Unauthorised Transaction lodged with Paypal

[munchkin83munchkin]

I've received notification from Paypal that a customer has lodged an 'Unauthrised Transaction' & filed a case with their financial institution. They are saying that someone made the order without their permission.

I had no reason to be suspicious of this buyer. I had several messages from them over a 5 day period, firstly asking for postage quote and then advising me that they had made the purchase and then in response to my messages advising them of their tracking number & delivery date estimation.  The delivery address was the same for ebay as well as paypal, so nothing to cause suspicion.

Surely if they have allowed someone esle to have access to their ebay/paypal information, that shouldn't have to fall on me?

I have supplied paypal with Aust Post tracking number as well as screen shot showing the tracking & delivery of the parcel, so surely they can't find against me in this case?

Has anyone else had a situation like this?

[*sparklz*]

If the package is showing as delivered to the address on record with paypal and ebay then you  fight it.

Did the buyer leave feedback about the purchase as that also shows they got it to their address.

Have a look at the buyers feedback left for others if you can and see if they have pulled this stunt on other sellers.

Also contact the buyer, ask they they are aware of this chargeback and if they reply yes or do not reply at all then tell them you will report them to the online fraud police if they do not end the dispute

[enigmabear]

I was going to suggest mentioning ACORN to them if you have any doubts

[clarry100]

You should win the case given you have tracking to their PayPal delivery given to you at the time of the transaction, and the tracking status shows delivered.

Make sure you upload the tracking number onto the case itself, don't rely on it being on the ebay sales record.

Just be aware tho that once you choose to contest the case that PayPal will add a $15 fee, but when you win this will be refunded.

If you did happen to lose then you can open a case with The ACORN. This is the online fraud squad administered by the Federal Police. Give them all the relevant eveidence you have at hand. And advise PayPal and the buyer once you have a case reference number.

Quite often the buyer is unaware that such a case exists as the banks will raise them if the buyer is having credit card problems.

So as has been suggested contact the vuyer asking about it as well. They may not know.

Welcome to the world of ecommerce where the seller has ultimate responsibility in such things. Fact of life if you trade online.

[gutterpunkz05]

Make sure the message is addressed to you by your paypal ID.  Plenty of fake Paypal messages out there.

[munchkin83munchkin]

I contacted the buyer this afternoon to ask them if it was possible a family member made the purchase. She wrote back to me to say that she hasn't lodged an Unauthorised Transaction and that she had purchased the item and received it.  She said that her Paypal account has been hacked and to ignore it.

But I can't just ignore it as they are holding my money from this transaction.  I'm aware of the dodgy paypal emails that come through and I always ignore these, but this is actually showing on my paypal account.

[digital*ghost]

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@munchkin83munchkin wrote:

 She wrote back to me to say that she hasn't lodged an Unauthorised Transaction and that she had purchased the item and received it.  She said that her Paypal account has been hacked and to ignore it.

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Personally, I call BS.

As far as I know, a hacked PayPal account would not generally result in unathorised credit card chargebacks because that's initiated with the bank, not PayPal - if multiple suspicious purchases were made while an account was hacked, then the bank might put a stop on the card but that doesn't tend to affect previous transactions,and I think they tend to be declined rather than than approved once suspicious activity is detected.

Occasionally PayPal will send out emails saying they are investigating a cleared payment, and not to send any items yet, and I'm beginning to suspect this might happen when chargebacks on other transactions from that account or credit card have been initiated, and / or a hold has been placed on the card by the bank due to suspected fraudulent activity, so actual chargebacks have not been initiated against regular transactions

By which I mean I find it highly doubtful a chargeback has been initiated without the buyer's say so or knowledge. I went 6 years without getting a single chargeback case filed against me, until a few months ago when 4 buyers raised a total of 5 chargebacks in the space of a few weeks.

I contacted all of them, 3 of 4 responded, and 2 of those 3 claimed "hacked" and I already knew from other sellers this was the basic catchcry of those not willing to own up to their fraud. They also said that they'd sort it out. Only one seemed to actually do anything about it (case was closed without further issue the next day), and my guess is because my first contact explained that as an unauthorised use chargeback involves credit card fraud by someone, I have no choice but to report the activity to ACORN and explained to them that involves supplying all of the details I have to them, including all of the personal information supplied at point of purchase (so name, delivery address, email address(es), phone number etc, and that the report is passed on to the police local to (delivery suburb) for further investigation and action.  

As others have said, though, if you upload the proof of shipping to PayPal, they should eventually release the funds to you (it can take a few weeks, unfortunately). It's best to have something that shows the delivery name / address, so hopefully you have a record of that (eg if a label was created via eBay or My Post, you should be able to go to the transaction where the address details are displayed and provide a screenshot if you don't have any other documentation). 

[bestbuyaus]

If you have provided the tracking number and it can be viewed online by Paypal you should be covered by Paypal seller protection. Australia Post scanners are now GPS enabled so these can be checked in case of a disputed delivery.

To resolve the case quickly you can call Paypal and as I have found they will advise you are covered  and offer to escelate the case and have it closed.

[lm-entertainment]

i totally agree with digi - i had the same thing happen with me. no chargebacks for years and then a few in the space of a few weeks, all said the same things your buyer is saying. 

the brilliance with the paypal case is you can actually upload documents onto there and screenshots, as well as write as much in there as you like. i'd be sure to include screenshots of that communication from the buyer - because paypal will liaise with the bank and hopefully, they're scam falls through. 

regardless, providing you've done all the things that everyone else has said - have a lodgement receipt, tracking showing delivered and sent to the correct address - you're covered by paypal seller protection regardless :]

[munchkin83munchkin]

Yes....I am starting to call the BS card to.

When I contacted her yesterday, she was quite stroppy and rude with her responses. I was quite taken aback....if someone had contacted me with this information, I would have been very concerned or at the least apologetic not stroppy & rude.   I emailed paypal telling them that she told me she had made the purchase and received the item and claimed her paypal account was hacked. 

After looking into it a bit more I realised that, as you say, it is initiated by the financial institution and not paypal.

Thanks for the information about ACORN....so you sent that message to the buyer or Paypal?

This is my first time dealing with this sort of thing in 10+ years of selling on ebay.