Strange PayPal claim situation, possible scammer? 0

[BishopT]

I’m sorry if this is in the wrong area, but I know many here have experience selling on eBay and elsewhere online.

A couple of weeks ago, I sold a small lot of books on eBay to a seller with 0 user rating (Looks like his purchase from me was his first activity on eBay). I have sold to new users a few times and thought nothing of it, but in retrospect his username seems like pretty much nonsense. I shipped the items out to a real address, received payment notifications from eBay and PayPal, and it shows that he received the books a week ago.

A week later (last night) I receive an email from PayPal (and not eBay to be noted) saying the buyer has started a claim stating that he did not authorize the purchase. I checked my PayPal account and sure enough my balance is in the negatives to his purchase indicating that I need to add funds to resolve. I cannot get a reply from the guy on eBay and it’s really bothering me since I can’t contact PayPal customer service just yet.

Has anyone had anything similar happe? The most puzzling thing is why didn’t he start the claim through eBay, as is normal protocol, and why has PayPal already seemingly sided with him? This is bizarre. If he got hacked or whatever and wants a refund I totally understand that but I’m seeing no signs of the books being shipped back to me. Am I being scammed?

[Buzzetta]

4 hours ago, BishopT said:

I’m sorry if this is in the wrong area, but I know many here have experience selling on eBay and elsewhere online.

A couple of weeks ago, I sold a small lot of books on eBay to a seller with 0 user rating (Looks like his purchase from me was his first activity on eBay). I have sold to new users a few times and thought nothing of it, but in retrospect his username seems like pretty much nonsense. I shipped the items out to a real address, received payment notifications from eBay and PayPal, and it shows that he received the books a week ago.

A week later (last night) I receive an email from PayPal (and not eBay to be noted) saying the buyer has started a claim stating that he did not authorize the purchase. I checked my PayPal account and sure enough my balance is in the negatives to his purchase indicating that I need to add funds to resolve. I cannot get a reply from the guy on eBay and it’s really bothering me since I can’t contact PayPal customer service just yet.

Has anyone had anything similar happe? The most puzzling thing is why didn’t he start the claim through eBay, as is normal protocol, and why has PayPal already seemingly sided with him? This is bizarre. If he got hacked or whatever and wants a refund I totally understand that but I’m seeing no signs of the books being shipped back to me. Am I being scammed?

Yes.

This is what happened to me with a known scam address at 600 Market Street in Port Reading NJ along with several others. 

Eventually PayPal either ate the loss or denied the credit card company their money and the credit card company ate the loss OR the person whose credit card was stolen ate the money.  In the end I kept the money. 

You have one of two situations going on.

1 - The owner of the credit card has had their card stolen and someone is using it fraudulently.  Given that you have a 0 feedback buyer though with a nonsense username, I would say this is most likely in THIS scenario. 

2 - The owner of the credit card has actually made the purchase and is now declaring that the card was used fraudulently in an effort to keep free stuff. I have dealt with that as well. 

 

This is what it will boil down to on PayPal.  If you printed the label from PayPal without any changes in the address then PayPal can tell that from their end.  If the transaction amounted to over $750 (or is it $500) then you should have gotten signature confirmation.  Remind them that you should be covered by this in the event of seller protection.  It will take a couple of weeks but anytime this has happened, a printed label shows that you did what you were supposed to and you should be covered by PayPal's seller protection.   

If you did not print the label from eBay or PayPal then you are most likely S.O.O.L. 

 

[01TheDude]

https://badbuyerlist.org/

[BishopT]

Yep, it appears someone made the purchase other than the recipient. The claim was made through their bank so both eBay and PayPal’s hands are tied here. I guess I won’t be getting my books back (thankfully I have a few copies of each still). Hope this doesn’t happen again... any tips on maybe preventing this in the future, like maybe I should try to communicate with zero feedback buyers?

Edited July 7, 2019 by BishopT

[Buzzetta]

19 minutes ago, BishopT said:

Yep, it appears someone made the purchase other than the recipient. The claim was made through their bank so both eBay and PayPal’s hands are tied here. I guess I won’t be getting my books back (thankfully I have a few copies of each still). Hope this doesn’t happen again... any tips on maybe preventing this in the future, like maybe I should try to communicate with zero feedback buyers?

Call PayPal and tell them that it’s their job to vet buyers using their service to make payments.  Cite seller protection but again this only works if you printed the label through them AND the transaction went through as goods and services. 

[BishopT]

I did not print a label through them. Maybe I should get one of those printers after all, haha. Thanks for your response, it is at least comforting to know that similar things have happened to others.

And jeez, eBay customer service is a nightmare. Paypal’s is a little better, but I’m still disappointed that they can’t do anything just yet. I went to the PayPal claim response area and uploaded screenshots of order and shipping confirmation as well as the shipping number. I also stated that I wanted my items returned, but I think that’s futile.

[Gaard]

You don't need a special printer (or paper). Any printer will do.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Gaard

[Buzzetta]

2 hours ago, BishopT said:

I did not print a label through them. Maybe I should get one of those printers after all, haha. Thanks for your response, it is at least comforting to know that similar things have happened to others.

And jeez, eBay customer service is a nightmare. Paypal’s is a little better, but I’m still disappointed that they can’t do anything just yet. I went to the PayPal claim response area and uploaded screenshots of order and shipping confirmation as well as the shipping number. I also stated that I wanted my items returned, but I think that’s futile.

I do not have a label printer. 

I use a regular printer then I cut the label out and tape it to the box. 

But if you did not print the label through eBay or PayPal you are out whatever the cost of the item was. 

[masterlogan2000]

23 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

But if you did not print the label through eBay or PayPal you are out whatever the cost of the item was.  

Technically he'd be out the cost of shipping plus the books he sent out.

Edited July 7, 2019 by masterlogan2000

[Buzzetta]

2 minutes ago, masterlogan2000 said:

Technically he'd be out the cost of shipping plus the books he sent out.

Correct - he’s out even more than I thought. 

[Mmehdy]

Scams make E=bay a shoot for both buyer and seller, my general rule and I have bought not sold thru e-bay..is unless you are dealing with MCS etc....be prepared to lose money, especially to folks with little or no feedback. You might want to watch out for craigslist in the area you sent the books and you might want to provide a list of what you sent. 

[kav]

I think you can block buyers with low feedback or no feedback?

[Buzzetta]

1 hour ago, kav said:

I think you can block buyers with low feedback or no feedback?

No... I wish... last I saw you could only block buyers who has a certain amount of incomplete or cancelled transactions over a certain time frame. If you can block zero feedback buyers then I would be interested.  The problem is that eBay has been glitchy lately.  A zero feedback buyer may appear that way until you click on the zero and see that there might be hundreds if not thousands of feedback.  I’ve called and asked them about this and tech told me last year they were working on it.  

I encountered it again last week. 

[Poka]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

No... I wish... last I saw you could only block buyers who has a certain amount of incomplete or cancelled transactions over a certain time frame. If you can block zero feedback buyers then I would be interested.  The problem is that eBay has been glitchy lately.  A zero feedback buyer may appear that way until you click on the zero and see that there might be hundreds if not thousands of feedback.  I’ve called and asked them about this and tech told me last year they were working on it.  

I encountered it again last week. 

It is possible.

 

go to my eBay account: preferences

Choose site preference

click buyers who... under buyer requirements

 

Remember to also click the next box to apply to existing and future listings.

 

having said this I never had any issues with zero fb buyers. The main issues I have had are with buyers who has 10-50 fb and now think they are experts

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Poka
Just because

[kav]

10 minutes ago, Poka said:

It is possible.

 

go to my eBay account: preferences

Choose site preference

click buyers who... under buyer requirements

 

Remember to also click the next box to apply to existing and future listings.

 

having said this I never had any issues with zero fb buyers. The main issues I have had are with buyers who has 10-50 fb and now think they are experts

 

You can only block bidders who have won 1 items or more in last 10 days.  Buyer that comes out of nowhere and buys you cannot stop.

[Poka]

4 minutes ago, kav said:

You can only block bidders who have won 1 items or more in last 10 days.  Buyer that comes out of nowhere and buys you cannot stop.

oops - you are right

[kav]

2 minutes ago, Poka said:

oops - you are right

Buzz is pretty much right so I just verified.

[BishopT]

 I appreciate the feedback, I’m just fortunate that this didn’t happen with any of my better books.  Full disclosure I didn’t pay more than six dollars for all of the books included in this transaction, but a loss is still a loss. And who knows they may come around on this and help me out. In the meantime I am going to be extremely careful about who I sell to in the future, but I have been very fortunate to have had great experiences so far (aside from this).

[ADAMANTIUM]

3 minutes ago, BishopT said:

 I appreciate the feedback, I’m just fortunate that this didn’t happen with any of my better books.  Full disclosure I didn’t pay more than six dollars for all of the books included in this transaction, but a loss is still a loss. And who knows they may come around on this and help me out. In the meantime I am going to be extremely careful about who I sell to in the future, but I have been very fortunate to have had great experiences so far (aside from this).

@Buzzetta couldn't the just match the tracking address with what eBay told him it was without printing through PayPal?

I mean if both are identical, why would it differ?

I'm thinking of printing out the labels from eBay now, but I don't have a bunch of priority mail boxes at home... just regular cardboard boxes, how do you know the printing label will charge enough?

Do you just pack it at the post office?

I'm new to selling on ebay...

[ADAMANTIUM]

Just curious of what PayPal says about the legality of not printing a shipping label through ebay, or what makes that a disqualification..

.

Obviously humans make errors, but seemingly it would be easy to verify the label address even if it was manually put on.... I get why PayPal or eBay would "try" but I am surprised that the excuse "sticks"....