Just copped my first Bank Chargeback grrrrrrrr

[justkidzbiz]

Just received an email from PayPal advising a buyer who purchased an item 2 months ago has filed a Chargeback with her bank for "unauthorised transaction"

So I called PayPal, the tracking number shows nothing when they entered it in Aus Post tracking.  Heart thumping.....fear I'm going to lose $60 (not a huge amount for some, but big enough for me.)

Did some checking, found the buyer's glowing feedback she left for me, confirming receipt of the item. Opened the transaction record, clicked on eBay tracking and there it is, in black and white, lodged 14/5 delivered with safe drop 18/5, including buyer's address which is the same as her Paypal address. Screenshots can be a wonderful thing sometimes! I've uploaded all this info in the PayPal resolution. 

Hopefully this will go in my favour.

I think from now own I will also keep copies of the actual postage labels.

when I spoke to PayPal, she said its odd that feedback was left by the buyer if it was an unauthorised transaction! So hopefully that info will help the case in my favour.

[clarry100]

Nice! Hopefully it comes to a good end. Sounds like it will.
We've only ever had a couple of these. Both on letters without tracking so we were always going to lose.
In one case the buyer had no idea it had happened or why. They deposited the money into our bank account.
In the other case the buyer never responded but on a call to PayPal they closed the case "no fault" which meant the buyer still got their money back but PayPal covered the loss instead of us, due to our good trading history. It was under $10 tho.
So good outcomes for us on both occasions.

[justkidzbiz]

The buyer has been fantastic In trying to resolve this. She has contacted PayPal and told them she has in fact received the item. Contacted her bank and discovered that a few weeks after the transaction the credit card was stolen and the bank actually took the action without her knowing. She did offer offer to pay prior to finding out what had happened. She has asked the bank to cancel the claim which is great.

The downside is PayPal have said I have to wait up to 80 days (I thought it was 60 but email now says 80). So at least I will eventually get the money.

[shoppingbag*]

Glad to hear it should all come out right in the end.  It must have been very stressful for you and should not happen.  Someone should have informed you along the way as to the circumstances that brought this about.

[shoppingbag*]

Just curious, normally you cannot contact a buyer when 90 days have passed since the transaction.  SO could you let us know how this was possible. I am just wondering if the channel was re-opened because of the dispute??

[kopenhagen5]

Transaction date 12th May, so less then 90 days.

Even if more than 90 days simply select the ID name and contact member.

[rocket2retro]

Glad it sounds like you are going to have a good outcome.

What I don't like about the whole scenario is that the bank can tske this action (against an honest seller) without even notifying the cardholder or verifying any details. Had the bank asked the cardholder what was this payment for etc., they could have found out it was a legitimate transaction. Meanwhile we sellers are footing the bill!

[justkidzbiz]

You're right Rocket. If, the bank actually did initiate the Chargeback. I'm not so sure now. I rang Westpac (buyer said it was a Westpac CC) as well as looking at the Chargeback procedures online and it states that the BUYER initiates the Chargeback, receives email from the bank confirming the Chargeback, yet this buyer said she had no idea that the bank did a Chargeback, 

She also said told the bank to cancel the CB which should only take a few days, yet told me I have to wait 60 days. The 60 days only comes into it if the CB is still in place. 

Im starting to think I've been told a few porkies, since being caught out. I've emailed the buyer all the evidence so I'm a little stumped by all this at the moment.

Paypal said they have forwarded all my proof of delivery, emails from the buyer, which should be enough evidence to prove the Chargeback is not correct. Can't see with all this evidence why I still have to wait 80 days (according to PayPal.)

[digital*ghost]

---

@justkidzbiz wrote:

Im starting to think I've been told a few porkies, since being caught out.

---

It's very common for buyers to say they didn't initiate a chargeback, and had no idea one had been initiated. It might actually be true, in some cases, but not necessarily because the bank just decided to grab some money back one day, but because the buyer actually used someone else's card to pay so they themselves wouldn't be able to initiate a chargeback, but the cardholder would (unbeknownst to the actual buyer). It happens a lot when family members purchase things, the cardholder doesn't recognise the charge, and just decides to dispute it. 

If the buyer is the cardholder, I have very serious doubts that chargebacks are ever initiated without their knowledge, and even if there are circumstances where that happens, I can't fathom any logical reason why the cardholder advising the bank that it is an authorised purchase doesn't void the process - the banks wouldn't just be like "whelp, I pressed enter on the keyboard; too late now!".

It's also a common belief (I believed it myself at one stage) that a bank will open a string of chargebacks on a credit card if the cardholder defaults on the debt - I no longer believe this to be a common practice, if it even ever happens at all. 

I had a spate of chargebacks in just a few short weeks last year, one buyer never replied to my message, the rest - 3 of them - all claimed it was an error that they had nothing to do with. Of those 3, only one actually got the chargeback stopped (admittedly my message to them was particularly blunt, because it was then the fifth in a row from 4 different buyers, I pulled no punches when I contacted them and outlined the consequences of CC fraud, the case was resolved the next day after they took steps to shut it down. It took about 2 - 3 weeks to resolve the other cases - two wins and two losses).

One of those buyers was a regular, they opened chargebacks on two different transactions, going back several months (but a few months apart). They had some BS excuse for it, can't remember it offhand now, but spent most of their reply confirming they'd received the orders and really liked the stuff.  I qualified for seller protection on those chargebacks, but the bank did approve them and the buyer got their money back - they didn't message me again until this year, wanting to know why they couldn't buy from me anymore. I explained exactly why, then they messaged again 2 weeks later and asked the same question. I was less diplomatic with that reply.