Boring thread about PayPal ignoring sellers

[kikat]

I need a cyber shoulder to lean on.

A few months back i sold an item on ebay. Buyer paid for item through PayPal. I post item. Three weeks later buyer sends e-mail saying item has'nt arrived. I send buyer info from my post office receipt. A week later i receive e-mail from PayPal with a complaint from buyer claiming item has'nt arrived and that i'm not responding to his e-mails. I send PayPal the info they ask for and waited. Meanwhile my account is limited.

A week or two later they send an e-mail claiming my buyer is in the right and remove the funds from my account (£20.70), but as i only keep around a tenner in it i still owe this fucker £10.70 and they will keep my account limited untill i cough up.

The thing is is that i cannot receive payments and can only fund my account from my unconfirmed bank account inwhich i am now waiting to be confirmed.

What is a concern is that this could happen again with a far higher price to pay to sellers.

Has this happened to you. Is there anything you can do to stop this from happening again.

Your advice is welcome.

P.S The cheeky buying f****r has now left me positive feedback.

[Ziggy_Stardust_72]

I would obtain his phone number through Ebay and give him a little surprise phone call. If the item has been lost in the post file a complaint with the royal mail and get payment from them.

[gggggavin]

ouch.

hard luck dude.

I may insist on sending everything registered in the future?

[emperor tomato ketchup]

ouch.

hard luck dude.

I may insist on sending everything registered in the future?

Though if you do that or refuse paypal then you will put off bidders so you gotta take that into the equation. Its certainly a pain in the nads but perhaps you gotta see it as one fo the cost of doing business.

Anyway how do you know it wasn't nicked or destroyed by the postie? Why is he cheeky for giving you good feedback - would you rather he said you were a deceitful, cheating turd??

I know this has been talked about before but it doesn't matter what you say in your listing, legally (in UK and ireland) you are responsible for its delivery and you are sub-contracting with the post office so its up to you to get the money back from them.

If its any consolation I once had an lp I sold go missing for about 3 or 4 months till it turned up.

[wayne]

If it's been longer than 6 - 8 weeks, fill in a lost item claim form at your local PO, print off the ebay invoice, add the postage, and claim it back from them. On the rare occasions that things I've sold have gone missing, this has been what I've done, and the PO have always paid out - though it can take months to process your claim. You should get your money back eventually if you do this, though...

[francis]

I've heard loads of stories like this. I seriously think that if you take payment through paypal you should insist on posting everything registered/ signed for. Paypal are fucking jerks, and though they really help out buyers, they only seem able to do that at a high price to sellers, i.e., assuming them to be completely at fault everytime.

I haven't even come across a case where the complaint has been dropped by paypal after the seller produced a registered post/ tracking form (receipt of postage isn't good enough, it has to be tracked), if someone could reassure me that they do occasionally see things from the sellers point of view I'd be very reassured about taking payment through them.

[emperor tomato ketchup]

The paypal business model is to make it very attractive to buyers so sellers are forced to take it if they want to get as many bidders as possible.

I've got some fine bargains from people who don't accept paypal so I am pretty convinced their model "works" and that if you don't accept it you'll be losing out on bids. Choices eh?

[kikat]

Thanks for the advice people..... I did wonder about sending everything by registered post but this is the first time in about 3 years this has happened. I do send expensive items that way wheather the buyer asked for it or not (peace of mind), mind you expensive to me is very cheap to most.

I am in the process of a lost in post claim....i won't hold my breath.

It just got me thinking that this could be a loophole for buyers to get goods for free or maybe i'm being paranoid and it was a genuine f**k up by the post office and his seven Panini albums are sitting in a Korean sorting office.

The only reason the positive feedback wound me up was that i could see him sitting there with his Panini albums and all his money back thinking "Wow i can't believed that worked, that definitely deserves positive feedback".

Anyway, thanks again and happy selling.

[kikat]

The paypal business model is to make it very attractive to buyers so sellers are forced to take it if they want to get as many bidders as possible.

I've got some fine bargains from people who don't accept paypal so I am pretty convinced their model "works" and that if you don't accept it you'll be losing out on bids. Choices eh?

They certainly have you by the you know what's. It would be nice to be able to set up a payment scheme for oversea and credit card bidders for yourself but i am a numbnutt and have no chance.

[Ziggy_Stardust_72]

I bought an Item once through Paypal costing £12. after the buyer failed to answer my Emails and Phonecalls. I contacted Paypal, they sent me a lovely email saying that the seller was at fault. However they would not refund me as my item was under £15 and I should contact my Credit Card to claim the money back. This idea it sets up that buying with Paypal is "Safe" is a joke, its safe untill something goes wrong then they dish out the small print.

[francis]

it's pretty safe, compared to selling.

And I have often thought that unscrupulous buyers could easily claim money back on items, really easily - all they have to do is ask to have the item shipped by regular post, which most people do anyway. If the seller agrees, then its all over, and the buyer can realistically expect their money refunded if they file a claim.

[emperor tomato ketchup]

it's pretty safe, compared to selling.

And I have often thought that unscrupulous buyers could easily claim money back on items, really easily - all they have to do is ask to have the item shipped by regular post, which most people do anyway. If the seller agrees, then its all over, and the buyer can realistically expect their money refunded if they file a claim.

True but I think if you did it repeatedly Paypal may be rather less quick to take your side.

Its never happened to me (fingers crossed) and I've done a few hundred transactions on ebay. Most people seem to be pretty honest and easy to deal with.