Help please! Buyer scammed me, not sure what to do...

schizoFan

Hi, first of all this is my first post so please bear with me

(First of all, just some background - I am an experienced seller with 100% positive feedback 300+. The buyer has over 100 feedback 100% positive.)

Basically, I recently sold $100 worth of Amazon vouchers on eBay which someone bought, and paid through PayPal.

Upon payment, they requested feedback which I provided. After sending them the $100 Amazon voucher codes through eBay messaging - they then reversed payment through Paypal 2 days later claiming 'unauthorised claim' which is frankly a lie.

I am deeply upset that someone could do this to you and not sure how to respond to the Paypal resolution centre.

Obviously I understand that I do not have a transaction number since the codes were emailed to him and not posted through a Post Office. Should I call up Paypal and explain to them? I want to thank any advice in advance and will appreciate any response!

Thank you

piratefairy

I think there have been threads like this before, you shouldn't sell vouchers or codes on ebay, as they are not tangible, so how can you prove they have been tracked to the buyer? If a buyer strarts an INR claim, you would lose on the grounds that it hasn't been "sent" by trackable means.
However, I think people have tried to get around this by printing and posting hard copies of the vouchers by special delivery or something? Did you do this?

schizoFan

piratefairy wrote: »

I think there have been threads like this before, you shouldn't sell vouchers or codes on ebay, as they are not tangible, so how can you prove they have been tracked to the buyer? If a buyer strarts an INR claim, you would lose on the grounds that it hasn't been "sent" by trackable means.
However, I think people have tried to get around this by printing and posting hard copies of the vouchers by special delivery or something? Did you do this?

Hi, thanks for the response! I was thinking about posting a hard copy too, I will probably do it tommorow. This person lives in the US though, will using Royal Mail Airsure do the trick? I have definitely learnt my lesson not to sell vouchers again...

piratefairy

Oh I'm not sure about overseas tracking, I refuse to post overseas these days. I'm sure someone else will be able to help soon though!

And buyers can only be left positives these days, so I wouldn't be that impressed with a 100% feedback rating of someone who only buys.

theonlywayisup

Royal Mail services are not guaranteed outside of the UK. So Airsure or ISF, will not guarantee the tracking to the door.

As has been said, vouchers et al are non tangible and thus not covered under seller protection.

A fraudulent chargeback can be defended with a certificate of posting, but you do not have this? Unless I misunderstood.

schizoFan

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Royal Mail services are not guaranteed outside of the UK. So Airsure or ISF, will not guarantee the tracking to the door.

As has been said, vouchers et al are non tangible and thus not covered under seller protection.

A fraudulent chargeback can be defended with a certificate of posting, but you do not have this? Unless I misunderstood.

Hi there, I could post the hard copy of voucher codes tommorow and obtain a certificate of posting. Would this be enough for me to win the paypal claim? Thanks

martindow

schizoFan wrote: »

Hi there, I could post the hard copy of voucher codes tommorow and obtain a certificate of posting. Would this be enough for me to win the paypal claim? Thanks

I don't think this will work as the CoP will have a later date than the the date the claim was opened.

schizoFan

martindow wrote: »

I don't think this will work as the CoP will have a later date than the the date the claim was opened.

oh no... that thought did occur to me I think I might still give it a shot seeing as I have no other leads! Do you reckon calling Paypal and explaining the situation might help? The system is so flawed it is unbelievable! Thanks

cyberbob

I think you may have to chalk this down to a hard lesson learned. Martin is correct as the date of sending will be after the date the item is sent you will be unlikely to win. The system isn't flawed i'm afraid the reason this happened was you didn't understand how paypal works and how to protect yourself. So you can't really blame paypal for your lack of reading the basics.

It may be worth spending 10 minutes reading these before you buy and sell again

https://www.paypal-marketing.co.uk/safetyadvice/SellerProtectionOnEbay.htm

pinkshoes

Phone Amazon immediately and give them the voucher codes and tell them they've been stolen (i.e. email hacked) so can they block them and give you a new number.

I'm not sure how Paypal can help you much with this...