Paypal Refunds?

GeorgeBailey

Hi,
Apologies if there's a general paypal thread I couldn't find it.
I won an auction on Friday for a (pretty expensive) camera on ebay. Before purchasing the seller's feedback score was 99%. Since then though it's gone down to 75%!! And I haven't heard from him since either (despite sending a couple of emails).
I'm going to give him a chance to reply to my mails before raising it in the Paypal Resolution Centre. But presuming I don't get my camera will getting a refund be straight-forward? If it is straight-forward for me to get the money back then what is the point of the ebayer's scam (if it is indeed a scam)?

Thanks

nava

GeorgeBailey wrote: »

Hi,
Apologies if there's a general paypal thread I couldn't find it.
I won an auction on Friday for a (pretty expensive) camera on ebay. Before purchasing the seller's feedback score was 99%. Since then though it's gone down to 75%!! And I haven't heard from him since either (despite sending a couple of emails).
I'm going to give him a chance to reply to my mails before raising it in the Paypal Resolution Centre. But presuming I don't get my camera will getting a refund be straight-forward? If it is straight-forward for me to get the money back then what is the point of the ebayer's scam (if it is indeed a scam)?

Thanks

Sounds like account was hacked, are all negative feedbacks for items not received?

I wouldn't wait any longer, open a paypal dispute and escalate it straight away to a claim, once it's escalated I think it takes about a week or 2 to be resolved, if you win and the seller has money in the paypal account you will get a refund if there's no money you will loose it but you can try doing a charge back via the credit card.

GeorgeBailey

Thanks for the reply. A sample of the (very) recent feedback:
"SCAM, after 3 days got refunded, no communication, can't seem to get money back"

"Won! Paid!! Then he cancelled!!! No communication or anything!!! Worst ebayer!!!"

"BEWARE SCAMMER cancelled auction 5 days after winning and had paid"

How do I "open a paypal dispute and escalate it straight away to a claim"? Is it via the Resolution Centre?

Thanks again.

GeorgeBailey

Worked out how to escalate and was just about to submit when I got a reply from the seller to one of my mails. He says there was a family bereavement and that he'll send it today. So I'm gonna hold off and see if it comes through.

nava

GeorgeBailey wrote: »

Worked out how to escalate and was just about to submit when I got a reply from the seller to one of my mails. He says there was a family bereavement and that he'll send it today. So I'm gonna hold off and see if it comes through.

Ok, make sure he sends you a tracking number straight away so you can see the status, but note it can take a few hours or over night for item to start tracking on the website.

GeorgeBailey

nava wrote: »

Ok, make sure he sends you a tracking number straight away so you can see the status, but note it can take a few hours or over night for item to start tracking on the website.

Never even thought of asking for a tracking number. Thanks for your help. It's much appreciated.

GeorgeBailey

Well he didn't get back to me when I asked for a tracking number so I opened a dispute and escalated to a claim. Hope it gets sorted one way or another.

I've used ebay a lot of the last number of years and this is the first time I've had any issues. I had always presumed that if a situation where I didn't receive an item should arise that getting the money back would be straight-forward. Depending on how this plays out it'll certainly make me think twice about using it again, particularly for expensive items.

allthedoyles

Nothing to worry about - You have Paypal protection , regardless of whether the seller still has your money in his account or not .

And when he mentioned a family bereavement , it was time to start the ball rolling and claim .

This excuse has been over-used by now

nava

allthedoyles wrote: »

Nothing to worry about - You have Paypal protection , regardless of whether the seller still has your money in his account or not .

And when he mentioned a family bereavement , it was time to start the ball rolling and claim .

This excuse has been over-used by now

I don't think buyer gets the money back if seller has already withdrawn the money, Paypal themselves won't pay the money back, unless something changed recently about that.

GeorgeBailey

allthedoyles wrote: »

Nothing to worry about - You have Paypal protection , regardless of whether the seller still has your money in his account or not .

If he doesn't have the money in his account where does the money come from? Paypal themselves?

allthedoyles wrote: »

And when he mentioned a family bereavement , it was time to start the ball rolling and claim .

This excuse has been over-used by now

Agreed. I wanted to give him a chance to get back with a tracking number but once that wasn't forthcoming I knew I needed to start the claim.

I'm still hoping to get the camera but at the same time I'm not particularly hopeful

allthedoyles

I have seen a Paypal account that was €-300 but it was over a year ago , so maybe PP have changed their policy .

GeorgeBailey

According to step 3 in the the link below "We’ll review the claim, and if we decide in your favour, we’ll refund the full value of your payment, including original postage costs"

Nothing about the seller having funds or any such. So I'm hopeful again that at the very least I'll get my money back.


https://www.paypal.com/ie/webapps/mpp/security/buy-protection

SirJobey

I'd say open a eBay dispute and as well as a PayPal case just incase you didn't already!

allthedoyles

nava wrote: »

I don't think buyer gets the money back if seller has already withdrawn the money, Paypal themselves won't pay the money back, unless something changed recently about that.

Thats not much protection been offered by PP if the seller needs to have funds in order for buyer to receive a refund .

I would be surprised if Paypal resorted to that type of terms and conditions

nava

allthedoyles wrote: »

Thats not much protection been offered by PP if the seller needs to have funds in order for buyer to receive a refund .

I would be surprised if Paypal resorted to that type of terms and conditions

Yes very true too.

Max Power1

allthedoyles wrote: »

Thats not much protection been offered by PP if the seller needs to have funds in order for buyer to receive a refund .

I would be surprised if Paypal resorted to that type of terms and conditions

The refund is nothing to do with if the seller has funds in his account - you have full PayPal buyer protection regardless of the seller's account status.

Such misinformation on this thread it is astounding

GeorgeBailey

Max Power1 wrote: »

The refund is nothing to do with if the seller has funds in his account - you have full PayPal buyer protection regardless of the seller's account status.

Such misinformation on this thread it is astounding

That's what I would have presumed alright. So what does the scammer have to gain from this at the end? Surely having a company as big as paypal chasing the money down means he's gonna have to cough up eventually.

nava

GeorgeBailey wrote: »

That's what I would have presumed alright. So what does the scammer have to gain from this at the end? Surely having a company as big as paypal chasing the money down means he's gonna have to cough up eventually.

I was thinking the opposite that there could be lots of scammers using it, you are not ask much when you register on paypal, so I suppose you can give fake details, after you have the money you can transfer it out to a bank or use it to pay for something else and get it deliver to PO box or the likes of parcel motel.

GeorgeBailey

nava wrote: »

I was thinking the opposite that there could be lots of scammers using it, you are not ask much when you register on paypal, so I suppose you can give fake details, after you have the money you can transfer it out to a bank or use it to pay for something else and get it deliver to PO box or the likes of parcel motel.

But do you not have to sign up with a bank account/credit card when you do set up which would be very traceable? I find it hard to believe that a company as big as paypal would leave themselves open to being so easily scammed.

nava

GeorgeBailey wrote: »

But do you not have to sign up with a bank account/credit card when you do set up which would be very traceable? I find it hard to believe that a company as big as paypal would leave themselves open to being so easily scammed.

Not sure about receiving money, I thought you can just give your email address to receive money, you can always sing up with a 3V card or some other prepay credit card.

GeorgeBailey

nava wrote: »

Not sure about receiving money, I thought you can just give your email address to receive money, you can always sing up with a 3V card or some other prepay credit card.

I've never used a 3V card but I would have thought they're traceable as well.

GeorgeBailey

For anyone interested I got a reply from Paypal today saying they had decided in my favour.

"We were able to recover XXX EUR and this amount has been credited to
you. Please allow five business days for this adjustment to be posted."

The amount refunded is the full amount so I'm happy with that. But just a note for others, this was also in the mail:

"If the seller's account has insufficient funds to complete the refund owed
to you, please be assured that we will take appropriate action against the
seller's account, which may include limitation of the seller's account
privileges."

So it would seem the money does indeed have to come from the seller and that paypal themselves don't cover it.

bassybekx

what is this the month of scams .. Im having some issues myself in a different thread but just reading up on this stuff .. unlucky buddy i feel your pain .. however my case has nothing to do with paypal .. it was a direct visa debit payment .. a little bit more tricky lol