Paypal issue re seller protection

[kyjati]

We had a strange thing happen a couple weeks ago with paypal, leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.  Had a buyer purchase a poster and pay through paypal, paypal showed that payment had come through.  OK then, no problem. So being a curteous seller and wanting to keep customers happy, posted item within 2 days.  So far, so good.  Then about 5 days after it had been posted, paypal sends a message saying that

"You have received a payment that we believe may not have been authorised by the PayPal account holder.".

So then paypal said we had to respond within 7 days to fill out there questions about said poster.  We stated that it had been posted, payment had been made via paypal and paypal had cleared the payment.

Result:  Paypal took the money for poster and postage out of our paypal account to refund the buyer, so then we were left without the poster, and a loss of $18.90.  So was very unhappy with this and asked paypal if they were going to repay us themselves as they were the ones to clear the payment, which is why we sent poster in the first place, and it took them 5 days after payment was received in order to find a discrepency with the buyers account. 

bottom line is that paypal took 5 days to realise a problem, and because of this, it has left us out of pocket.  We did everything right as a seller, basing our posting on the fact paypal gave the all clear for the payment.  Is there anything that we can do about this?  Where is my protection as a seller when paypal make a stuff up??

[dylan11235813]

What did paypal say when you asked for your money back?

You can put a complaint in here:

http://www.fos.org.au/centric/home_page.jsp

[kyjati]

We asked them through the system where they needed us to respond to them, eg by message through paypal.  They never got back to us.  We pretty much just decided to take it on the chin, but as time goes by I am getting more and more annoyed about it.  Not really the cost because it wasnt a lot of money, but it could have been, and we sell some expensive stuff.  What would we do if a Hundred dollar item had the same thing happen?  Just wondered if anyone knew if there was a way to recoup the funds through paypal, or how (if its at all possible) to protect ourselved from this ever happening again......

[dylan11235813]

If you put a complaint throught the financial obudsman service they will contact paypal and from what you have said there is a good chance that they will refund your money.

[kyjati]

Thanks, I think I might just do that.

[dylan11235813]

Maybe contact paypal first by phone and tell them that you are going to put a complaint in if they do not refund your money.

If enough people complain surely some major changes will happen.

[foxette-in-sox]

Kyjati,you really should have PHONED Paypal when the event 1st occured instead of stewing on it.

Whats happened is called a chargeback.This means the actual owner of the credit card used in Paypal has told their bank they have not authorised the payment.Paypal has no option then to retrieve the funds from you.

The credit card holder & the ebay member aren't necessarily one & the same person.

If you wish to covered in the event of any further chargebacks you MUST post every item using a method that qualifies for Paypal seller protection ie registered or click n send.

You can read up on Paypal chargebacks in their policy's.

Post 6 is borderline criminal & definitely extremely dishonest so I hope that ebay member self reports it before someone else does.

[davewil1964]

Do what I do:

I don't think so. I'll play by the rules, thanks. And if Paypal chase you for monies owing and you don't fork out, you'll get debt collectors set on you and have your credit rating trashed.

registered, very well packaged

And if they pay by bank deposit, presumably you just wrap it in an old bit of paper and chuck in the red box. And stiff bickies for the buyer if it doesn't arrive or arrives damaged?

[dylan11235813]

Kyjati,you really should have PHONED Paypal when the event 1st occured instead of stewing on it.

Whats happened is called a chargeback.This means the actual owner of the credit card used in Paypal has told their bank they have not authorised the payment.Paypal has no option then to retrieve the funds from you.

The credit card holder & the ebay member aren't necessarily one & the same person.

If you wish to covered in the event of any further chargebacks you MUST post every item using a method that qualifies for Paypal seller protection ie registered or click n send.

You can read up on Paypal chargebacks in their policy's.

Post 6 is borderline criminal & definitely extremely dishonest so I hope that ebay member self reports it before someone else does.

Maybe I am missing something but there is no mention that I can see in the OP of a chargeback or complaint about INR

[foxette-in-sox]

Dylan,you must have missed the following in the OP-I read that as chargeback.The ONLY other option I can think of would be that somehow buyer hacked into someone's Paypal account however,my advice would still be the same.:-)

"You have received a payment that we believe may not have been authorised by the PayPal account holder