Ripped off by buyer

[pandoras_prints]

I'm wondering if any sellers can advise me on what I should do here.

I recently sold an item it was paid for by the buyer using Paypal, the item was shipped (without tracking). The buyer has now claimed fraudulant account activity on her Paypal account (re: unauthorised access) and Paypal are asking me to refund her or provide tracking info.

I phoned the buyer this morning and she hung up on me after I said who I was and what its concerning.

I am very well aware that this person has indeed received the item purchased and is claiming unauthorised access through Paypal to keep the item and get the refund.

She is new to eBAy with only 5 feedbacks and joing last month.

I am unable to even open an item dispute to claim unpaid item.

This is totally unexceptable, I can't even leave a neg feedback. I have contacted eBay no results there.

Does anyone have any advise for me? I've been a seller on eBAy for many years and I've never come across this before.

[foxette-in-sox]

Unfortuantely as you didn't use trackable postage,Paypal won't cover you.

JMO but a couple of things you CAN do although you won't necessarily get your money back.

Contact her other sellers.

If you've already left positive feedback,leave a follow up ie 'Is now claiming unauthorised use of Paypal account'

Send registered letter to her plus an email re you want immediate payment for the item or you will report to Online Fraud.

Report the buyer to Online Fraud if they refuse to repay you.

Is the dispute a chargeback from her bank or is it alleged hacking of her Paypal account ?

Perhaps you could ring Paypal as well.

Nothing else to suggest sorry.

[1mpuzzled]

I've had similar thing happen to me, ebay don't care because they have already been paid. The only other option is the legal path but because you had no tracking on the item there's little point. Cut your loses, block the buyer and move on.

Without tracking you cannot prove they did get the item. I would use Click and Send postage system in the future. It has tracking and it's a little bit cheaper than regular postage as well.

www.clickandsend.com.au has all the details.

[1sweetap6v8]

Hi thats not good at all, Ring PP and demand they have the item shipped back at once or no refund will be provided as per PP rules the buyer must send it back.

If you sent the item as per PP rules signiture when received, You should be covered buy PP.

It is really disturbing that people can be so dishonest, just isn`t right.

I would be ringing PP and demanding they do the right thing as you have followed there rules and should be covered for this.

You need to ring paypal not ebay and demand they have the item shipped back immediately before reinstating any funds. 

Also tell them that it is a fraudulant attempt at getting the item for free and that you do not intend refunding until your item has been returned. Also tell them that the woman will not engage in conversation about the matter.

Dailing that depending on the amount involved your only other options are the ombudsman or the police. Or you can send an email to the electronics crimes division to investigate it. I would also send an email to the buyer telling them that you are going to refer it to the police electronic crime squad as if she is being dishonest it may be enough to sway her mind to either send the item back or pay for it. Good luck and come tell us how u go.

[***super_nova***]

There is nothing that eBay or PP can do; they have no idea if you have sent the item, and you have no proof of sending it.  PP offers seller protection to sellers who satisfy certain criteria = send by online trackable option.  

Police or ombudsman will also be unable to help you. Whether the buyer received it or not is not really the point, the point is that the CC holder is claiming they did not authorised the payment, it may very well be that your buyer has received the item but as they used stolen CC to pay for it the money has been taken back.  Or if their account has been compromised ALL payments would have been taken back, and it is up to the CC holder to go through the statements and weed out which payments are unauthorised.  Just because the buyer hung up on you means nothing; if they use the CC for many purchases they may have many people calling them and abusing them, and they just do not want to deal with each upset seller over the phone.

[the-kazbar]

Foxys advice in post #1 is correct - the others, not so much.

C&S do not offer a large letter service. The only way to protect yourself with letters is registered post, but its too late for that now.

PP will not help you either as you don't have proof of posting.

If you want to try and chase it through then online fraud squad it pretty much your only option.

[chezzy]

I keep hearing paypal won't do this, ebay won't do that.

Personally I would be reporting this to whoever I could.

What about stat decs? Do they carry any weight??

This 'expectation' to roll over in defeat, get over it and move on is crazy.

[foxette-in-sox]

I keep hearing paypal won't do this, ebay won't do that.

Personally I would be reporting this to whoever I could.

What about stat decs? Do they carry any weight??

This 'expectation' to roll over in defeat, get over it and move on is crazy.

Can you please point out where that bit is in anyones post ? Thanking you in advance 🙂

[chezzy]

I should have said (if we want to be technical) is there 'seems' to be an expectation of defeat that comes through in these forum discussions - it wasn't specifically about this topic. If I had more time this morning I would be happy to go and fish a few examples out.

But I will ask my question again, actually I will word it a different way, can stat decs be used to assist ebayers in situation such as described in here?

[thesoulyearns]

There is nothing that eBay or PP can do; they have no idea if you have sent the item, and you have no proof of sending it.  PP offers seller protection to sellers who satisfy certain criteria = send by online trackable option.

That's really what it boils down to. It's explained on the PayPal website that they offer seller protection when you either ship via a trackable method or ship with a method that obtains a signature on delivery. For the most protection, I recommend the latter.

If any item is not worth the risk of losing the funds (and the item), you should automatically ship it with SOD. If possible, try to factor that in before you list the item so you're covered for the additional cost.