Paying Ray Wu

[bwhite505]

I have been trying to pay for an order I placed with Ray for 2 days now.  Since AliExpress has ended their relationship with Paypal I was trying to use a MasterCard.  I keep getting an error message that my card cannot be verified.  They said to call the issuing bank which I did they say it is a problem on Aliexpress processing.  I emailed Ray about the problem.  He wants me to pay him directly with his PayPal account.  I am not so sure about paying with PayPal outside of Aliexpress.  Anyone else have issues paying him or paying him directly through PayPal?  Not sure what to do at this point.

Brian

[mokeefe]

Yes, I had the exact same issue trying to pay with my Visa.  Got the same error message.  Then I used my bank debit card (which goes through like a Visa card) and that was accepted.  The next day, however, I got notified of a hold on my card due to suspicious activity.  I had to call them to verify that it was a valid purchase.  Apparently large sums of money sent to a foreign country raise red flags at the banks (as it should).

One other down side to this new process was that my bank whacked me with a surprise "foreign transaction" fee, which wasn't a small amount due to the size of my order.  I presume this didn't happen with PayPal.

Like you, I wasn't completely comfortable paying Ray directly and not having the protection of the AliExpress escrow.

Can't wait for RJ to establish that relationship with a US dealer for Smart Strings for any future purchases so that this process is a lot easier.

-Mike

[rrowan]

Does anybody know what AliExpress is no longer accepting paypal?
Its not a positive move for us

Thanks

Rick R.

[mokeefe]

I couldn't find anything on their site other than them saying they have ended their relationship with PayPal.  They did encourage buyers NOT to pay merchants directly for the reasons mentioned above (and probably for their own business purposes).

-Mike

[hbomb341]

Here is some info on this ...

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Harrison

[Donny M. Carter]

I would assume that it's still safe to deal with Ray through his PayPal. Maybe a deposit type of payment to Ray until products are received.

Donny


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[blaha]

I ran into this issue today. When I tried to make payment on my MasterCard it was denied immediately. Had to call Chase to push the payment through while I had them on the phone.

I tried my debit card as well, and it was denied, then my card was put on hold. It was a mess.

Also looking forward to the US merchant as the process now seems broken. I hope I don't get hit with the foreign transaction fee.

[cBell]

Same problem here this morning.  I was a bit surprised when I saw they no longer accepted PayPal, but found the same article hbomb341 posted.

I hope I don't get hit with the foreign transaction fee.

I didn't even think about the foreign transaction fee... Pretty sure it will apply

[hbomb341]

I personally have sent Ray money just straight on PayPal with no issue but I do see where that scares people.  This is where I CoOp or a US company could be the middle man - I wouldn't mind doing it ether.  Also would be nice to do a BIG prebuy next year and have it available for pickup at The Academy.  Just my 2 cents.

Harrison

[loveroflife96]

I've also sent money directly to Ray without any issues, but each person must assess their risk in doing this.  To my knowledge, he has backed up every issue he has had with good customer service, but again, each person must assess their risk on this.

[bwhite505]

I went ahead and sent it with PayPal.  I am sure all will be well.

Brian

[mokeefe]

I wouldn't have issues with sending smaller amounts of money directly to Ray, but my initial order was fairly large and I wanted some protection.  Ray has proven to be honorable in his dealings with DLA members, but one never knows the state of his business or its stability. Just my two cents.

-Mike

[meman]

Paypal protecting their turf (EBay) since we have all (the US collectively) been buying more directly from China via Ali-Express.
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[Zeph]

Ray is making an AliExpress item for invoicing my order.

I gather that I'll probably need to contact my credit card company to get payment to go through to AliExpress, right?

How much does the Foreign Transaction Fee tend to run?

Do I understand that paying Ray directly via PayPal avoids that fee?  (And loses the protection of Ali Express)

[zwiller]

I've had no issues or fees with paypal for 3 decent sized transactions and yes you lose the Ali escrow protection but you do have 45 days to renege with paypal IIRC.  Bottom line is Ray hasn't burned anyone yet... 

I suggest checking that the stuff you want is in stock if you need it this season.