Sellers - my experience and thoughts on fraudulent Chargebacks and returns

[rosebudcottageantiques]

In the past week I have had two fraudulent Chargebacks

I have been selling on eBay for 10 years and my first experience with this credit card fraud

A lady bought two items and received them a MONTH ago then last week I received a chargeback for both items from PayPal 

The lady was claiming it was an unauthorised transaction on her credit card . hOWEVER I send all my items signed for delivery and I obtained proof of delivery from aust post and her signature was on there !!

proof it was delivered and she then  loaded the chargeback as soon as she received the items . So ten days later after many calls to PayPal and threatening legal action  I received my money back 

She got my items and undertook credit card fraud .. Costing me time and money both these Chargebacks totalled 400.00

she replied to my ebay message and said she gets her bank to cancel ALL PayPal payments that use her credit card so she is going to offend again and again and must be stopped . She is virtually telling you she will get goods by stealing , and doing Chargebacks

The second was a week later  an international buyer did a buy it now . Five days later he paid i noticed he had virtually no feedback which concerned me i emailed him and said thankyou for the payment and i said it will be shipped in the morning

But luckily I couldn't get to the post office in time He waited obviously thinking I had shipped the item and then within hours lodged a chargeback This is fraud and a very obvious attempt to defraud me The buyer is in USA and I would have lost the item and the high shipping cost as well total cost app 250 

After much checking on google and YouTube this is happening to sellers in alarming numbers .

These Chargebacks are out of control 

I also think the seller should be able to see on PayPal whether the PayPal purchase was paid for by credit card or instant funds transfer 

When you receive notification of a PayPal payment PayPal could add a line that states whether it was the buyers own funds or credit card purchase 

Then the seller could then check and then contact the buyer to ensure it was an authorised purchase, this may avoid a lot of Chargebacks 

I found many websites showing you how to scam eBay sellers Either by fraudulent Chargebacks 

 If sellers were made aware that a PayPal payment was made by credit card they could delay shipping until verifying the purchase was genuine by the named buyer

not only is it time consuming to get the chargeback removed but you lose sales and your goods in some cases

I think paypal should make all credit card purchases the same hold time as an echeck 

But there are thousands of people scamming sellers when you search the Internet and I think sellers need more protection 

Also this would save eBay and PayPal so much more time to be more productive if credit cards payments had a hold placed on them like an echeck 

this would allow the seller to be be more cautious before shipping and losing their money and wasting time with fraudulent Chargebacks 

If PayPal treated credit card payments as non cleared funds the word will get around on social media that you can't scam eBay sellers without repercussionsThank you  

[padi*0409]

I read on the boards recently that US sellers (I think) could decline payment by credit card and accept bank account payment only through Paypal.

If that's correct them it should be easy for Paypal to allow sellers to do that in other countries as well, though them implementing that option for others is a different kettle of fish..........................

[phorum_junkie*]

In the first case you were covered by Paypal seller protection and did exactly the right thing in refusing to back off and insisting they cover the loss, not you. If Paypal choose not to pursue the buyer and/or check their history with a view to cancelling their account if they are making multiple claims then that is their loss.

With the second one you definitely escaped a bullet although you would still have had seller protection had you had proof of delivery.

The hardest to fight claims are those for not as described as it is very hard to prove your case when the buyer has the item in question though with Paypal the onus is on the buyer to prove their case or return the item at their own expense.

The worst case scenario is a buyer making a not as described claim through ebay, almost impossible for the seller to win.

[5kazam]

I would think that ACORN would be interested to hear about your first purchaser.  

www.acorn.gov.au

The fact that she was dumb enough to put it in writing that she openly commits internet fraud would get her more than a slap over the fingers.

You say she has got to be stopped - then get onto ACORN and let them stop her.  

It'll help other sellers to not be burnt by her.

[meekamag2]

Very good advice 5k. Buyers like this need to be weeded out from ebay as well as being warned by the Australian authorities. They are a threat to all of us, and not all sellers have such a lucky outcome.

[phorum_junkie*]

It is a while since I looked at the ACORN site but from memory they ask you to try and get a refund other ways first which the OP did and got their money back so I don't think there is an option to procede although Paypal would have a perfect right to use ACORN.

[meekamag2]

Here we have a self confessed scammer. Would it do any good to bring it to ebay's attention ? Sadly I guess we all know the answer to that.

And we don't know who to add to the list, either.

[5kazam]

Maybe I didn't read OP's statement correctly.  But I don't recall ACORN being involved.

And I understand that ACORN are only involved in internet fraud, not facilitate in getting people refunds.

[5kazam]

I just re-read your comment.  Why the heck would PayPal use ACORN, which is an Australian Government organization?

[digital*ghost]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

It is a while since I looked at the ACORN site but from memory they ask you to try and get a refund other ways first which the OP did and got their money back so I don't think there is an option to procede although Paypal would have a perfect right to use ACORN.

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ACORN serves a couple of different purposes. One is to refer reports of fraud to the police, who can take action, and others are things like data aggregation, study, awareness and prevention strategies.

When you make a report, they ask if you suffered any financial loss as a result of the fraud, and saying 'yes' is definitely not a pre-requisite for filing a report. Even if the police can't (or won't) do anything, the report is collected and used for the other purposes, meaning it is kept on file (if multiple reports start coming in about the same person, I suspect there's an even greater chance of criminal charges being brought against the perpetrator, even if a few people who made the reports didn't suffer financial losses and don't have anything to do with what ultimately caught the fraudster up). So, even if you don't expect (or want) the police to do anything, a report is always a good idea.