Partial refund was paid to seller twice (system errors)

[fanki1983]

Hi, I offered a partial refund offer to my buyer for $100 parial refund as she is not happy that I did not mention the item I was selling has a dirt mark on it.  The opened case was closed on 20/09 as I made my payment via Paypal.  Three days later on 23/09, seller lodged another case against me saying she has not received the refund and is still currently opened.

I have checked my Paypal and my bank transcation history - my $100 refund was taken by Paypal TWICE and got sent to buyer accound on 20/09.  So the reason behind the buyer send another opened request to ask for more refund is unknown. 

I rang up Paypal yesterday first I was told I need to get to eBay first as they are unwilling to reverse the overpaid refund.   Then I rang eBay billings team, the lady on the phone said she is happy to write email and ask Paypal to reverse the charge as she can see that the system took my refund twice however she needs buyer to confirm $100 is what we agreed on.

I rang to another eBay customer service staff on phone today and got information that is completely opposite to what I previously got told.  She said she can 'see' from my ebay inbox messages history that I include $100 in text when offering the parital refund option. I have to ask Paypal to do reverse charge. (then I was like but is Paypal ask me to contact eBay first!!) She was like "no no Paypal should able to see your partial refund amount is $100)..   Its like they just passing this responsbillity like a ball between themselves and nobody would like to take any action.

Long story short, the person on the phone today sent a message to buyer stating "refund is paid twice incorrectly, please repay back to seller within 72 hours".  I also wrote buyer a message explaining this.  

So now I still have a open case against me about refund not paid as well as I overpaid the refund for extra $100.

[*tippy*toes*]

I would let the buyer know that you have reported her to the fraud police and give her the case number as proof. I would point out that it could quite easily give her a criminal record. It might scare her enough to cough up the cash. 

The really sad thing is, you'll get the money back eventually, but PayPal will pay it out of their pocket. The buyer has got away with this and she probably knows it. That's why I'd tell her about the crime report. Might make her have a few sleepless nights. Especially if you point out some implications of having a criminal record.

[fanki1983]

yes I sent the buyer a messange about that, who knows she probably choose not to repond.

I have yet heard back what's going on with the ombudsman.. 

[fanki1983]

okay I received a message from buyer as soon as I told her about the police report and ombudsman.. all this time heard nothing back to her.. 

She said to me i went too far, never communicate with her all this time, and shes a lawyer and said i made a "threat" to her. She also said trying to resolve with Paypal 

So I message back telling her that I sent her messages when this happend and I told her I am resolving this via Paypal and eBay with no success, and within my message I told her I will escalte with Paypal.  Paypal also sent her a "courtesy" email to ask for $100 sent back to me.   I have no received any messages from the buyer about what she's trying to do.  Its nice that she acted "two weeks ago" as she said, however its a pity that i was not informed.

Paypal on the phone said that as $100 was sent to her as transcation from me, it cannot be reversed  So she either needs to make a new "send money" request, or I send her an inovice requesting the $100.  So I send her a messge about this.

Now she said thanks to me "actions",  her account is frozen/locked and cannot send nor receive any money,  (**bleep**??). I am now puzzled?? I never complained about her, I am very surprised that Paypal locked her account.

thats what she said "Irrespective of your arguments and facts, I've been locked out of my PayPal account and can't return your money.

In conversations with pay pal, your request meant the money went into a hold it neither entered my account or left.

Your actions have caused my account to be locked, PayPal can't help me as I can't resolve the issue with them because I stopped the money entering my account so I could reverse it to you. The money should have been received by you some time ago. Now I can't do anything."

Its getting nowhere.

[clarry100]

Send her your bank account details and ask her to make an electronic deposit into your account.

[tazzieterror]

Sending the buyer bank details is the last thing OP should do. This situation doesn't need yet another transaction to worry about.

Buyer sounds like she's talking BS. Don't fall for her bluff. If her account is frozen, she'll have to sort it out with PayPal. It's pretty easy to refund a payment - I don't buy her story.

Lawyer? Yeah, right.

[digital*ghost]

---

@fanki1983 wrote:

Your actions have caused my account to be locked, PayPal can't help me as I can't resolve the issue with them because I stopped the money entering my account so I could reverse it to you. The money should have been received by you some time ago. Now I can't do anything."

---

My first reaction was ROFL, serves her right.... but my second reaction is a little bit more sensible (especially as I can understand how frustrating this situation would be for you). It's funny how fast MIA buyers will suddenly appear when you mention law enforcement, or similar, and even funnier how many people in Australia turn out to be lawyers, police officers, or (this one was my personal favourite), a justice of the peace so they 'wouldn't lie' (said buyer's name was nowhere to be found in the publically accessible records for current JPs in their state, not surprisingly.  ) 

I think your buyer is a little bit confused, though. Doesn't she mean her own actions have inconvenienced her? If she didn't reopen the case, or had communicated with you in the first place, or simply returned the ill-gotten refund, none of this would be happening. It's not your fault her actions, then apparent inaction, resulted in PayPal freezing her account (if that's even true).

At this point in time I wouldn't care what her excuses are, nor what her occupation is - lawyer or not. She owes $100, and I would pursue that unflinchingly.

[fanki1983]

yes she offer direct debit to me but I denied the offer, as it all arises from Paypal I would like that to be sent back via PayPal. After I denied her offer, she immediately said her account is not working anymore.

I rang Paypal the resolution person on the phone was like "well shouldn't be frozen like that...." If she wants to make a transaction it should still literally possible to do it if she is willing to consult with them directly.  

Maybe she closed off her account for good who knows..

to be honest I dont even care if she creates a new Paypal and send me the missing money... 

[lyndal1838]

Why did you not accept her offer of bank deposit?   It is as safe as you can get and the whole mess could have been over and done with.

You are just causing yourself more angst than necessary.

[tazzieterror]

The seller has already shown themselves to be less than honest...sending bank account information to them, regardless of how safe you consider it, doesn't seem the most prudent course of action.

[fanki1983]

another great twist to this incident,  I am trying to check my credit card transcation and found out another $100 was taken from my credit card by Paypal on 26/09.  (Note: My Paypal is linked to my savings and credit card as back up payment options)

So that means $300 was refunded to the buyer all this time (2 lots $100 from my savings on 20/09, 1 x from my credit card 26/09).

i ask paypal why my credit card was charged again, they said when buyer has re-opened the case, ebay put me into negative balance on paypal and they charge me via my credit card. (without checking or acknowledging the fact that my savings already gave the buyer the $100 twice).

WOW.  Paypal said if I want to dispute that ask eBay first, I rang eBay they have no idea why I got put -$100 Paypal balance as its not showing on their own Ebay system I have to get back to Paypal.

As the buyer is quiet about the "actual" amount she received on her end, and she offered me her new Paypal account, therefore I send her an invoice of $200 and see what her repsonses are.

This whole experiences is bizzare, eBay and Paypal clearly have no idea what they are doing and why they are doing the charges, they only tell customer to ring back and forth to find out why and still nothing can be done.  i am done with eBay,