Remember that Xbox I said I was selling?
Well, I sold it. 2 MONTHS AGO (September 11 – ironically, it’s so old Ebay doesn’t even show it in their records any more). Just a week ago I got notice that the buyer filed a fraudulent claim notice (yes, 2 months later), and we were required to provide the tracking ID of the shipment or they were going to reverse the charge (which had already been approved and put in our bank!). The problem is, because it had been almost 2 months since we sold it, we threw away the tracking receipt just 3 days before they gave us notice of the claim.
So my wife just spent over an hour talking to at least 6 (she lost track) representatives at Paypal trying to figure out where our money went. Finally, after the 6th or so representative (she was in tears after the call) she was able to figure out that the buyer, supposedly had their account hacked and had contacted Paypal to have the charges reversed. Rather than take the risk upon themselves though, Paypal put a claim dispute in each and every seller’s account who had shipped their items 2 MONTHS AGO giving them no option other than that if they couldn’t produce a tracking number they would have their funds reversed, taking the money back from their bank account. It’s a nice “Merry Christmas” just one month before the Holiday.
That’s what Paypal Seller Protection is for, right? Wrong.
Evidently, for fraudulent claims Paypal/Ebay is allowed to reverse transactions long after the transaction if you can’t provide a tracking number for the transaction. We showed them the positive review from the buyer, and they weren’t willing to accept that. It’s (like my Xbox issue from before) “we’re right – you’re wrong”, no trust whatsoever. So now, 2 months after the fact, it’s almost as though they waited for us to throw away the tracking receipt for shipment, and then forced us to give them back their money. I absolutely cannot trust Ebay/Paypal Seller Protection any more. How do I know this won’t happen again?
Man, I should really get into the shipment scamming game – heck, maybe I should just start my own Auction business like Ebay. Both the scammers, and Ebay, just got away clean and free with my money and I have no protection in the matter.
As a seller, I can no longer trust Ebay. I will no longer sell through them again. I hope you, as a seller, will think twice as well as I’ve shared this example. Everyone is at risk.
Now to figure out how to sell the rest of my PC equipment…
