Chargeback Case Opened

[clarry100]

Hi all,

We have just received a notice from PayPal that a chargeback case has been opened against our account.

The reason as stated is "unauthorised use".

The amount is only $5.50 so not a total killer. But it's the principle here.

And they will charge us a $15 fee for the privelege. How utterly rude.

They have asked us to provide any evidence we have to help them fight this case.

We use regular large letter so we don't have tracking informatioin.

In any case its not about if/not we mailed out the item (which of course we did), nor is it about item not as described.

We have done all the right things in good faith and now it looks like we just loose the money.

Blatant rip-off by PayPal and the banks IMHO.

Might be time for FIO report methinks.

Anyone got any ideas on how to fight these things?

[phorum_junkie*]

I have always found Paypal very reasoable, even if it has taken a bit of effort on my part. Although you are no longer out of pocket I would email the buyer giving them your bank details and telling them that unless they make a payment for the item they have received which has been the subject of a chargeback or they return the item to you in unused condition you will be reporting them to the polce for otaiing goods by deception.

Of course without any proof of posting it is an emoty threat but it may scare them enough to not do the same thing again.

[thecatspjs]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

I have always found Paypal very reasoable, even if it has taken a bit of effort on my part. Although you are no longer out of pocket I would email the buyer giving them your bank details and telling them that unless they make a payment for the item they have received which has been the subject of a chargeback or they return the item to you in unused condition you will be reporting them to the polce for otaiing goods by deception.

Of course without any proof of posting it is an emoty threat but it may scare them enough to not do the same thing again.

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Very poor advice indeed. 

There is no indication that the buyer even knows that a chargeback has occurred.There are many reasons that a bank will initiate chargebacks not all of them related to fraudulent transactions.

The seller has received compensation for the sale, to extort further funds is unacceptable in most decent sellers books.

[davewil1964]

I doubt it.

The usual reason for a chargeback is that the buyer exceeded their credit limit and the bank is cancelling transactions to bring the CC back to the agreed limit.

Clary well knows he has no recourse, as posting without tracking means he has no Paypal seller protection, and this is a business model he has consciously adopted. AND full well knows the consequences of. The best thing is to not dispute the chargeback, which I believe means he won't have to wear the $15, as that is supposed to be the fee for an unsuccessful disputation of the chargeback.

I could be wrong, but it is unlikely in this instance.

[clarry100]

You are correct Dave.

The PayPal operator told me that since I have accepted liability that there will be no $15 fee becasue Paypal do not have to fight it now on my behalf. And I would have lost anyway becuase I could not provide proof of postage as required.

I have already been compensated my $5.50 by a discretionary payment from Paypal. So I am happy now we are not out of pocket.

I did initially message the buyer asking if/not they knew about this and for an explanation but have still heard nothing back.

So since we are not out of pocket now my intention is to leave it all alone now, and just add this buyer to our BBL.

[clarry100]

Wonders will never cease.

We got a reply from the buyer about this chargeback today.

She was very apologetic and said she had no idea that it had even happened and had not reversed any payments on her card.

She was happy and had received her item, although she had not left us any feedback.

She also said that she had the same question from another seller.

I told her that we had been compensated by PayPal so we were not out of pocket.

She said she will be taking this up with her card provider/bank to find out what is going on.

How is is that the card holder could not be aware of a chargeback?

Can banks simply make a unilateral decision to strip cash from a bona-fide seller?

And call it unauthorised use?

Surely the card holder is the only one who can say if/not a payment made on their card is unauthorised or not?

Something smells dodgey here.

[thecatspjs]

clarry this possibility was noted in earlier posts in this thread, perhaps review those.

Terms and conditions of credit cards are available online, and if you go over the limit or not repay your credit debt (among other things) your bank can indeed seek to recover its funds.

The advice "unauthorised use" can mean many things including not authorised by bank to exceed credit limit, from what I can gather it is a fairly standard line from paypal in commincations re chargeback, no need for hysteria or outrage.

[honest.johns.phones]

I had a charge back at the beginning of last month, I immediately accepted liability and still wore a $15 fee. Can't win.

[clarry100]

Isn't it inconsistent.

On the phone the CSR said if I accept liability they will not charge the $15 fee becasue they dont have to fight it..

So far we have not seen it, but that's not to say they still won't do it.

We will see.

[clarry100]

Here's some further info on this one....

About a week ago PayPal sent us a message to say they would be reversing their original decision to compensate us for the $5.50 loss.

So back to being out of pocket again.

So I messaged the buyer once again after having told her that PayPal had given us our money back and we were not out of pocket.

She answered today asking me to send an invoice to her PayPal account for the $5.50 and she has paid it straight away.

So now we have the $5.50 back again.

Talk about tennis!!

Still none the wiser as to what actually happened but the buyer had told us one time that she never knew anything about the chargeback.

But.... satisfactory outcome in the end. And PayPal never charged us the $15 fee either.

[cq_tech]

Nice to know that Paypal can make a discretionary payment one day, then dishonour it the next! Seems to me that Paypal is being run by a group of poorly trained chimpanzees! 😞