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Paypal has taken £200 off me

Hiya,
just want some advice on what to do next. I sold my car on ebay 6 weeks ago (desperatly trying to get debt free:o), it sold for £4200 and the buyer sent £200 as a deposit on Paypal, then turned up a few days later and paid for the rest in cash. We took the money out of Paypal and put it in our bank account- all was good I though.

Then 2 weeks ago our Paypal account was showing up as -£200 and a hold had been put on our account. Apparently a request by the buyers bank had been made to get the money back. We emailed and phoned Paypal and couldn't get any information out of them and they just wanted details of the transaction. We have talked to our buyers and apparently Paypal tried to take the money out of their account twice and so the bank stopped it. Paypal has now given the money back to the buyer and decided to uphold the withdrawal out of our account. I am so angry:mad:, it feels like Paypal have just stolen £200 off us, we don't have this money, it was to pay off debt and we did nothing worng at all.

We have tried ringing and we keep getting someone in Luxenburg that can hardly speak English and does not want to help. Even if something did go wrong I thought we were covered under seller protection but they are still demanding the money.

What can I do? I can't even sell or buy on ebay while this is happening so all the money I could have made over Christmas is down the drain aswell.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated:confused:
Total debt (minus mortgage) [STRIKE]Jan 2008- £26972[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE] Total debt Jan 2009- £17673[/STRIKE], Feb 2012- £7620 :D
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Comments

  • Oh I forgot to say that the buyer initially offered to transfer the money to our bank account but now won't do it.
    Total debt (minus mortgage) [STRIKE]Jan 2008- £26972[/STRIKE]
    [STRIKE] Total debt Jan 2009- £17673[/STRIKE], Feb 2012- £7620 :D
  • Hintza
    Hintza Posts: 19,420 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Call the police and tell them the car has been stolen?

    You need to keep on at them PayPal and Ebay. Why won't the buyer pay the money into your account? Put pressure on the buyer too to pay it or else you will have to take it further.

    You could go down the small claims court as a last resort.

    Just a thought is buyer worried they will end paying twice? ie bank transfer and another belated paypal payment?
  • This is just a thought, but are you sure the buyer didn't ask for the money that went into your paypal to be refunded and that's why they got the money back and now won't pay direct to your bank therefore paypal upholding your withdrawal from your account. Maybe just check to make sure. The reason I am saying this is because it happened to a friend where they had sold something on Ebay the person recieved the item and then demanded a refund. Paypal gave them the money back and now their Paypal account is -£85 and they have to pay it back.
    Let us know how you're getting on x
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  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    i would go down the stolen route if the buyer isnt playing ball
    the car hasnt really been paid for
  • Avoriaz
    Avoriaz Posts: 39,110 Forumite
    Hintza wrote: »
    Call the police and tell them the car has been stolen?..
    Smurggle, be very careful there.

    The car has not really been stolen.

    You allowed the buyer to take the car on payment of £4,000 cash and £200 via Paypal.

    It is very unlikely that you could make a criminal charge of fraud out of this and the police are unlikely to be interested. The buyer could claim that you agreed to a price of £4,000 and that you had agreed to refund the deposit.

    Do you have anything in writing?

    It is a civil matter and you will need to take civil action to recover the £200.

    If you do go to the Police, make sure that you tell them all the facts. If you report the car as “stolen” without telling them the full story, you could be charged with wasting police time.
  • Hintza
    Hintza Posts: 19,420 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek :)
  • vet8
    vet8 Posts: 877 Forumite
    I had a similar problem with money taken from my Paypal account. I did eventually get a fairly sensible person at the call centre who did sort it, but it took a long time.

    Is this Paypal's fault or is the buyer trying it on?
  • if paypal has given the £200 back to the buyer, its down to him now to sort this.

    surely he can just paypal you it again ??
    :grouphug:

    no wonder he has a smile on his face...
  • omzig
    omzig Posts: 67 Forumite
    This is just a thought, but are you sure the buyer didn't ask for the money that went into your paypal to be refunded and that's why they got the money back and now won't pay direct to your bank therefore paypal upholding your withdrawal from your account. Maybe just check to make sure. The reason I am saying this is because it happened to a friend where they had sold something on Ebay the person recieved the item and then demanded a refund. Paypal gave them the money back and now their Paypal account is -£85 and they have to pay it back.
    Let us know how you're getting on x

    Smurggle - I agree with CharlotteandEden. This seems to be a bit of a scam by ebay buyers -click.

    are you covered by paypal sellers protection? if paypal are saying you are not then ask them why not. You must have proof that the buyer has got the car? If so - initiate a complaint through the disputes. If paypal say that you were not protected under the sellers protection - make a complaint to the financial ombudsman about paypal.

    Have you got any feedback from the buyer about the car? Any evidence that they are happy with the car etc? If so, keep all this and use it in the paypal dispute. If paypal do nothing then you will either have to try and get the money from the buyer, if not go through the small claims court if possible.
  • sounds like they are just trying it on - I'd send them an email reminding them what you had agreed and say you'll go the small claims route to get it back.
    :D
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