I want to take legal action against Ebay and Paypal to recover my item

mrsiasy

Last month, I listed an item worth £900 on Ebay on BUY IT NOW format. On 12th December, a buyer from a European country buaght the item and sent me a message on Ebay requesting delivery to an alternative address, I had no reason to suspect that as I, many times, requested delivery to another address. We a couple of correspondence on Ebay and the buyer agreed to pay extra for faster delivery (DHL or UPS)

On 15th December, I received the notification for the payment from Paypal, I logged in to check and the funds were added into my account. I booked the delivery with UPS (With tracking Number), the item was collected on 16th December and subsequently delivered on 18th December 2008.

On 21st December, I received a notification from Paypal regarding a claim from the same buyer about an UNAUTHORISED transaction. I logged into my Paypal account and it was shown HOLD. I contacted Paypal and they requested the tracking information to initiate their investigation. A week later, they concluded that the transaction was Unauthorised and decided to reverse the funds.

I was gutted as I have shipped my item and now on the verge to loose my payment too. I have been contacting to Ebay as well as Paypal to resolve the case but it does not seem to me that they have taken the case seriously enough. I have written to both Paypal and Ebay that:

A) - They are respobsible for my loss as I did not book the shipment until I received the notification for the payment. I trusted Paypal and Ebay and was obliged, as a trusted seller, to post the item as the funds were paid into my account.

- Since the Fraud took place on their websites, and as they have details of the buyer and the person where the item was delivered, it is therefore, their responsibility to report the crime to the local Police or law agencies to ger the involved people arrested or convicted and recover my loss.

I would truly appriciate it if someone can help me and advise me the right course of action ? ?

Many thanks,

Mrsiasy

soolin

If you did not send it to the address shown on the paypal invoice then you have fallen for the most common scam around. Paypal do have safer policies now for sellers including cover for unauthorised use of card claims, but only where their procedure has bene followed. If you have shipped it to a non paypal address (ignore ebay ) then all you can do is persue the recipient through the small claims. You do after all have their address and proof they have received the item.

If you did send it to the address shown on the paypal notification then go back to paypal and argue the case with them.

soolin

I just wanted to add that in light of threads we had over Christmas I do have a slight niggle that this might be a wind up. It just seems then where we have long involved discussions about things we then seem to get a question based on that info within a week. There was a lot of discussion, as I recall, about the difference between using an ebay address and a paypal one..but as was pointed out at the time only paypal handle chargeback claims so only their address on file matters.

If this is a serious thread then apologies for my suspicion.

mrsiasy

Dear Soolin,

Thank you for your post. Turst me, I am not trying to wind up or wast anyone's time. I only noticed thie forum while searching for answers on Google and I must admit that I am very surprised at the informatin that I have seen on it, but I have only started using this morning. So apologies if my thread was a repeated one and I do appriciate your point of suspecion.

You suggested that I should persue the recipient through the small claims, can you kindly add further information to this as to how this can be persued?

many thanks,

Mrsiasy

Brooker_Dave

mrsiasy wrote: »

Dear Soolin,

Thank you for your post. Turst me, I am not trying to wind up or wast anyone's time. I only noticed thie forum while searching for answers on Google and I must admit that I am very surprised at the informatin that I have seen on it, but I have only started using this morning. So apologies if my thread was a repeated one and I do appriciate your point of suspecion.

You suggested that I should persue the recipient through the small claims, can you kindly add further information to this as to how this can be persued?

many thanks,

Mrsiasy

Paypal have done a bunk to Luxemborg, no small claims option.

You've lost your money.

soolin

Firstly I would suggest sending a special delivery letter to the same address where you sent the goods. be polite, but firm and say that someone at that address has signed for goods and then reclaimed their payment and therefore paypal have advised you that this is a legal matter and you should persue this through the courts.

make it sound like you are sure it is all a dreadful mistake so they have the opportunity to make good.

After they have had that letter for a few days and with no response start the claim online. Someone will be along shortly to give you details of how to start that.

Meanwhile keep all your tracking details for both the original item and the special delivery letter.

soolin

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Paypal have done a bunk to Luxemborg, no small claims option.

You've lost your money.

Whay happened to the 'if you have an address you can't lose out' claim you make every time someone mentions a cheque. Surely the same thing should apply here even though the OP is the seller, the OP has the address....

pinkshoes

There was a small claims procedure for Europe set up a few years ago, as overseas transactions became more common.

Google "small claims europe" and it should bring up a PDF documenting the system. The CAB can also help you.

You need to go down the route of writing to the purchaser first, although you need to move quickly incase they move address. Which country was it?

Mandy44

soolin wrote: »

I just wanted to add that in light of threads we had over Christmas I do have a slight niggle that this might be a wind up..

The spelling kinda gives it away a bit.

But if it's true then it's a case of tough luck as you haven't followed ebay/paypal rules that are there to protect you. I doubt any Luxemborg court will find in your favour as Paypal haven't actually done anything wrong, you're the one who's been scammed so it's up to you to report to any authorities and I'm sure paypal will provide the authorities any evidence they hold.

mrsiasy

Thanks Pinkshoes for your suggestion. The purchaser was from Lithuania

soolin

mrsiasy wrote: »

Thanks Pinkshoes for your suggestion. The purchaser was from Lithuania

Where did the item actually go? I'm sorry but I assumed it was in the UK as it appeared to arrive very quickly.

If the alternative address was also overseas then you can't use small claims I'm afraid.

Note to self, never make asusmptions on posts, if not sure ask OP to clarify.