eBay/PayPal Mess -- Need Advice- Update

[Redcatcher]

She ended up winning the PayPal dispute and there was a charge back. The problem is, I did not, and do not have all of funds in my account to refund her completely. I told her that IF she no longer wanted the figurine, I would relist it and she would get the balance when it sold. But, if she wanted it, I would be declaring and insuring it for the full value. She seemed OK with that. But today I got an e-mail from her saying that she thinks I am lying about the bad weather and that if she wanted to, she could also open a dispute with eBay now and have my eBay account suspended. I live in NH and I am really lucky that I even have power today because of the ice storm. Schools were closed as well as the post office. I told her that. Another smaller snow storm is predicted for tomorrow. I am wondering what kind of grief she can cause through eBay, if any at all. I have been communicating with her and trying to work with her but she continues to threaten me for NO reason. If I were an ROA, I would not be concerned about refunding the balance OR sending her the figurine. There is also no record of her payment through eBay. I could have tried to open a dispute against HER but evidently, the buyer has a much longer time to open a dispute than the seller. I do not think a buyer can do a charge back and THEN try to open a dispute claiming he/she did receive the item.

 

[Carols Clucks]

I don't know how a charge back works in Paypal. But, if you were a regular merchant that takes a credit card, the bank does not care if you do not have money in your account to cover that charge back. They just take the money and you get an NSF charge. This can compound in to a giant mess if you have a few other small checks/debit card purchase, cause those will all "bounce" too and you will have a ton of fees.

The best thing you can do is make sure she gets her payment back asap, even if that means borrowing money to do it.

 

[PineappleMama]

How can she have already won the dispute if PayPal hasn't talked to you?
Or did you manage to get ahold of them and forward her emails?

If you did give them those emails, and they're okay with the system being used for fraud something is WAY off.
Call and ask for a Supervisor... that is NOT normal customer service at all.

As to the funds, I thought you said that they froze them? If the froze them then how are they not there anymore?

edit... wrong one. *blush*

 

[ChooksChick]

Paypal is owned by ebay- they can get the data if you involve them to the fullest extent. Speak to supervisors.

 

[Redcatcher]

What happened was that I missed the opportunity to reply by sending a note to PaPal. MY fault. After that, the only way that I could respond was by providing a tracking number or proof that I sent her a refund. It was to escalate to PayPal on the 17th which was a federal holiday and then the big ice storm hit on the 18th, the post office was closed. Click-N-Ship was out of the question since my PayPal account was/is in the negative. Otherwise I could have printed up the shipping label BEFORE the 17th which is what I intended to do. I can appeal the charge back but again, I need to provide a tracking number or prove that refunded her money. Even then, I do not think that they will release the funds. Though they might since her complaint was that she did not RECEIVE the item, not that it not as described. She told me the reason she opened the dispute in the first place was in case the item was lost or got there broken. Fortunately, there are no credit cards linked to the account and they are not authorized to debit my bank account (nothing in there anyway, at this point).

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Wait...I'm not quite getting this. I though they froze the payment, meaning that you hadn't been paid yet. How could they drain your account for a refund if she didn't pay you yet? Could be I'm just ahving a slow day!

Does sound like a mess though and I feel bad you have to go through this. There are certainly some terrible people, but it is scary dealing with foreign buyers and sellers. I bought a soundtrack CD from Brazil because I couldn't find the cd in the US. They had been on vacation and didn't answer my emails after I won the auction for over a week. I spent a good amount of money on the CD and I got really worry, but it all turned out to be a misunderstanding thank goodness.

 

[geosheets]

At this point she has not paid for the item. You should cancel the transaction in ebay and offer it to the second highest bidder. Once they pay you hopefully your account will be in the black. If you need help on how to do any of it send me a PM. I sell about 20K a month on ebay.

 

[Redcatcher]

She paid as soon as the auction ended but it was in two payments and not through eBay's checkout. Figuring that all would go smoothly as with all of my other transactions, I spent some (not all) of the money. There is no "rule" that says you cannot. ALL of the items I sell are exactly as described and checked over several times before they leave here. I was not concerned that she would be unhappy with the figurine and want her money back. It is mint and the real deal. Insurance would have covered any damages or losses. She opened the disputes BEFORE the expected delivery date. I responded to ALL of her messages within hours and continued to reassure her that the delays were due to the storms and -10* F weather. In temperatures like that, porcelain can shatter. Now she is claiming it was likely all lies and excuses. Some friends of her's in the US told her that only SOME parts of the US is like that so therefore there is a likely chance I am using that as an excuse. I told her repeatedly to check the weather reports for NH, I even spelled it out...New Hampshire. She is so certain that I am a scammer. My written German is flawless (she mentioned that in the disputes) so maybe that is making her think that I might not even be in the US or an American.

Chickerdoodle, the vast majority of transactions end well especially if there is communication. I never gave this women reason to panic.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

That makes more sense now. Certainly is a sticky situation! Sounds like you did fine on your end so it's unfortunate things are going the way they are.

Sometimes people across seas think the US is really small, which might be part of her problem. I'm not trying to defend her at all but it can certainly cause a lot of problems buying and selling! Sounds like she's set on causing trouble either way, but if she thinks only part of the US is having storm issues and she also thinks it's really small, that is probably compounding the whole thing.

Keep us updated on how it goes. I hope it all ends well!

 

[PineappleMama]

Okay so you DO have her money, she can't get it back unless you send it back thus SHE can't end the 'contract' only you can and only by refunding money that you don't currently have? Then send her the item, with massive insurance, tracking, accurate (copies of BOTH payments and the ebay listing) customs info, the whole shebang. Send copies of all of that to Paypal the day you ship it, and update them when the tracking shows she signed for it. Then avoid that woman like the plague.

Seriously what American friend said that... of COURSE the weather is different in different parts of the country. Why the devil else do people who hate cold (me) prefer Texas, Florida, Arizona to Minnesnowta, Alaska, Idaho... duh. Germany isn't exactly a flyspeck, I'm sure there have been times when she had sunny skies and a bit down the road they were snowed in... a teensy tiny little bit of common sense would go a LONG way. Maybe refer her to weatherchannel.com and give her your zip code so she can see herself?? And a link to USPS holiday list that includes MLK? Any news reports about your area as well. I'd include all that in the email with the tracking info, and would pass it all on to Paypal as well. Cover your tail since it doesn't seem like Paypal gives a hoot about protecting sellers from scammers.