unauthorised paypal payment help

pinkgem

I've just had an email from paypal:


"A review of recent transactions indicates that you might have received a
payment that the PayPal account holder did not authorise.

To protect you from problematic transactions, we sometimes request
additional information about PayPal payments.

We need more information about this transaction. Please log in to your
PayPal account, click the "Resolution Centre" tab, and provide more
information by 30/04/2009.

If you need to provide information by fax, click and print a cover sheet:
https://www.paypal.com/uk

Please fax proof of postage or proof of refund to 08707 303 196.

We recommend that you do not post the item until our investigation is
complete. If you've already posted the item, please log in and let us know
where you posted it.

We have placed a temporary hold on the funds until we complete our
investigation. Thank you for your cooperation."


The item was purchased at 11pm last night and hasn't been posted yet.

The buyer is in the UK, has a foreign sounding name and has over 300 feedback and their feedback looks pretty normal - eg not for loads of expensive stuff, just the usual bits and bobs.

Anyway paypal are giving me the options:


"How would you like to resolve this issue?

I have not posted the item and I would like to refund the payment.

I can provide proof that the item was posted through an approved postal service to the address on the Transaction Details page.

I have refunded the payment for this transaction.

None of these apply to me."


I'm a bit concerned that if I refund I will receive negative feedback for refunding and not sending item. Could I send item and then fax the proof of posting to Paypal? or is there a chance they might not refund me?

If I choose to refund, how would I get my fvf back? I can't say they were a npb as they did pay and don't fancy my chances doing a mutual.

I have requested the buyers contact information, but don't know if I should call them. It might annoy them as they may think I'm accusing them of fraud.

kprigg

I wouldnt post it & tell Paypal you want a refund. Maybe someone has fraudulantly purchased something using this buyers account & if you did post it you may end up out of pocket as Paypal may take the money off you anyway.
Im not sure about negative feedback, but I cant see they are allowed to leave it if they havent paid for the item.
If its just a simple mistake Im sure the buyer will contact you & maybe even send a cheque or do a bank transfer to pay. Im sure they would have also been contacted by Paypal so I dont think you need to contact them.

soolin

I would contact the buyer before deciding which way to go on this and if that doesn't help I would call paypal as well and explain that you want to proceed correctly but do not want to risk a neg. They can't guarantee that you won't get one though so the buyer is your best bet here for contact.

We have now had several threads in just a few days about these unathorised payments, most have been resolved in a matter of hours by paypal. I rather suspect that paypal themselves have an issue of some sort due to the amount of times this is happening and the speed at which paypal seem to sort the issue out.

pinkgem

kprigg wrote: »

I wouldnt post it & tell Paypal you want a refund. Maybe someone has fraudulantly purchased something using this buyers account & if you did post it you may end up out of pocket as Paypal may take the money off you anyway.
Im not sure about negative feedback, but I cant see they are allowed to leave it if they havent paid for the item.
If its just a simple mistake Im sure the buyer will contact you & maybe even send a cheque or do a bank transfer to pay. Im sure they would have also been contacted by Paypal so I dont think you need to contact them.

tell paypal i want a refund of what? since i haven't sent the item i am not out of pocket as i still have the item. i am out of pocket for the ebay fvf though.

i think paypal are meant to protect sellers against fraudulent claims if the seller can provide proof of posting

the buyer has paid, but they can leave negative feedback even if they haven't paid. the only time a buyer can't leave negative feedback is if they don't reply to an unpaid item dispute.

i only accept paypal payments so wouldn't accept a cheque or whatever as payment

the dispute just says that an email has been sent to the seller, no mention of an email sent to the buyer

kprigg

I was just giving my opinion of what I would do in this case. Maybe its better to take Soolins advice.

pinkgem

soolin wrote: »

I would contact the buyer before deciding which way to go on this and if that doesn't help I would call paypal as well and explain that you want to proceed correctly but do not want to risk a neg. They can't guarantee that you won't get one though so the buyer is your best bet here for contact.

We have now had several threads in just a few days about these unathorised payments, most have been resolved in a matter of hours by paypal. I rather suspect that paypal themselves have an issue of some sort due to the amount of times this is happening and the speed at which paypal seem to sort the issue out.

thanks soolin. I think i will try and call the buyer a bit later this morning and see what they say.

i am happy to send the item out providing paypal would refund me if i could provide proof of postage. paypal have put a temporary hold on the funds so i don't currently have the money for the item

when you say these have been resolved in a matter of hours by paypal - do you mean they have been removing the hold on sellers funds within hours?

soolin

pinkgem wrote: »

thanks soolin. I think i will try and call the buyer a bit later this morning and see what they say.

i am happy to send the item out providing paypal would refund me if i could provide proof of postage. paypal have put a temporary hold on the funds so i don't currently have the money for the item

when you say these have been resolved in a matter of hours by paypal - do you mean they have been removing the hold on sellers funds within hours?

The ones I am thinking of, and I can't remember the thread titles to link them, the items had already gone. However the sellers spoke to paypal and either said they had the proof of posting or uploaded it and their funds were released immediately.

However, in the case where the item has not been sent it is rather more difficult to decide what to do, I don't honestly think I could send an item knowing there was already some doubt expressed about the payment. For me it would depend on what the buyer says when contacted.

It might be worth having a new thread or adding to this if anyone else has had a problem recently. I know threads sometimes go in patterns, but having threads here and on the ebay community boards about this problems all increasing in the past couple of weeks does seem odd. Especially as in some cases paypal have acted within minutes to release the funds to the seller, I have never known them refund even where they are obliged to without some delay and a bit of pressure being applied.

soolin

Just to add that even if you send the item (and personally I wouldn't) and paypal release the funds the buyer can leave a negative.

oh dear, what to suggest here....how about live help on ebay?

pinkgem

soolin wrote: »

The ones I am thinking of, and I can't remember the thread titles to link them, the items had already gone. However the sellers spoke to paypal and either said they had the proof of posting or uploaded it and their funds were released immediately.

However, in the case where the item has not been sent it is rather more difficult to decide what to do, I don't honestly think I could send an item knowing there was already some doubt expressed about the payment. For me it would depend on what the buyer says when contacted.

It might be worth having a new thread or adding to this if anyone else has had a problem recently. I know threads sometimes go in patterns, but having threads here and on the ebay community boards about this problems all increasing in the past couple of weeks does seem odd. Especially as in some cases paypal have acted within minutes to release the funds to the seller, I have never known them refund even where they are obliged to without some delay and a bit of pressure being applied.

yes it does seem a bit strange if there has been a sudden increase in funds being held for unauthorised use and paypal resolving so quickly and easily. maybe it is a glitch or something then.

i will try and contact my buyer and also paypal a bit later on

pinkgem

soolin wrote: »

Just to add that even if you send the item (and personally I wouldn't) and paypal release the funds the buyer can leave a negative.

oh dear, what to suggest here....how about live help on ebay?

my first thoughts were relief that i still had the item and i nearly resolved the claim immediately by issuing a refund, but as i was hovering over the option i wondered if it was an error the buyer would be quite annoyed at being refunded and could leave me a neg

if the buyer seems genuine and paypal guarantee that they would release the funds with a proof of postage then i may consider sending the item. i can't think that the buyer would have any reason to leave a neg if i do send the item to them. unless they are annoyed at me phoning them and asking questions.

i will try live help, but i get the feeling they will refer me to paypal

pinkgem

i have spoken to live help, they told me to speak to paypal but said it sounded like a glitch