legal challenge

[mypoppygirl]

Had a buyer purchase something from us and claimed that we sent the wrong item.

Ebay ruled in our favour and so did Paypal but the buyer went to the credit card company for a charge back.

We have overwhelming evidence that we sent the right item but as many hundreds of dollars are involved, we do want to lose this and usually credit card companies rule in favour of their clients, unless a pattern of chargebacks appear.

The question we would like to ask is this. We are in Australia and the buyer is in the US. What options have we got to challenge this person through the legal avenues? Perhaps some other avenue?

Is there any free legal aide offices available in the US? The buyer is in Chicago.

[clarry100]

PayPal do cover chargebacks so long as you meet all their requirements.

ie have tracking and proof of postage etc.

Its all part of seller protection.

We had a case raised against us for a very small amount only $4.00.

The item was sent out as a regular letter, hence no tracking.

Because we had a very good track record on the account they did indeed cover us even tho we did not have tracking.

In that case the buyer still got to keep their item and get their money back too via the chargeback, but we also did not loose the $4.00 or the $15 fee they normally charge if you contest it.

We had to agree to accept full responsibility before they would do that tho.

I spent a while on the phone with a very helpful CSR in the USA to achieve that outcome.

[mypoppygirl]

Barrie, I have proof that the buyer was lying and there are many inconsistencies with their story. Additionally they want to send us something that they claimed we sent them. It is something that has never been our property and they want us to pay return shipping costs. It is further insult to injury. I contacted the FBI and the FOS today gave me the phone number of the ACCC. It appears I am powerless and this person will get away with it. I believe that ideally it would be best if there was some service available in Chicago that can assist us, where they could act on our behalf.

[donnashuggy]

If paypal were doing their job properly they should be fighting this with the credit card company, surely?

[mypoppygirl]

I agree but remembering that it is your money that is at stake here and not theirs. So I believe it is resonable to question their efforts in respect to it all. Additionally Paypal will not disclose the buyer's credit card agency to us citing their privacy policy.

This person has done it all before. It was all to swift moving from ebay to paypal and then the credit card charge back. Even their feedback suggested they had done this serveral times before.

[donnashuggy]

There is account escalations with paypal, you could try that.

This doesn't seem right don't give up.

[kopenhagen5]

If you know which bank it is or can just find out the name, I would be faxing all the details explaining PayPal closed in your favour and warning the bank they may be dealing with an opportunist providing proof of delivery, their name and address etc.

The bank may view the charge back differently knowing PayPal saw in your favour.

[everard6920]

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@mypoppygirl wrote:
Barrie, I have proof that the buyer was lying and there are many inconsistencies with their story. Additionally they want to send us something that they claimed we sent them. It is something that has never been our property and they want us to pay return shipping costs. It is further insult to injury. I contacted the FBI and the FOS today gave me the phone number of the ACCC. It appears I am powerless and this person will get away with it. I believe that ideally it would be best if there was some service available in Chicago that can assist us, where they could act on our behalf.

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Okay, first of all: do you have the original receipt for the article, and if so, does it list the weight of the article? I'd imagine there'd be a difference in the weight if the item they want to return is different. I've heard of people winning cases based on weight discrepancies. I'd talk to Paypal about it if you choose to accept the "return" though. You need to know what the ramifications would be if the weight of the returned article is different (and what you'd need to do to prove it eg: opening in front of an AP employee).

Second of all, you may also want to ask this question on the US eBay board. Some of the policies differ, and we may be overlooking something. Someone over there might be able to help.

[lyndal1838]

As far as I can make out from the CURRENT paypal agreement you are covered for a chargeback if you have seller protection.

As the OP has already wona paypal dispute it seems that she does have seller protection.

Just keep on at paypal to follow their own rules.   But stress that you are talking about the current agreement.....the new agreement does not come into force till September.

[mypoppygirl]

Rang Paypal. they insist that credit card charge backs are not covered. Sad isn't it. I will not be selling abroad any more. It is not worth it

[aussiebargains_2011]

Get on to the Financial services Ombudsman, they usually help