I've been having a consistent problem with PayPal/eBay since the 27th of May. A man purchased a watch from me, opened the case for a refund, decided he didn't want the refund anymore so closed the case. During this time PayPal held my funds in preparation for the mans refund, however, upon closure of the refund case they should have released the funds again. PayPal insist that the case is still open yet eBay irrefutably deny this, saying it is 100% closed. I spent 8 hours on the phone between the both companies, written 5 letters, twenty emails and spoken to 10 representatives, 3 supervisors and 2 managers in total. I've also had 3 conference calls between two representatives/managers from each company bartering over my situation. The situation remains the same: eBay insist that the case is closed and therefore the funds should be released on PayPal, however, PayPal insist that they haven't received a 'closed' status and still see the case as open on their screens, therefore cannot release the funds until this glitch is solved. Both parties have admitted to some system error or glitch specifically on my account. Even although eBay have forward this dilemma to the technical team, re-opening and closing the case did not work nor did deleting it. They have been rather consistent with their updates and such, trying their best to solve any technical fault on their side whilst insisting that PayPal can indeed release the funds manually and that they are trying to work with them to achieve this. It's illegal to withhold money entitled to a person and that is exactly what is happening. I could contact a small claims court, but I have no idea on how that'd work given that I am situated in Australia. I also have no idea on how I can effectively pass my letter onto higher management, I can only send this via 'contact us' forms and such where the average representative will reply with the same liners and rhetoric. It never gets passed above to people who could actually change my situation. In the end even if I do get my money back, I will receive no compensation for everything I've had to go through and I will have to continue paying seller fees despite this poor treatment. What can be done about this? TL;DR: Sold an item on eBay. Customer opened a case as he wanted a refund, then decided he didn't want one anymore so closed the case. Money is still held on PayPal as they say eBay haven't closed the case. However eBay state the case is closed and PayPal should be able to release funds. Both have acknowledged system glitch and I cannot get my money back until this has been resolved. It has now been a month and a half, nothing is being done.
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