[chinook9]

Monday evening I went to the Gearbest site, ordered a pair of headphones and paid with PayPal.  Everything seemed to go fine,
 
Went to the Gearbest site yesterday to check on progress of the order and the order was indicated as awaiting payment.
 
Surprised at the "Awaiting Payment" I went into my PayPal account and checked to see if the account showed a payment to Gearbest.  It did not.
 
I went back to the Gearbest account, clicked on the "Pay with PayPal" link and again paid. Everything again appeared to go smoothly.
 
Today the Gearbest account still shows "Awaiting payment." and there is no sign of the payment in the PayPal account.
 
 
Does anyone have any similar experience, or can explain whats going on?

 

[Mython]

I suggest contacting Paypal *IMMEDIATELY*, just to cover yourself, in case Gearbest receive 2 payments for you, and then that'll be a PITA to get a refund.
 
 
Let us know how things turn out

 

[chinook9]

I made a call to PayPal.
 
While I was on the phone with them, I received an e-mail that appeared to be from PayPal. The Subject was ""my name" why your PayPal transaction was declined."  The message was that I did not have a bank account linked to PayPal or needed to raise my limit. 
 
The PayPal representative said this was a bogus e-mail and was not from PayPal.  She went on to say that the payment was probably declined because PayPal has problems with the vendor.
 
I have decided to forget buying the headphones from Gearbest and just pay a few more bucks to get them in the U.S.

 

[Mython]

Yeah, it seemed dodgy to me, so I'm glad you've got to the bottom of it, directly with (real!) Paypal.

 

[mark2410]

thats weird, ive never had any probs ordering from them and its paypal ive paid with too.  to me it sounds like paypal rep you spoke to was not maybe telling you the truth.  do you have your pp account verifed, whatever it is ther do where they confirm your address n stuff?

 

[chinook9]

I was not sure that the PayPal rep was 100% accurate but it was weird enough that I ordered the headphones locally for a few more bucks.
 
I have been verified in PayPal for eons and have been active with them in the last couple of weeks. Never any problems like this.
 
I know of others who have ordered the exact same headphones with success so I thought I'd try it, but Gearbest probably has the worst feedback of any internet vendor I have ever ordered from.  What's also a bit weird is that one of the two major internet vendor rating sites the ratings are not so bad and on they other one they're pretty bad. 

 

[Mython]

So, on balance, probably best to choose less stress and take your business somewhere more reliable.

 

[mark2410]

well i suppose that is not an unreasonable view to take but certainly of all the random chinese sell everything stores, they are the one that to my knowledge has show most direct interest in the audio, not to mention, headphone market.  ive worked with them for a while with items ive reviewed and they are a sponsor here too.  therefor i might suggest that any over all negatively is a symptom of them being very much more visible and prominent in the audio area? 

 

[Currawong]

Be sure to disable plug-ins on both vendor and Paypal sites, as that could possibly cause issues, such as disabling whatever scripts are used to send information between the sites.

 

[Mython]

  Be sure to disable plug-ins on both vendor and Paypal sites, as that could possibly cause issues, such as disabling whatever scripts are used to send information between the sites.

 
That is a good point, actually - I've had that issue with No-Script and Sagepay, in the past.
 
 
My remarks about erring on the side of caution, if there is uncertainty, with Gearbest, were mostly on account of chinook9 relating that Paypal had said that the e-mail received was bogus.
 
I've nothing personally against Gearbest.
 
I would say the same about any company, to any head-fier - if you're unsure, and something doesn't seem right, then, on-balance, it's generally sensible to err on the side of caution and walk away.