Question
I just had a bidder from waaay back in May file a chargeback saying that the transaction was "unauthorized" (she paid through PayPal). I found out that she has filed "unauthorized" chargebacks on at least two other sellers besides me. She even left me positive feedback and everything.
According to her bidding history, she apparently went on a jewelry-buying spree, and my guess is that she got sticker shock when the credit card bills rolling in. Who knows.
To the best of my knowledge, she hasn't responded to anyone's e-mails (I'm in contact with the other two sellers), nor will she answer her phone. I'm still hoping there's just been an honest mistake somehow, but it's looking more and more like she's "playing the system".
The amount of money involved (that I know of) is at least $550 total so far, but based on the number of items she's purchased, I suspect that there may be more complaints out there.
Anyway, her PayPal address was confirmed, and I have proof of delivery and did everything by the book.
BUT ... I'm no longer verified. I changed banks to one that's closer to my home, and hadn't updated my new bank account with PayPal. I WAS verified at the time of the bidder's payment.
Do y'all know if being unverified now will cause me to automatically lose the chargeback? My account is sitting at -$135 right now (it was empty when they yanked the "money" out, so now I'm negative).
eBay and PayPal have both been alerted to her activities and are conducting an investigation, but in the meantime, I'm pretty much stuck until PayPal makes a decision. I guess I could call PayPal, but I'd really prefer to have everything in writing. I sent them a certified letter this morning as a follow-up.
I can't afford to lose $135 right now ... AND she's got my tanzanite ring (worth 2-3x that), to boot. That's outright theft and probably mail fraud too. I can't seem to win for losing, these days.
And she's still actively bidding. (I would SO love to e-mail those sellers and warn them, but yeah, I know ... it's against the rulez. )
Answer
contact the local police department in their home town. Sounds like fraud to me. Keep track of the other sellers this is beeing done to.
You might also file a report with the online FBI, and go file a mail fraud with the post office.
Answer
Originally Posted by 10x
contact the local police department in their home town. Sounds like fraud to me. Keep track of the other sellers this is beeing done to.
You might also file a report with the online FBI, and go file a mail fraud with the post office.
I've already done all that per PayPal's suggestions, except for contacting her local police department, which I'll make a note to do.
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You might also notify your State's Attorney General's office and the one in her State. Give them the police report or number. And perhaps the district attorney's (prosecutor's) office in your area.
People who game the system stealing from others need to be so tied up defending themselves in prosecutions that they don't have time to defraud others.
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Originally Posted by dstuber
You might also notify your State's Attorney General's office and the one in her State. Give them the police report or number. And perhaps the district attorney's (prosecutor's) office in your area.
Thanks for the suggestion!
People who game the system stealing from others need to be so tied up defending themselves in prosecutions that they don't have time to defraud others.
Exactly. And if I do lose the PayPal complaint, with all the reports I've filed, I bet she'll spend more than $135-worth of time alone trying to straighten everything back out.
Ya know, if there was truly a problem, I would've considered buying the ring back from her in a couple of weeks (gotta pay a couple of household bills first). I loved that ring, and wouldn't have sold it if I hadn't needed the moo-lah at the time. But she just slapped me, and at least two other sellers, with chargebacks instead.
Answer
Originally Posted by moonrise
I just had a bidder from waaay back in May file a chargeback saying that the transaction was "unauthorized" (she paid through PayPal). I found out that she has filed "unauthorized" chargebacks on at least two other sellers besides me. She even left me positive feedback and everything.
Moonrise, It sounds like the credit card owner is claiming the card was "stolen", not used by her. This means any purchase amounts go back to the cc owner and the seller is left holding the bag unless they can find who used the credit card and then go after them for the return of the items or payment.
You said you have proof of delivery? Is it Signature Confirmation? PayPal requires Sig Con if value is over $250 along with the online tracking to confirmed addresses, etc. I mean, can you prove it was actually the credit card holder that got your items?
It is not strange the buyer is still buying but are they still buying the same kind of items? More jewelry? Could it look like a scam is still in progress to PayPal investigators? Did the credit card holder file first with PayPal or their credit card?
There are many details to a chargeback that can vary so one claim is not always the same as others. About all the seller can do until a final descision is made by PayPal, and the return is actually given the scammer, is sitback and hang on and hope that your response to PayPal with all your transaction information is good enough for PayPal to take your side/defense.
Keep in touch with PayPal to make sure they have no questions about information from you and that you have completely answered their question in the time limit PayPal gave in their first email to you (it may have been from 3 to 7 days).
Good Luck with your defense
Answer
Originally Posted by moonrise
eBay and PayPal have both been alerted to her activities and are conducting an investigation, but in the meantime, I'm pretty much stuck until PayPal makes a decision. I guess I could call PayPal, but I'd really prefer to have everything in writing. I sent them a certified letter this morning as a follow-up.
Moonrise, I noticed you said "I'd really prefer to have everything in writing". As I said before, you must answer all of PayPal's needs in a timely manner. This can be as short as three days. Do not rely on snail mail because you will loose due to time limits in answering PayPal's investigation.
You should send any email communication, tracking numbers and other information by email or fax but do it in a timely manner (the time limit given by PayPal in their first email to you). I don't think you will get a "hard copy" from PayPal. They are a electronic company and rely on online communications, hence the online tracking number requirement.
People have had every piece of paperwork to prove they were in the right but were a day late giving the information to PayPal so they lost their claim and money.
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>>You said you have proof of delivery?<<
Yes.
>>Is it Signature Confirmation? PayPal requires Sig Con if value is over $250 along with the online tracking to confirmed addresses, etc. I mean, can you prove it was actually the credit card holder that got your items?<<
The total was $135, so SC wasn't a requirement. But yes, the Delivery Confirmation number shows that the package was delivered to her confirmed PayPal shipping address.
>>Did the credit card holder file first with PayPal or their credit card?<<
She didn't file a standard PayPal complaint. She went straight to a chargeback. The auction ended back in May, so I'd say that too much time had elapsed for her to file a regular complaint.
>>It is not strange the buyer is still buying but are they still buying the same kind of items? More jewelry? Could it look like a scam is still in progress to PayPal investigators?<<
At this very moment she's currently bidding on CD's and DVD's (LOTS of them), but she bought a couple more jewelry pieces about 2 weeks ago. Before then, she's bought mostly jewelry, with some CD's and odd stuff thrown in. So it could go either way, as far as looking like a scam.
Thing is, if someone hacked her eBay and PayPal accounts, the hacker is having the stuff shipped to her confirmed address (her credit card address). The hacker is even leaving positive feedback for the purchases. Not a likely scenario, I don't think.
Plus, if she really didn't buy all this stuff, why would she wait over 3 months to dispute it?
>>Moonrise, I noticed you said "I'd really prefer to have everything in writing". As I said before, you must answer all of PayPal's needs in a timely manner. This can be as short as three days. Do not rely on snail mail because you will loose due to time limits in answering PayPal's investigation.<<
I sent the certified letter as a follow-up to responding to their e-mail. I sent my online response literally within minutes of receiving the chargeback notification, because I was sitting here at the 'puter when the e-mail came in.
Haven't heard anything new from PayPal.
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Hello moonrise, It sounds like you do have your bases covered. I was concerned you were so busy trying to find out what to do about filing police reports, etc, that you might miss the PayPal deadlines. Glad you have not.
I think it might also be a problem if you file police reports before your PayPal investigation is completed. If you do not loose this dispute and you have file reports they will be false and need to be withdrawn by you.
Best of luck with this.
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Looks like it's gonna be a big WHEW!!!!!!!!!, I think.
I finally heard from the bidder. She said:
I just returned from vacation and as I mentioned in responses* to you thru eBay this is a big mistake, I am attempting to get to the bottom of it. There are numerous requests for chargebacks that I did not request; I will speak to the credit card company in an attempt to find out what is going on.
I wrote her back, thanked her for contacting me, and offered to find the phone number for PayPal.
Yes, please send me the number for paypal it might be helpful. It is 1:30 am here and I am just finishing returning emails to all the emails I have gotten so far about chargebacks that I did not request. What a mess! I just got back from vacation and found over 100 emails from eBay and sellers related to this mix up. You will here from me or paypal as soon as I get to the bottom of this.
Ya know ... this is pretty scary and very strange. If the "numerous" chargebacks weren't filed by her, the credit card company had to have done it (I guess?). I can see the credit card company putting a block on her card as far as future purchases if they thought something was suspicious, but why would they try to reverse charges from 3+ months ago?
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*Not sure what she means by that, since these are the only two messages I've received from her. Maybe she's got me confused with another seller or something. Oh well, no biggie.