplier for proof of delivery, and sort it out that way.

However, if you order from a wholesaler, and the items arrive, but are not "as described" PayPal cannot do a charge back.

PayPal simply cannot guarantee the quality of items from merchants and suppliers across the web.

However, because they can monitor who sells what on eBay (PayPal is owned by eBay), they can guarantee that items sold on eBay will be as described, or they will do a charge back.

Thank you for clarifying that Alice :)

That's exactly what happened to another member here on SaleHoo. She bought brand name items and when they arrived she found they were not authentic, so she filed a dispute with PayPal but they did not help her with it since the supplier and transaction was done outside of eBay. The linking your PayPal account to your credit card as opposed to your bank account was actually PayPal's suggestion. (especially for situations like these).

:)

I hope fishy327 can update us if he went through paying a Chinese supplier through Paypal. It would be a big help to learn if this is feasible, without problems. :)

I would never by wholesale products with Paypal ever and especially from Asia, except in only a few instances. Erika pretty much hit it straight on. Paypal is not a bank. Imagine buying an item with your credit card, filing a dispute for bad items or no delivery and then your credit card provider saying we are closing your credit card account because you filed a diispute.

The reason Payal will close your account is because they have ZERO control over the seller and any John can get an account on Paypal. So in essence the buyer is never protected by Paypal because Paypal can't collect from a scammer. This is regarding off eBay sales.

Since Paypal is not a bank they don't do the due diligence banks do on a seller.

I'm on a rant over Paypal lately. The truth of the matter is, it is a risk no matter what one does when buying wholesale online and especially from Asia. Do what Fudjj suggests and slowly build up trust with this company and type their name into the Google search and see if anything comes up negative.