paypal/ebay selling issue.

[antneb]

Last month i sold some sports equipment on ebay for £200. i have just gone to buy something only to find out that paypal have refunded the buyer his money. i have a tracking receipt and know it was delivered and signed for by him. Coincidentally on the same day that he put in a dispute saying he hadnt received his goods. hmmmm.

 

as my paypal account is old the email address on their in redundant so i didnt receive the emails saying what was happening so i couldnt give them the postage details. when i asked them about this they pretty much said tough u should of checked your emails (which is true i suppose).

 

however i am still £200 out of pocket and the buyer is sat on a full refund and has the goods ive posted. I have tried to contact him but to no reply. What has annoyed me the most is that the tracking times says it was delivered virtually the same time as he placed the dispute, almost to the minute which has got me suspicious.

 

if i dont hear back from the guy, do i have any recourse? would a court claim be worth it?

[dx100uk]

show ebay the delivery proof signiture?

 

dx

[andydd]

Wel..no doubt Paypal/Ebay did contact you and they cant really be blamed if youve havnt updated the email address, in fact that is rather foolish.

 

Ordinarily you would of been asked to provide poostage tracking ,etc and you may of been successful, It may be too late now.

 

Who would you make a court claim against, ?. It would appear Ebay/PP have done nothing wrong and complied with their T&C, its unclear how a claim against the buyer would work, after all..it was ebay/paypal that refunded him, although clearly there is some sort of fraud/crime, have you tried contacting the Police, no doubt they may not be interested, but it may be that he has done this a lot to others.

 

Andy

[Fox Morris]

Unfortunately the eBay and PayPal terms of service are skewed significantly in favour of the buyer. You really have to be proactive about disputes and not being contactable makes this impossible.

 

I would forward a copy of the delivery receipt to eBay with a full explanation of the circumstances and hope that they reopen the dispute. I would mention that you need confirmation from the seller that the signature on the receipt is not theirs (or a member of their household) so that you can raise a dispute with the courier. It may also help if you let eBay know that the buyer has refused to cooperate.

 

Assuming you sent the package insured, which at £200 I would have hoped so, contacting the courier is a good idea as they may be able to get further with eBay.

 

Failing that I would report the buyer to the police and go through the process all over again with a crime reference number to hand. They police may not actually help, but the CRN provides some leverage.

 

It's also worth looking at the profile of the buyer to see if you can find anything to suggest this happened to other sellers.

[antneb]

would the fact that i have proof that the buyer has received the goods (address and a copy of his signature) and the dubious timings of the dispute not be enough for me to apply to the county courts against him for my money back?

[andydd]

would the fact that i have proof that the buyer has received the goods (address and a copy of his signature) and the dubious timings of the dispute not be enough for me to apply to the county courts against him for my money back?

 

I dunno..its a bit confusing..you sold goods and he paid for them, the confusion arises in that he then fraudulantly said he hadnt got them and ebay/refunded him using your money, it prob is possible but needs some clear thinking to get your head around and more importantly explain it clearly to a Judge. Thats why (as suggested) contacting the Police may be a good idea.

 

Did PP take money from your account or is it now minus £200 ?

 

Andy

[antneb]

hi andydd. paypal have put my account into minus 195.00 but it now means that i cannot use that account because it is now a minus balance. ive sent him several emails and so have paypal when i complained but so far he has failed to reply to any of them, so its obvious he has no intention of returning the money.

[Lillibelle]

We had exactly the same and even though the buyer gave us positive feedback he put in a 'non received' dispute and PP refunded him. It became a massive hassle and we ended up dropping Ebay. (was £60)

[antneb]

its so frustrating isnt it? what happened with paypal did you just take the hit on the money?

 

We had exactly the same and even though the buyer gave us positive feedback he put in a 'non received' dispute and PP refunded him. It became a massive hassle and we ended up dropping Ebay. (was £60)

[andydd]

hi andydd. paypal have put my account into minus 195.00 but it now means that i cannot use that account because it is now a minus balance. ive sent him several emails and so have paypal when i complained but so far he has failed to reply to any of them, so its obvious he has no intention of returning the money.

 

Its well known that ebay/PP rareley/if ever pursue customers through the courts, (and it would appear you have a defence/counterclaim) you will though be pestered by DCA's and your account will be unusable, in theory you cant open a new account although it is possible in practise.

[antneb]

Just an update on this situation. i heard from the buyer finally last night. it appears that he assumed that paypal would close the case even though he didnt inform them he'd received the goods. he also says he put the dispute in 3 days before delivery, which i know is untrue. apparently he is going to return the refund friday. i have to say im sceptical that this will actually happen though. we will see.

[andydd]

Just an update on this situation. i heard from the buyer finally last night. it appears that he assumed that paypal would close the case even though he didnt inform them he'd received the goods. he also says he put the dispute in 3 days before delivery, which i know is untrue. apparently he is going to return the refund friday. i have to say im sceptical that this will actually happen though. we will see.

 

Was this in writing ?

[antneb]

yeah via email. he asked if i wanted my goods back (which were new but he's now used them) or my payment again. i asked for my money.

 

Am i right in thinking that now i have a personal email from him stating that he does owe me the money and he will return it that i have a stronger case should i need to take any action against him?

Edited January 3, 2013 by antneb
additional info.

[andydd]

Yep..you guessed it

[antneb]

well we will wait and see now. he said the end of the week so im guessing he's spent it and waiting for pay day.

[ericsbrother]

if no payment, have you tried speaking to Paypal customer services on the phone. Give them a call and if someone with an Irish accent answers you stand a chance of getting somewhere. You may ahve to try the court route but name Paypal as a co-defendant -but they may very well make a no fault payment to you and deal with your buyer some other way

[antneb]

hi, ive spoken to payapl as they phoned to try and get me to clear my negative balance. i told them that as far as i was concerned i didnt owe them a penny so would be making any payment.

so far still no payment but another email to say he will pay today (tues) as he has to put the money in his bank, so obviously he's spent it even though he knew it should have been returned. Im not banking on getting it back to be honest. ill give him this week and see where i stand.