Confused about Paypal Claim, please help!

PinkPeach

Hi. A buyer has just filed a claim against me on Paypal for an item purchased on 14th May that was unreceived. I posted the item to her on 18th May and have proof of posting.

Now that she has started the claim my paypal balance is showing a negative amount of money in it. I've just told her that I did post the item and have proof of posting but does this mean that when I next get paid by someone else from one of my auctions that the money goes straight to her? I've tried looking on the Paypal webiste but it's hard to work out who is supposed to give her the money, me or paypal...or surely it ought to be the post office for losing the item?

Also, am I able to use Paypal in the mean time if I wanted to purchase something?

Any advice appreciated as I've only ever had people communicate with me through ebay - Paypal seems much more confusing!

lovelyjubb

hi, this happened to me. i sent an item and a week later the buyer claimed through paypal. paypal had 'hold' of the money until it was sorted. i had proof of postage but unless it was sent recorded post (which mine wasn't just 1st class), paypal don't want to know. they say that isn't enough to prove you sent it!! and just went buy th buyer word! obviously i appealed but made no difference. in the end paypal gave MY money back to the buyer!
i got a lost post claim form from the post office and print screen the ebay page, paypal page and sent of proof of postage. as i didn't see why i had to loose out as i HAD sent it. i have 100% leaveback and everyone as always recieved their items.
i got a letter back from royal mail about 2 weeks later saying they had recieved my complaint and they are investigating it. just waiting to here back from them now.
if possible try and appeal to paypal striaght away! if that falls on deaf ears go through royal mail!

hermum

Did you send it recorded or just with a cert of posting? The liklihood is that Paypal will find in the buyers favour, the buyer will be refunded & the money will come from your account, unless it was sent in a way with online tracking so that you can prove she received it.
You will then need to claim for lost post from Royal Mail so make sure that you hold on to that receipt. Hopefully it wasn't worth more than £41, the most you can claim back from ordinary post.
I don't understand why buyers don't contact the seller before going through to Paypal.

forgotmyname

hermum wrote: »

I don't understand why buyers don't contact the seller before going through to Paypal.

Because they are the naughty buyers who have stolen your item?

They know its a waste of time contacting you they know there the parcel is. Why wait for you to reply & possibly empty your account so they cannot get a refund.

PinkPeach

I did wonder if she'd received the item as it was some Dior facial cleanser. Not worth more than £41 but a very nice 'freebie' if she could claim for it!
It was posted 1st class standard so seems I'll end up paying out of my money for it. I'm really cross about this as we're struggling at the moment financially and to try and help us a bit out I sold this item which had originally been given to me as a gift adn now it's going to cost me.
Does anyone else ALWAYS send their items by recorded delivery to minimise the risk of this? Its made me feel very wary as I simply cannot afford to keep giving people their money back.
My paypal account had nothing in it anyway so in theory if I didn't use it again do I still somehow actually have to pay her if I cant claim from the post office?

cyberbob

hermum wrote: »

I don't understand why buyers don't contact the seller before going through to Paypal.

If sellers have returns not accepted in their listing a lot of buyers think its pointless so go straight for a claim.

forgotmyname wrote:

Because they are the naughty buyers who have stolen your item?

They know its a waste of time contacting you they know there the parcel is. Why wait for you to reply & possibly empty your account so they cannot get a refund.

It makes no difference if there is money in your account or not the buyer will still be refunded (maybe you should have a quick look at the terms and conditions). If you think every buyer is out to scam you maybe you shouldn't be selling. In my experience 99% of buyers are honest (I wouldn't be selling if they weren't) If you can't prove they received the item how do you know it wasn't lost in the post? Things do get lost

cyberbob

PinkPeach wrote: »

I
Does anyone else ALWAYS send their items by recorded delivery to minimise the risk of this? I?

Recorded delivery is very unreliable in most cases almost only a third of them will actually get a signature so you would still lose any paypal claim. So not worth the 79p. Your better off sending items elow £41 normal mail and claiming off royal mail if there is a loss. Over £41 send special delivery.

If your getting more than the odd loss something is wrong. I have had one loss in the last 1000 items.

As I said above most buyers are honest. If you don't think that ebay really isn't the place for you

PinkPeach

The vast majority of buyers are honest, I'm aware of that. After having been selling on ebay for 5 years I've only ever had people contact me through ebay on the very few occassions there was an issue and so it just surprised me that they'd not tried to contact me first. It just seems to me that 6 weeks is a very long time to wait before saying your item hasn't been received.

macfly

As a seller of some longevity, you should be aware items can go missing or get damaged in the post. Therefore claims are part and parcel. Think about it from the buyer's point of view. No item, no money. It's not their concern how much you need the money. Paypal will charge the registered card for the refund.

lindseykim13

as long as you have proof of posting you'll gat your money back off royal mail, you wont loose out.