My first Chargeback as a seller...what to do?

babybimbles

Hello, im back with another problem...

Sold a dress as a buy now to a US buyer. She pays but the payment comes up as 'pending' on my end (reached my limit on account). So I ask her to cancel and repay - she refuses but then does it and the same thing happens. She then contacts paypal regarding cancellation of this payment just to make sure she is doing the right thing by cancelling. I ask her to pay a third time knowing full well she doesnt want the dress at the price she bought it at. She does it one final time saying she wants to cancel the transaction if it doesn't go through. I have already posted the item (in haste) so tell her it's too late. She says she will send the dress back if the payment doesn't go through. Luckily it does.

Now I dont hear anything until a couple of days when she asks where her dress is. I say its in the post and I have tracking (RM signed for). She then sends me another message saying 'Received it....thanks'.

Two days ago she uses chargeback. It's worth £123. Her reasons for doing so? 'Unauthorised activity' on her account. I think she hasn't received credit for one of her two cancelled payments so check my history and see that on my end, they have been cancelled and her only payment is now 'held' and temporary frozen by paypal. I respond to the dispute and tell paypal that I have not double charged blah blah. I also email her and surprise surprise, no response.

I then get a message from ebay saying that she has requested my contact info. I smell something fishy here so promptly email her asking her why she wont respond to my messages yet requests for my contact info. She then sends me a message today saying there has been unauthorised activity on her account (over a `1mth period) and ebay 'knows' about it and that she has sent the dress back! She just wanted to know if she sent it to the right address!! I can't believe that. I told her that I didnt take returns and that she had not told me she was going to return the dress and can I please have tracking info as I hadnt received the dress. And I didnt give her my address in the message in case she was going to claim she had sent it to that address when in fact she hasn't sent it at all! My address would have been on the package but who knows, she may disposed of that......

These are her words:

'I had unauthorised activity on my ebay and email accts for a period of one month and did not authorise any credit card usage. The dress that was purchased was returned to you in the mail in the UK. Ebay was made aware of these issues some time ago. If you did not get it in the post pls confirm the address (I was checking for your contact info) and I will submit for teh insurance to cover the package. Thanks'

I have printed off (to fax to paypal) no less than 12 messages from her from the time she bought the dress until now. One message states how she spent hours on the phone to paypal about the situation (how to cancel etc.) and she sent several messages asking to cancel the transaction and how she would send the dress back now....

I don't know how im going to fax all these papers to paypal and how detailed to make my cover letter. Do they give a damn or will they really read all the words?

Im sorry to have taken up so much space but I really want some advice from you paypal experts.

Thank you so much xx baby xx

greenstreetprince

were you eligible for seller protection with this transaction? (check the payment details of the 3rd payment which went through fine)

what does the royal mail website say when you track the item reference?

if answer to question 1 is yes, and answer to question 2 is that it is delivered you should get your money back from paypal.

Blacksheep1979

don't see how there would be unauthorized transactions where the items would be posted to her....

babybimbles

Hi, thanks for replying! Im just so shocked right now as the case is showing as closed and it says that with the info I have provided paypal is trying to retrieve the funds from the buyer's credit card company but they cant promise it will be in full and it may take up to 75 days :mad:


I think I have read things carefully but as I have a premier account I am protected. I tracked the item and it says it has passed the package on to the international delivery whatever meaning its only trackable from here to the US (she was a US buyer) - but she has stated in her message that she has received it.

I looked at her feedback and buying history and there are only 3 transactions since April. SO where is the unauthorised activity? Plus she has left negative feedback for someone who did chargeback on her - she doesnt sell much, her feedback is only 21 but she's obviously been hit badly as the item was worth $1700 !!!


I have emailed the 'chargeback' team saying I wish to fax over everything I have but could I have a named contact as I don't want to be wasting my time. Ive printed off the hotmail messages but it's so small - i'll need to underline it all.

I have heard of paypal horror stories - I really can't believe that they can just take money out of your account like that!!

If there is anything else I should know then pls do let me know!!

Yes I did think it was weird that unauthorised activity should take place and be delivered to her address. SHe is so so lying!!! :mad:

Will keep updated, fingers crossed, xx

greeneye

Once parcel gets to the states you can track it through their postal service.
Think it's here:
http://www.usps.com/shipping/trackandconfirm.htm

(I rang royalmail and they gave me the web address last time one of mine went astray in the states.)

zorber

i feel your first mistake was to ask the seller to repay the money several times. Why didnt you just upgrade your account??

As for paypal protection, when they say try it normally means they will do nothing. the protection is to protect them, if the buyer does a charge back with her credit card then there is little they can do, where as if she has used balance or debit card the they may be able to stop the refund.

babybimbles

zorber wrote: »

i feel your first mistake was to ask the seller to repay the money several times. Why didnt you just upgrade your account??

As for paypal protection, when they say try it normally means they will do nothing. the protection is to protect them, if the buyer does a charge back with her credit card then there is little they can do, where as if she has used balance or debit card the they may be able to stop the refund.

It didn't occur to me to do this as paypal told me on the phone that there was a technical hitch - also why do they give you the option of 'accept' or 'refuse' if it's going to show up as invalid anyway, but thanks for your advice, i'm upgrading my account.

So do you think my attempts will be in vain to get my money back?

digerati

The buyer is attempting a well-known scam known as obtaining goods by deception whereby a buyer uses PayPal to pay, waits for the goods to arrive, then lodges a chargeback against PayPal claiming unauthorized use. PayPal then debits the seller for the fraudulent funds, leaving the seller out the item plus shipping & packaging costs.

Since the buyer is in the USA your best chance for recovery of your funds or item is to contact the USPS Postal Inspectors. You can file a Mail Fraud complaint with them since you sent the item via Royal Mail and those items are delivered in the USA by the US Postal Service. The Postal Inspectors will assist you and have an excellent success rate.

You'll need to print out the complaint form and send printed copies of all archived emails with headers intact, PayPal payment details, eBay auction listings, etc.

Next, file a complaint with the buyer's local Police for "obtaining goods /theft by deception" and get them to open a Criminal case so you'll get a case number. Document all your emails and phone calls, who you speak to, and what action they will take in building a criminal case. If local Police are not interested, contact a District Attorney or the State Attorney in buyer's locale.

If you can locate other victims of this fraudster, it will reinforce to Police and Postal investigators that it isn't a routine civil matter, but a clear case of premeditated fraud. Contact other victims by checking buyer's eBay feedback (replace scam with buyer's ID) for other complaints. Give your case number to other victims so they can coordinate with investigators.

Do NOT warn the buyer that you're taking these steps. The US Postal Inspector and US law enforcement will have a much easier time if the fraudster isn't alerted. At least you'll have some chance of either recovering your item, money or getting some justice.

You should contact PayPal and eBay to make complaints and ask them to cooperate with investigators. Lastly you can always send a name & shame letter warning the editors of local newspapers in the buyer's home town or city that a scammer lurks in their midst and is giving their country and nice town a bad name abroad... they'll often run it on a slow news day.

UK PayPal phone 08707-307-191 or freephone 0800-358-7929

Hope this helps :-)

Cute_'n'_Quirky

Digerati that is brilliant advice - thank you for posting!

US residents don't usually buy from the UK because we are so expensive, the exchange rate is so bad for them and the postal rates are so high!

It is good to have thie information, though.

babybimbles

Digerati, that's great advice, thanks so much.

Do you think Im ok to wait until next week to start this though? Its just that it's my sister's wedding this Saturday and it being an Asian wedding, things are very very hectic. However, if time is everything I will have to sort something out!
thanks again

digerati

There's no big hurry to file with the USPS Postal Inspectors or Police. I would however contact eBay to file a Non-Paying Buyer dispute so you get your seller's fees back as it needs to be done within a limited time of the auction close date.

File for a Non-Paying Buyer

The rest you can do at your leisure.