refund sent to wrong account

[davidc4430]

ok, so i really stuffed up my first refund.

as it was my first i agreed to refund the cost of item plus 2 lots of postage, plus some extra money to say sorry.

paypal doesnt let you refund more than the actual original payment so i did a new payment to the account i thought was my buyers, my error in choosing wrong email address.

that was on the 7th june. today got message from the actual buyer saying he hadnt got his refund.

on checking i saw my error, 2 buyers same amounts on same day.

so ive now sent a payment to the correct account and a im sorry email with it.

i have also emailed via PP about the wrong refund payment asking if they would please return it to my account.

have i lost my money if they do not return it?

thanks everyone, now stop laughing.

[foxette-in-sox]

Paypal won't do anything as it's your error, not theirs.

Contact the buyer who you sent the refund to in error and ask for the money back, after politely

explaining your mistake.

I'm not laughing and can imagine you'd be quite frustrated. I only hope the recipient of the

'unexpected' refund will do the right thing as I doubt you can force them to give back the money. 😞

[clarry100]

Certainly under Australian Law if you receive money that is not yours you are legally obliged to do your best to return it to its rightful owner.

There was a case in recent years here in AU where a person had large amounts of money put into their account in error by a bank.

They proceeded to spend the money as tho it were theirs. But of course the error was eventuallly uncovered and they were caught and faced a lengthy gaol term for it. Simply it's regarded as theft.

So if the recipient is within AU and you notify them of your error they would then be legally obliged to return it to you.

I suspect if you explained that to PayPal along with your error they might be sympathetic in recovery of the funds.

I would call them.

[raptor_rebooted]

---

@foxette-in-sox wrote:

Paypal won't do anything as it's your error, not theirs.

Contact the buyer who you sent the refund to in error and ask for the money back, after politely

explaining your mistake.

I'm not laughing and can imagine you'd be quite frustrated. I only hope the recipient of the

'unexpected' refund will do the right thing as I doubt you can force them to give back the money. 😞

---

correct.  PP can't take that money

away from the recipient simply because

you say you gifted it to them by mistake. 

[davidc4430]

i did add a note to the payment that said it was a refund for a hornby train, there is no sale of any train to this buyer. would that help?

[clarry100]

I really dont know as I've never been in this situation.

But I would certainly encourage you to call PayPal and discuss it with them.

On the rare occasions I've had to call PayPal I've found them to be much more helpful and understanding than ebay CSRs.

[davidc4430]

ok, ive rung PP and they have confirmed a refund from the buyer who was paid by mistake has been made but will take time to appear in my account.

fingers crossed this works out.