PayPal Chargeback and dept collectors...

conja21

Hello everyone.

I posted this in another section, but was told to post it here for more help. Here goes...

A couple of years back I made the very costly mistake of selling a mobile phone on eBay. It was snapped up really quickly and I exchanged numerous emails from the buyer, confirming the sale etc but was cautious after they hadnt paid after a few days. When they eventually did pay, via PayPal, I waited another couple of days so that if anything was dodgy with the transaction either I'd notice or PayPal could intervene. I moved the money from Paypal into my bank account and sent the item, being careful to get proof of posting and awaited the 5 star feedback...

A few days later I got an email from PayPal saying that my account was £200 in the red and that I'd been hit by something called a Chargeback, where the buyer has cancelled the transaction with their bank. I was left owing the money back to PayPal and without my item, something which I was furious about.

The seller wouldnt get back to me, PayPal wouldnt provide me with any support (their customer service is truly appalling!) so I didnt know what else to do. PayPal stopped asking for the money after a while so I just left it.

The dept owed to PayPal has since been moved to several dept collection companies, the newest being EOS Solutions, but Im certainly not paying for something that wasnt my fault.

Where do I stand? What can I do? I dont want this to affect my life in terms of credit etc.

Thanks in advance for any help.

*LoopyLaura*

Please please please do not ignore these. I was in the EXACT same situation as you about 5 years ago, thought I was being clever by withdrawing to my bank account as I thought once they've paid thats fine. I was hit by a chargeback & as we'd sent the phone as requested we didnt see why we should be in minus as well. Ignored all emails & closed Paypal account. Moved house - the debt agency WILL find you & believe me they keep on. Dollar conversions back to sterling & various charges added to this & I wished I'd just paid at the start
The best thng you can do is pay it before it gets any worse, thats the honest truth from someone who's been there......

toffe

*LoopyLaura* wrote: »

Please please please do not ignore these. I was in the EXACT same situation as you about 5 years ago, thought I was being clever by withdrawing to my bank account as I thought once they've paid thats fine. I was hit by a chargeback & as we'd sent the phone as requested we didnt see why we should be in minus as well. Ignored all emails & closed Paypal account. Moved house - the debt agency WILL find you & believe me they keep on. Dollar conversions back to sterling & various charges added to this & I wished I'd just paid at the start
The best thng you can do is pay it before it gets any worse, thats the honest truth from someone who's been there......

Unless of course you dispute liability, in which case do so formally with the dca, demand reasonable proof of liability, usually paypal are stumped as to what to supply in the way of proof of liability and the matter will go away.

Without reasonable proof of liability the dca can not proceed to court, so if you request reasonable proof of liabilty and they do not supply it they can not take you to court, end of story.

Thats from someone who has had experience of this with paypal and who has previously worked within the Ddebt collection industry and so knows how their process works and what they can and cant do.

Fire_Fox

Proof of posting is not proof of delivery, that is why the chargeback occurred - you should pay up IMO.

RFW

conja21 wrote: »

Hello everyone.

I posted this in another section, but was told to post it here for more help. Here goes...

A couple of years back I made the very costly mistake of selling a mobile phone on eBay. It was snapped up really quickly and I exchanged numerous emails from the buyer, confirming the sale etc but was cautious after they hadnt paid after a few days. When they eventually did pay, via PayPal, I waited another couple of days so that if anything was dodgy with the transaction either I'd notice or PayPal could intervene. I moved the money from Paypal into my bank account and sent the item, being careful to get proof of posting and awaited the 5 star feedback...

A few days later I got an email from PayPal saying that my account was £200 in the red and that I'd been hit by something called a Chargeback, where the buyer has cancelled the transaction with their bank. I was left owing the money back to PayPal and without my item, something which I was furious about.

The seller wouldnt get back to me, PayPal wouldnt provide me with any support (their customer service is truly appalling!) so I didnt know what else to do. PayPal stopped asking for the money after a while so I just left it.

The dept owed to PayPal has since been moved to several dept collection companies, the newest being EOS Solutions, but Im certainly not paying for something that wasnt my fault.

Where do I stand? What can I do? I dont want this to affect my life in terms of credit etc.

Thanks in advance for any help.

The debt collectors can only do anything (other than harass you) to you if you have been taken to court and judgment has been issued against you.
A debt collector without a court order has no authority, unless you have a credit account with Paypal (which means you would have had to apply for credit at some point, you won't have) then your credit rating will not be affected by this.

If you get taken to court you can put your case, if you lose, a judgment will be entered against you, unless you pay the amount owed (which will then include court charges).

Whether you will be taken to court is debatable and probably unlikely.

Next time a debt collection company contacts you, tell them you are disputing the claim and to refer it back to Paypal. If they continue to harass you, you can report them to Trading Standards.

If you are unsure of your position, you need to get independent advice, either through a solicitor or the Citizen's Advice.

Someone will be along in a minute to say I am wrong, thus proving that getting financial/legal advice on an internet forum isn't always the best way forward;)

toffe

RFW wrote: »

The debt collectors can only do anything (other than harass you) to you if you have been taken to court and judgment has been issued against you.
A debt collector without a court order has no authority, unless you have a credit account with Paypal (which means you would have had to apply for credit at some point, you won't have) then your credit rating will not be affected by this.

If you get taken to court you can put your case, if you lose, a judgment will be entered against you, unless you pay the amount owed (which will then include court charges).

Whether you will be taken to court is debatable and probably unlikely.

Next time a debt collection company contacts you, tell them you are disputing the claim and to refer it back to Paypal. If they continue to harass you, you can report them to Trading Standards.

If you are unsure of your position, you need to get independent advice, either through a solicitor or the Citizen's Advice.

Someone will be along in a minute to say I am wrong, thus proving that getting financial/legal advice on an internet forum isn't always the best way forward;)

Agreed, as i have advised you already in your other thread all you need to do is continue to dispute the debt and demand reasonable proof of liability from the dca, simply writing a letter saying you owe money to someone is by no means proof.

Paypal will be unlikely to offer up any "proof" of liability and the DCA will not continue to chase a dead end as they get paid only for what they collect, Nor can paypal or the DCA proceed to court without providing any reasonable proof of liabilty.

cyberbob

Go and get advice from someone like the CAB far better than so called proffessionals on a dsicussion board. I'm not saying any of this info is given is bad but your better off getting what can be shown as accurate rather than take anyones word for it