Paypal withheld a payment after it was posted

[megs_12]

Just wanted to know if anyone has had a similar experience:

I sold 2 x dvds on 8 June for $5.90 + $5.95 to the same buyer, packaged them up and posted them that day as a large letter as I do usually, therefore no tracking. 

A few days later I got an email from paypal saying the amounts had been placed on a 'temporary hold' and I needed to confirm the tracking numbers and address I sent the items to - I obviously cannot provide this because I used a large letter. 

I then get an email from the buyer a few days later saying they were really sorry that there ex had used their bank account to make unauthorised purchases or something or rather so paypal had taken all this action - it wasn't too clear. They said they would post back the items or could pay bank deposit or otherwise the money should come back to me in a few days once the paypal issue was sorted out. I figured the buyer seemed nice enough and I'd just wait around for paypal to give me the money back. 

The buyer left positive feedback and acknowledged they received the items

Then the paypal dispute got resolved in the buyers favour and the amounts were permanently taken from my account!!! 

I called paypal and was like 'uhh are you serious - how is this fair etc' and then they said unless you can provide proof of delivery the dispute wouldn't be resolved in my favour - but they would refer my complaint to the disputes team. 

Another few days later I receive an email from ebay saying they were a suspicious buyer and the transactions had been cancelled and any fees refunded to me. 

Now I know it isn't a big amount ($12 odd dollars), but I really don't understand how they can just take the money from my account ?

Has anyone had this happen to them and been able to do something about it?? 

I have the buyers email address so I'm going to send them an email and hope they are kind enough to do a bank deposit. 

[phorum_junkie*]

Unfortunately you chose not to be covered by seller protection so all you can do is hope that the item arrives back or the buyer will make the payment, I would send them your bank details and ask them to pay again.

Without being able to prove that you have sent anything to anybody there is nothing else you can do I am afraid.

[clarry100]

We kind of had a similar experience early this year with a chargeback.

We lost the case for the same reason as we use large letter for our items, otherwise the cost of post would make our stuff unsaleable.

So we contacted the buyer about it and they agreed to repay the money including the $15 chargeback fee, so we passed them our account details.

And to our surprise they did indeed deposit the money. So in the end we were not out of pocket and the buyer had received their item. To this day we were never made aware of why the chargeback happened as the buyer declined to provide that info.

So try the buyer and see if their honesty prevails.