Scammed on eBay - PayPal will take my money

MediumRob

Hi Everyone

I have a slight predicament and wondered if anyone can give me some advice... or if nothing else this can be warning to anyone selling on eBay.

I sold my old phone on eBay, the buyer won the auction using the 'buy it now' option.

The item cost was £340ish - including postage. And they paid using PayPal.

After initially asking to collect the item in person - they claimed to be in my area on business - the buyer asked me to post the item to their "work address".

We were in contact via eBay messaging, via the email address attached to their PayPal account and also by text. So it all seemed fine.

Yesterday - two months later - I received an email from PayPal saying:

"We were recently notified that one of your buyers filed a chargeback. This simply means they asked their credit card issuer to reverse a payment made to you purchased on 25 Nov 2012.

"The buyer claims that this purchase was made without their authorisation to use the credit card. Their credit card issuer needs additional information from you about this transaction to help resolve this."

I've since looked into PayPal's seller protection and as I sent the phone to an address not attached to the buyer's PayPal account, I am - for want of a better phrase - screwed.

I have no rights and they will take the money back - not forgetting that I won't get the phone back either. They will simply take the money out of my account without my consent.

I have been scammed. The PayPal account holder's registered address is in Scotland, while I sent the phone to a 'business' in East Sussex.

Hindsight eh?

It's tempting to drive down there to be honest.

So the lesson is only ever send an item to a confirmed address.

Now, it's taken a while to get to my question, but if I cancel the PayPal direct debit with my bank - which I have done - can PayPal still take the money?

I know that they can take money from my cards attached to the account, but I intend to cancel them too, once I've got this week's groceries.

Another point is that someone hacked into this poor person's PayPal, eBay and email accounts. So is it wrong for me to think that PayPal and eBay should take the hit, rather than me?

If you have any advice or are able to help with my predicament, I would really appreciate that.

Thank you.

eaglesrjh

Feel sorry for you.

Closing accounts etc wont stop paypal chasing you for the money, they do and will employ debt collectors.

as for should paypal take the hit. They would have had you followed their instructions and sent to the address on paypal, all you would have needed then was proof of postage to defend the chargeback.

Not sure if this is available when you have sent to a different address.

your only other defense is to report the matter to the police but how much they can do I don't know.

soolin

Can I just clarify that the address you sent the phone to was NOT the one paypal gave you as 'OK to send to'? If that is correct then you are right, you do not have seller protection

If it was not the correct address then yes paypal can refund the buyer, they can't take the money from your bank account but they do use strong arm tactics to recover the debt so you will be in for a very bumpy ride. However, personally I would persue this over and over , phone paypal and nag them, keep phoning until you get someone that understands as this is slightly unusual. Point out that you can prove both sending via proof of posting and delivery.

As you do have proof of delivery you are also in the position of being able to possibly track down the 'buyer', you have their emails, you have their work address and you have proof that phone was sent and signed for. If this really was a pukka work address then there must be mileage in that as well, check out the address- try everything here

Justicia

Have you checked the address visually, for reference, on StreetView?

MediumRob

Thanks both for the speedy replies. Much appreciated.

Soolin - yes that's right. Unfortunately.

I have sent PayPal all my correspondence; texts, emails, eBay messages, and I have sent them proof of postage and proof of delivery - which includes a signature.

I'd hope that they'd understand and be sympathetic, but from looking on the web I doubt that very much.

I will await PayPal's decision, but it doesn't look good.

Reporting to the police is something I might look into, but as this was two months ago, I guess they may have moved on. Still an option though. I may seek advice from a Citizens Advice Bureau too.

The "business" address is a residential property, and unsurprisingly I can't find any existence of the business on the web. For what's it's worth they call themselves "SM Circuits UK".

If PayPal don't decide in my favour then I will do my best to sort it out with them. Hopefully I won't have to deal bailiffs. I've never found myself in that situation before.

MediumRob

Justicia - yes I have. It just looks like a normal residential street.

pinkshoes

Paypal rules state you need to send it to the adress that they tell you to. If someone wants it sending to a different address, then you can refund them,
Then they can add the address to the PP account, and repay.

Make sure you pay your debt to Paypal, as you don't want to end up with a CCJ...

MediumRob

Pinkshoes - Thanks, yep sadly I know that now. I certainly won't be so trusting again.

I will pay the amount if I have to, but I don't want PayPal just taking the money from my account, when I am unprepared - bills etc. I have cancelled my cards and direct debit so they can't do this.

I understand if they don't come out in my favour, they will try, for six months, to get the money owed, before going through a debt collection agency.

So I have six months to save up £340.

£340 and a phone down. Awesome!

pinkshoes

MediumRob wrote: »

Pinkshoes - Thanks, yep sadly I know that now. I certainly won't be so trusting again.

I will pay the amount if I have to, but I don't want PayPal just taking the money from my account, when I am unprepared - bills etc. I have cancelled my cards and direct debit so they can't do this.

I understand if they don't come out in my favour, they will try, for six months, to get the money owed, before going through a debt collection agency.

So I have six months to save up £340.

£340 and a phone down. Awesome!

How come you get 6 months? I thought they could just pass it on to a debt collection agency, thus adding fees after they've made a reasonable attempt to ask for the money.

Or for £340, they might take you to court as it's a reasonable amount.

I'd try and find the money to put into your PP account!

Lighthouse_in_the_dark

sad truth is paypal makes more commision from the credit card company then your sale they will always favour a charge back.

soolin

Lighthouse_in_the_dark wrote: »

sad truth is paypal makes more commision from the credit card company then your sale they will always favour a charge back.

No, they follow a set of clearly printed guidelines that even OP accepts he ignored. We are now trying to work out if there is anything at all OP can do here.