Paypal - friends and family

PierremontQuaker03

Hi, I made a payment (stupidly) to buy something from facebook, thru paypal and did it as a friends and family. It was not a lot of money and I realise eventually doing things this way eventually I would come a cropper.  The item did not arrive, I asked for proof of postage, and then I was bocked.
Anyway I have that persons email address that I made the payment to. Firstly, how can I notify paypal that this account is dodgy. Secondly, how can I  find out more about this person from an email address. I would like to track them down and say hello. Maybe find them on other forms of social media etc. 

born_again

You can ring paypal, but doubt they will do anything. Given you paid via FF which is not a method for buying goods.

Tracking from email could be fun, unless they have used their name. If it was bought via facebook, then they have a FB profile to follow.

soolin

With just an email address I doubt you can get any info at all, email addresses are easy to get and dump as soon as you finish a scam. 

Even if PayPal hold information about the seller they are very unlikely to tell you and even reporting them might not work as as far as PayPal were concerned you sent a gift payment to a friend or family member. Was this item bought from marketplace or a group, if it was from a group then report to admin as they can at least block the scammer. 

Undervalued

In a way, by using friends and family for what was actually a transaction with a stranger, you have deliberately deprived PayPal of their fee that would otherwise have applied. So they are unlikely to be very sympathetic!

Obviously that doesn't mean you should have been defrauded by the "seller" but beyond doing some detective work online there is little you can do. It is very unlikely the police will be interested unless you can show criminal intent on the part of the seller. If the item was to have been posted to you they will doubtless claim that it was sent but not delivered. Legally it is still their responsibility but almost zero chance of getting any redress even if you manage to get in touch.

RefluentBeans

Yeah you can report to PayPal and they’ll likely take action against the account but unlikely to get any refund. The account probably will have been set up not as a business and as a ‘normal’ account - it’s them who PayPal will be more annoyed with, as it’s out of the sellers money that PayPal make their fees. At the very least they’ll put a lag on future payments being able to be withdrawn. 

Whenever I’ve used PayPal to pay a company, the payments been integrated into the checkout process like a shop or an invoice has been generated via PayPal and I’ve been sent a link to it. I believe only businesses can generate invoices and so you’ll have additional protection. 

Regarding the police - you can report and get a crime number but they’re unlikely to investigate. Especially for a ‘trivial’ amount of money - if the seller is convicted eventually it can help build a case, but as a solo crime it’s not worth them pouring hours of investigation time into. 

In all honesty, it probably was a scam. You can report the account to Facebook but they’ll just make a new one, and same thing with a PayPal account. Unfortunate a lesson in to only use Friends & Family when you don’t need protection. If the seller doesn’t like that then it’s an instant red flag for me.

soolin

RefluentBeans said:

Yeah you can report to PayPal and they’ll likely take action against the account but unlikely to get any refund. The account probably will have been set up not as a business and as a ‘normal’ account - it’s them who PayPal will be more annoyed with, as it’s out of the sellers money that PayPal make their fees. At the very least they’ll put a lag on future payments being able to be withdrawn. 

Whenever I’ve used PayPal to pay a company, the payments been integrated into the checkout process like a shop or an invoice has been generated via PayPal and I’ve been sent a link to it. I believe only businesses can generate invoices and so you’ll have additional protection. 

Regarding the police - you can report and get a crime number but they’re unlikely to investigate. Especially for a ‘trivial’ amount of money - if the seller is convicted eventually it can help build a case, but as a solo crime it’s not worth them pouring hours of investigation time into. 

In all honesty, it probably was a scam. You can report the account to Facebook but they’ll just make a new one, and same thing with a PayPal account. Unfortunate a lesson in to only use Friends & Family when you don’t need protection. If the seller doesn’t like that then it’s an instant red flag for me.

It isn’t the type of account that determines the fees it’s how the buyer pays. Small businesses can use a standard PayPal account and regardless of that there is no indication that this was bought from a business. It could have been bought from a private seller. 

A friends and family payment is fee free for the recipient and does not link to any goods being sold so there’s no claim that can be made. A payment for goods and services attracts a fee for the recipient but can be linked to named goods or a service and will also show the buyers address . 

bluelad1927

PayPal couldn't care less a you decided not to purchase their 'insurance'. For future reference it works out about 4% for goods and services which in my opinion ion ifairly cheap protection.

Anybody who only wants to take friends and family or bank transfer as payment should be given a wide berth