Paypal and Chargebacks

Leo2020

This is not an Ebay issue but I use Paypal for my website so I thought this might be the best place to put it.

I sold an item to a customer. Unfortunately our supplier was having problems with their printing equipment and the product could not be supplied in time. It was personalised boxes.

I refunded the customer on the 13th of September. On the 17th of September the customer made a chargeback. I have checked my account to make sure the refund had been processed and it has.

Now this for me is the interesting bit. I spoke to Paypal about this and they give me some (in my opinion) disturbing news. Even though I have refunded the customer already (approx. £30) I could still lose the chargeback case and lose another £30. I explained that this would be theft, unfortunately the person as Paypal wasn't very helpful and said it wasn't theft. I respond and said that I have refunded the customer already, therefore if another £30 was to leave my account this would be theft as it is my money not the customer or banks. The person at Paypal would not admit that this would be theft and kept reiterating it is a possibility that the bank would find in favour of the customer.

I understand that it is up to the bank to investigate and make the decision not Paypal so I asked if the worst case scenario happened could I take it up with the bank. To which he said no as giving the bank details to me would be breaking DPA. I said I don't want to know the person's personal bank details but if the worst happened would they be able to provide the bank's name (or anything so it could be taken further). The answer was no. He said that I would not be able to take it further.

Now I refuse to believe that the bank could take £30 from me without it be classed as theft.

I would like to know if the above is true, could they find in the customer's favour even though I have refunded the customer? If they can, surely there must be a way to take this further.

Jen_Jen1985

how did you refund, did you go through the original payment or send another payment back to the customer for the same amount?

Leo2020

It was refunded through the original payment. So Paypal can see that I have given the money back.

soolin

Leo2020 wrote: »

It was refunded through the original payment. So Paypal can see that I have given the money back.

Then you need to jump up and down on paypal as they are talking rubbish (which is not unusual)

Leo2020

If there talking rubbish then does that mean I won't lose £30? If there is no chance of me losing the chargeback case is it worth calling them again? I imagine they will just say the same again about it being out of their control and it's the bank decision. If it is just a case of waiting 75 days then I will happily do that if I know I won't lose out.

soolin

Leo2020 wrote: »

If there talking rubbish then does that mean I won't lose £30? If there is no chance of me losing the chargeback case is it worth calling them again? I imagine they will just say the same again about it being out of their control and it's the bank decision. If it is just a case of waiting 75 days then I will happily do that if I know I won't lose out.

If the payment has been refunded then it cannot be reclaimed- it is physically not there to take back again. This should not even be posisble to process- so I would be keeping well on top of this with paypal.

Leo2020

I suspect they won't be able to process it either and hopefully the bank will realise this. I can't even understand why the customer put a chargeback through but that's another matter.

But what do I say to Paypal? They say it is up to the bank to investigate and make a decision not them. So how can I keep on top of it with them?

The person at the other end of the phone didn't seem to understand my problem. Just keep saying it not up to them. Which I said I can understand but I couldn't understand how I could end up refunding the customer twice. He really didn't seem to get why this peeved me off. When I asked for further information he again said it wasn't up to Paypal, I asked for information on how the process worked he said he did not know because it wasn't up to Paypal. But as I can't contact the bank I can not find out from them either. He didn't understand that they are my only point of contact and saying I don't know, nothing to do with us and not telling me who it is to do with or how it works isn't very helpful.

Paypal said that if the bank authorised the chargeback they would dispute it but I could still lose. Also, I did read somewhere about being charged a fee from Paypal for the dispute is this true?