How do Ebay/Paypal investigate complaints?

don9999

There are always lots of people complaining about the way Ebay/Paypal are treating them, especially when they believe they have been the victim of a scammer.  I'd be interested to hear how Ebay/Paypal actually investigate such disputes and what evidence they base their decision on.


I've recently filed a claim against someone after I won their auction.  I paid the very same day through Paypal but have still not received the item.  Neither have I received any responses to the four or five E-mails I sent to them, despite over three weeks having now passed.

In my case I assume Ebay/Paypal will contact the seller and ask for evidence that they actually posted the item eg. Royal Mail 'Proof of Posting'.  If they can't, or do not reply, then I'm expecting Ebay/Paypal to recover my payment from that person's Paypal account.


Of course, the opposite scenario is if I SOLD an item, received payment through Paypal, sent the item, yet the buyer claims that they did not receive it.  (This 'scenario' is possible since I have recently sent an item that I sold to the winning bidder who only has a few feedbacks)  If the buyer does claim non-receipt, then I assume Ebay/Paypal will contact me to explain why I haven't sent the item.  I'll easily be able to furnish them with proof of posting (AND in this particular case proof of delivery too!).  I can't believe Ebay/Paypal would then attempt to extract funds from MY Paypal account, since there would be substantial evidence of delivery of the item.

In summary, surely if payment is made by Paypal, then in the case of a complaint, it first rests with the Seller to provide evidence that the auction item has been posted.  Without that evidence, then there is no proof that the item HAS been delivered, and hence payments would be refunded.  But if proof IS provided, then it's likely that the buyer is trying to pull a fast one OR the Royal Mail has lost the item - if the latter, then you should be able to claim compensation (up to £28, or more if you have paid extra - which I often do for higher valued items).

Does this make sense?

I've just started dealing with my first non-delivery claim, but am reasonably confident that if logic prevails, then I will obtain a refund.

Cheers,
Don

kingnpuk

I sold something on ebay and they seller said there was nothing in the box!

So I said then you must file a complaing with ebay/paypal

They did with Paypal, so Paypal put a hold on the payment that I had withdrawan to my bank

Paypal asked the seller to file a police report and send it to them within 10 woking days

About 5 days later the recepient cancelled the claim and paypal gave the money back to me

Hintza

The seller might have cleared his PayPal account and done a runner. You will then receive a report stating seller at fault but PayPal can not recover funds.

You then report it to EBay who will take months to investigate charge you £15 and if you are lucky you will recover the balance after having send paperwork in duplicate to Germany.

The process is not easy and a total pain in the backside.

Check your sellers feedback frequently to see if he starts getting a load of negatives.

Check for items sold after you bought and are buyers reprting positively.

Act fast

don9999

Interesting replies, but nothing illogical or unexpected yet.

In kingnpunk's case, the buyer agreed that he had received something (an empty box) but NOT the advertised goods. He was asked to provide evidence that he hadn't received the goods (eg. filing a police report). Was unable to, so Paypal sided with the seller. I agree.

In Hintza's case, I agree that I would not BUY from a seller who had a low feedback. The buyer is taking the major risk (paying up front) so he has to be confident that the seller is genuine. On the other hand, I wouldn't be 'so' concerned about selling TO someone with a low feedback, since I would require payment in advance of posting. (And with proof of posting, the onus would be on the buyer to prove that appropriate goods were not received.)

These scenarios are not fool-proof. But seem reasonable.

Cheers,
Don

meclive

problems really arise when someone buys off you with a stolen credit card, paypal takes the money back regardless to whether or not you have sent the item.
>:( >:( >:(

robowen

In my case I assume Ebay/Paypal will contact the seller and ask for evidence that they actually posted the item eg. Royal Mail 'Proof of Posting'.  If they can't, or do not reply, then I'm expecting Ebay/Paypal to recover my payment from that person's Paypal account.


In summary, surely if payment is made by Paypal, then in the case of a complaint, it first rests with the Seller to provide evidence that the auction item has been posted.  Without that evidence, then there is no proof that the item HAS been delivered, and hence payments would be refunded.  But if proof IS provided, then it's likely that the buyer is trying to pull a fast one OR the Royal Mail has lost the item - if the latter, then you should be able to claim compensation (up to £28, or more if you have paid extra - which I often do for higher valued items).


I've just started dealing with my first non-delivery claim, but am reasonably confident that if logic prevails, then I will obtain a refund.

Cheers,
Don

All your observations of how the system works etc are correct, except one missing fact :

If Paypal rule in your favour, they will only be able to reclaim back the ammount in the losers account.

In my case, I was only able to claim back about £0.24p, as the seller had withdrawn his funds prior to my complaint. >:(

Then I find out, the seller has a new Paypal account, which is tied to the original ebay user ID. >:(

Can paypal do anything about it ???
NO THEY BLOO*Y WELL CAN'T !! >:( >:(

xela_17

The OP seems to believe that all it takes to obtain a fair result in the case of a dispute is for ebay/paypal to look at the problem logically. Unfortunately, this is not often the case. They seem to either do nothing or say they have investigated but 'cannot inform you of their findings'. ::)
I have just had major problem with a seller but have no confidence that ebay/paypal will sort it out, even though I am quite obviously the victim of an unscrupulous seller.
Logic seems to play absolutely no part in ebay 'investigations'.

Gaz_Hammer

Hi everyone,
I have recently become a victim of a fraudulent buyer who had a 100% feedback rating of 60 feedbacks (not anymore though).
I accepted payment by PayCon sorry PayPal and 11 days later I received an e-mail from PayPal which stated "During a recent review of our system, we determined that you received funds from an account with reports of fraudulent bank account use. In accordance with PayPal's Seller Protection Policy, the following transaction involving unauthorised funds has been reversed".
Quite obviously I was bloody irate at this as they had no problem with sending money back but it now put my account in negative to the tune of £30.01.
I rang PayPal and was given an absolute load of garbage about seller protection and that this particular sale wasn't covered by this scheme (very convenient) - What Protection?.
I questioned the robot I spoke to at PayPal as to why they don't contact the authorities when their "system review" detects this type of fraud and got a reply as to "it's got nothing to do with us" and all they advised was to contact the Police and let them deal with it. Nothing to do with them, they take transaction fees though so must have some liability as to the people who register with them and supply bank/credit card details through their systems. Do they not Police their systems or as it looks like, anyone can abuse their system and they do diddly squat about it because they still get their money - Am I being cynical?
No disrespect to the Police but what will they really do for £30?
I then out of interest contacted another seller of a similar product bought by the scummer around the same time and he too had his payment reversed on the same day as mine.
I am not sure if I will contact the Police or just take it as a £30 lesson learnt.

The only thing I am sure of is that I for one will never use PayCon sorry, PayPal again and strongly advise that you don't too!

Sorry for bleating on but had to get this off my chest to warn others!
Regards everyone and A Happy New Year
Gaz

Gaz_Hammer

Oh Sorry,
forgot to mention that I filed a complaint against him with EBay so will have to see if they can be bothered with doing anything either!
Although thinking about it PayPal/EBay are the same company.

Cheers Again
Gaz

don9999

I have just the reached the stage where I have sold £4,500 of goods through Ebay/Paypal. Paypal are requesting I undertake additional administration tasks, primarily to complete a direct debit mandate.

I'm assuming that IF I 'do' complete the direct debit mandate, then I will be allowing them to remove funds from my bank account at will. Without my consent. Is that correct?

What if I do NOT complete the mandate? I'm assuming they couldn't remove any funds from my account then! And what about the Paypal service - will it be restricted in any way, if I do NOT complete the mandate?

Cheers,
Don