Paypal investigating me

kit

Thank you to cyprusbabe71 who gave me the idea to report paypal to the 'watchdog' tv programme. I have done this and would recommend that anyone that has had problems with paypal / ebay to do this as well.
If enough of us complain they may look in to it.
I think something needs to be done and am willing to try anything

Do you think it would be ok to email the buyer to advise him that I am going to make a statement to the police and give him a final chance to pay up? Or would this be harrassment? I dont want to get in to trouble!
I am pretty much 100% sure that he has used a fake name, I did a 2005 electoral role search and his 'name' does not live at his address (didnt manage to get the name of who does live there - they wanted £15 for that info!).

exotic_2

Kit, firstly well done for determindly pursuing this!

Personally I would not let him know the police are investigating him. Knowledge is power. The less he knows about the situation he's in now, the less he can scheme up to cover himself if/when confronted by the police for a statement.

As for telling him about the police in order to give him a final chance to repay, that's similar to a shop security guard saying, "Okay we caught you stealing those diamond rings but, as I've just made you hand them over, you're free to go try elsewhere".

However, if the police for whatever reason decide to take it no further, then of course use it to scare him into paying up! :eek:

Good luck :T

royalsteve

Kam wrote:

I must admit that I think agree with the buyer, as when he pays for the goods, he has fulfilled his part of the contract. Thus, feedback should be left immediately by the seller.

I dont agree...as a Power Seller, I always leave feedback to good customers as soon as they have confirmed receipt of the item. The feedback should be based on the experience of each party during the whole process.

As an example

Scenario 1 - A sells to B, B pays, A leaves B positive feedback, B is a pain in the butt emailing A every 5 mins asking where the item is, then reports A to ebay for no delivery after 24 hours

Scenario 2 - A sells to B, B pays, B is a pain in the butt emailing A every 5 mins asking where the item is, then reports A to ebay for no delivery after 24 hours, A leaves B neutral/no or even negative feedback

think ill stick to my way

royalsteve

kit wrote:

This has gone beyond leaving feedback - he has conned 3 sellers, 2 of which have left good feedback.

This PROVES that feedback should not be left as soon as the buyer has paid. The other 2 sellers left good feedback for this buyer and now he has ran off with their items without paying - if I had left good feedback then he may have been able to con others with the same account until ebay shut him down. At least now I can leave negative feedback and others will know not to let him buy their items.

His username is 'closureforyou'. Maybe I should have seen this as a bit of a sign that he was a conman.

On the plus side, the police have contacted me and asked me to go in and give a statement so they can look in to it on the grounds of theft and deception. :T

yep, feedback should only be given at the end based on the WHOLE experience.......you wouldnt provide a review of a film after watching a trailer would you?

danmanchester

royalsteve wrote:

yep, feedback should only be given at the end based on the WHOLE experience.......you wouldnt provide a review of a film after watching a trailer would you?

Very good point..I must admit I've always gone with leaving feedback as soon as someone paid but I can see now how that can backfire badly as this thread shows.

bleugh

..........even ebay, in the selling manager standard feedback reminder template says

"once you leave feedback, i will do the same" ,

as a seller you should ONLY leave feedback once it's been left for you
as a buyer you should leave feedback IMMEDIATLEY when you're happy

kit

Update!

After a bit of an arguement with paypal via emails (or rather via their automated email system) I have got this response:

"In relation to the transaction currently on hold for £97.00 GBP the
investigation can take up to 30 days to complete. The grounds for PayPal holding the funds are that we have had a report that the funds may
potentially be unauthorized, while the investigation is on-going we can
not give further details. We appreciate your continued patience in
relation to this matter."

Does this mean I was paid with a stolen credit card??

Why can they not give me further details seeing that its MY money that they have 'on hold'?? How stupid is that?!

:mad: I am usually a fairly placid person but I'm beginning to get angry now :mad:

skylight

Really sorry - but if the payment was made from a stolen card, then it never was "your" money in the first place.

I know its annoying and heartbreaking, but you need to accept that this is highly unlikely to be found in your favour.

And yes - I have been on the recieveing end too.

cafenervosa_2

kit wrote:

This has gone beyond leaving feedback - he has conned 3 sellers, 2 of which have left good feedback.

This PROVES that feedback should not be left as soon as the buyer has paid. The other 2 sellers left good feedback for this buyer and now he has ran off with their items without paying - if I had left good feedback then he may have been able to con others with the same account until ebay shut him down. At least now I can leave negative feedback and others will know not to let him buy their items.

His username is 'closureforyou'. Maybe I should have seen this as a bit of a sign that he was a conman.

On the plus side, the police have contacted me and asked me to go in and give a statement so they can look in to it on the grounds of theft and deception. :T

Sorry to hear about you getting scammed like that, it is very worrying indeed when paypal can take the money back. They even have the cheek to keep there £12 fee's too, what a joke!

The only trouble is that if we don't offer paypal then our sales will suffer big time. I still think paypal is a must, its a risk you gotta take.

cafenervosa_2

charlotte664 wrote:

Really sorry - but if the payment was made from a stolen card, then it never was "your" money in the first place.

I know its annoying and heartbreaking, but you need to accept that this is highly unlikely to be found in your favour.

And yes - I have been on the recieveing end too.

Yea this can happen to any business if it be ASDA or a small seller on ebay, the trick is to make enough profits so that you can account for these type of losses when they happen.