ChrisHicks

ok, first off I did search but didn't see an exact situation like mine.

now my situation is this, I made a purchase of some stuff on another forum and I paid with paypal. this was back on 2/22. I have talked with the seller a few times since I sent the payment but I'm beginning to think he's trying to rip me off. he keeps telling me that he will ship the stuff out as soon as he can but his work schedule has been really crazy lately and he just hasn't had the chance to get to the PO. I understand that people have very busy lives but 2 weeks and not a few extra minutes to mail something? the guy sent me a few PMs through that forum and gave me an update on some of the extras that was included on his own though. how much longer should I give the guy?

now for my question, I had another deal go bad a little while back and filed a paypal dispute. I ended up waiting and waiting until they decided that I won the dispute but that I wouldn't be getting any money back.

the above was for an amount of 250.00 and I got nothing back. the bitch was that they took so much time with the dispute I was beyond calling my CC company to file a chargeback.

I'm wondering if I just skipped paypal and went directly to my CC company for a chargeback this time would this have any affect on my paypal account? I use my account on ebay quite a bit so I don't want them cancelling it or anything but this purchase was for 260.00 and I don't want to lose that either. opinions?

pilot

Tell the seller you don't want the stuff anymore ..and you want your $ back .. If they can respond to your email, they can paypal you your $ back .. If they refuse, file a dispute with paypal.....I'm not sure if you can "dispute" a paypal charge your credit card ..but it couldn't hurt to look into it if you need to go that far..

ResIpsa

If the seller cannot prove that you received the goods, you almost certainly will get a refund from PayPal. Of course, if the seller has a negative PayPal account, you would be out the money, again. My understanding is that PayPal will not let you do a chargeback on your credit card. See "paypalsucks.com" for more info on this.

While convenient in many ways, PayPal really can be a horse's ass sometimes with their rules that seem to maximize the cash going into their pockets while limiting the rights of their customers trying to protect their own money.

dablueguy

You can do a chargeback against PayPal. In fact, they recommend it at the same time telling you they may cancel your PayPal account if you do. You usually have 60-90 days to dispute with your CC, so don't wait too long. Also remember you can only file 3 (I think) claims with PayPal per year. Don't wait, if someone has the time to sell you something and take your money, they have the time to put it in the mail.

DVD Josh

Here's the deal with CC chargebacks and Paypal. You CAN do a chargeback, however, it is against your user agreement and your account WILL be shutdown. Even worse, because it's against your agreement, Paypal can attempt to recover the funds plus fees from your attached checking account. See paypalsucks.com for stories about this.

The only way to successfully do this is to first remove any attached checking account and any credit card. Then do the chargeback. Then realize that you will probably never be able to use Paypal again, as they will blacklist you.

Chargebacks are abused on eBay. I lost $300 on a guitar sale when the guy claimed that he never got the guitar despite me having a FedEx confirmation and HIS signature on the delivery! He claimed that it was NOT his signature and he never got the guitar. That was good enough for Paypal, but not for him. He challenged the charge and Paypal then decided to take it out on me. I inquired as to why since they found for ME in the dispute, and they said "policy". BTW - this was before the seller protection that is now in place, which I still think all of this would had happened. They garnished Paypal funds until they got the $300. Worse yet, I sent a e-mail from a made up Yahoo! account asking the guy if "he would sell that guitar he just got on eBay since I really wanted one just like that and couldn't find it". Wouldn't you know, the guy offered to sell it to me for $400. Now whether he intended to scam that guy too, I don't know, but it sure sounded like he had the guitar.

Now I only take money orders on large dollar items. If people don't trust my near perfect feedback and thousands of eBay transactions, then they are free to pass on the auction. I've actually had people tell me I HAVE to take Paypal if I sell on eBay. While I have no doubt that someday will be true, I tell them they are free to report me if that's what they believe.

ChrisHicks

so basically I can do a paypal dispute and if they don't get my money back thats it then, I just kiss my 260.00 goodbye?

I use paypal with ebay atleast once a month but I'm not sure I can eat a 260.00 loss in order to continue purchasing on ebay.

dablueguy

No you can still do a chargeback to your CC. However, it would be a good idea to give PayPal a chance first. Call your CC (credit card) to see how long you have to dispute charges, if you have enough time to let PayPal try to get your money back and still dispute with your CC, give PayPal a shot. If not, go straight for a chargeback.

ChrisHicks

well, I sent the guy an email last night checking on the shipping status and didn't get a response. this morning I sent another email asking him for another shipping update or a refund of my money. as of yet, neither have been answered. I'm sure he's emptying out his accounts right now so paypal won't get me my money back.

I'm giving him a few more hours to respond and then I'm filing the dispute.

unbeeleebable

This whole thing sucks Chris..and DVD Josh along with OwlAtHome stories seem to becoming more prevalnet as scammers find ways to abuse ebay and paypal. You would think we need a better service/system to protect everyone more than is presently being done. Surely Ebay/Paypal must be looking into this with the vision of improving things.

I know not good for you now Chris and do hope that you are able to recover your money. Looks like chargeback is the way to go. Good Luck!

pilot

Paypal should put a freeze on people's accounts if there's a dispute against them..but then people will know to empty their account before the dispute is filed so the account would really be pointless as they can create a new one..there's really no easy solution (or any at all)...

Spiderbite

I'm still confused how they sided with him??? What's the use in paying for delivery/signature/tracking confirmation if they don't use it?

That sucks. Kinda makes it scary to sell anything of a high dollar value.

ChrisHicks

ok, the guy finally contacted me with a tracking #. it is supposed to be delivered this Fri. of course now my concern(thanks to a friend) is that he could have easily just sent me a brick in a box or something like that. now I'm going to try to be optomistic and believe that my actual stuff will arrive but does anyone have any suggestions on how I could protect myself in case I actually do get something like a brick in a box? my friend said to videotape myself opening it. would that even hold up with paypal?

speedy1961

Open it in front of a postal inspector or Postmaster General so you have a reliable witness.

ChrisHicks

well my package just got dropped off by UPS. I didn't have to sign for it so he just left it at my door. just by giving it a bit of a shake it seemed that the correct stuff was in there so I opened it up. I got almost everything that was supposed to be included minus 2 things that would total to about 30.00-35.00. I sent the guy an email to see if it was an oversite or if he intentionally screwed me out of those 2 items. at this point I'm thinking better to get ripped by 35.00 instead of 260.00 but its still the priciple that you should get what you paid for. if he responds and gets the extras sent to me in the next week all will be good. if not maybe I'll file a paypal dispute just to screw up his account a bit even if I don't get some of my money back.

eau

Just in case you need to make an appointment with the Postmaster General...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...master_General

ChrisHicks

I ended up filing a dispute because the guy will not ship out everything I paid for and shitty ass Paypal closed the dispute immediately after I submitted it.

John Sinnott

Yep, they'll do that. When filing the dispute if you say that you receive ANYTHING, even an empty box, they will side with the seller instantly. It sucks.

I always file a claim w/ Paypal if I don't have my purchases within 30 days. Always. That usually gets the guy to send it to me or refund my money.

If not, I've never gotten squat from Paypal. The two times that claims were found in my favor they only refunded the fees they charged the seller. Both times (the last one was about a month ago) I disputed with my CC and got my $ back. Paypal has never cancelled my account or even sent me a nasty e-mail about the disputed charges.

dablueguy

Why would you wait 30 days? The seller wouldn't wait that long to take appropriate action against you.