Buyer fraud

[ruinedpalace]

Had a bad experience that has left me feeling vulnerable and and unsure if I want to continue to sell anything of value on eBay: Buyer received the item that I sent and left positive feedback. Next day, eBay informs me of a Dispute opened by the Buyer which is resulting in a hold being placed on my funds. Examining the reason for the Dispute, it is obvious that the Buyer is complaining about something that he purchased from a different Seller, not from me. eBay says I can Challenge the Dispute - but the page does not work and I am not able to Submit anything. eBay Customer Service cannot fix this problem and tells me to simply wait out the Challenge period. Meanwhile, I contact the Buyer who makes a half-hearted apology and tells me that he has since cancelled the dispute on PayPal's side. I subsequently speak to several PayPal reps who confirm this. On the eBay side, the case remains open even after the Challenge period has expired, eBay insisting that they have to hear from PayPal before closing the dispute. It's been two weeks, the Buyer has my item, I don't have my money and eBay & PayPal are pointing fingers at each other. 

[lamber9347]

@ruinedpalace I'm sorry for your distress over this but these things happen with automated systems are used. Your buyer did not commit fraud here, you are just angry. They apparently selected the wrong seller, it happens. People make mistakes. Buyer was obviously happy with the purchase from you so they did nothing wrong except make an innocent error. 

Yes eBay and PayPal are two separate companies and all returns/complaints/cases are all automated due to the amount of daily transactions on both platforms. One system needs to speak to the other and that can take time. You will eventually have your funds released. Life is full of things not going our way sometimes but we must learn to face them with a bit more positivity. This is a bad experience but you will have good experiences which will help balance out the bad ones. Nothing goes on with no issues. Best of luck to you....

[ittybitnot]

@ruinedpalace 

Please look at the contents of your dispute and see if it is an "ebay dispute" or a "Payment dispute" that was filed with the buyer's payment provider. If your buyer bypassed the eBay dispute process and filed with PayPal or their credit card company these are called "Payment Disputes" regardless of how the seller originally paid. 

Either way, you have a certain amount of time to respond, and taking the customer service rep's  advice of WAITING is not likely a good idea at all.  These people often give incorrect information, and it will be "too bad to be you" if you follow those instructions and get in worse trouble than you already have.  Not responding will provide you with a serious defect on your account while the buyer gets a full refund from your proceeds without having to return any product (even if it was not your product in the first place). 

I would call ebay one more time and ask to speak to a Managed Payment team member, NOT the usual reps that you normally get, and see if the problem can be corrected. 

In the meantime, you need to fill out the "report the buyer" form and try to explain this mess in the number of characters allowed. 

[ruinedpalace]

Thank you for your suggestions.  The 'Report the Buyer' will probably be my next move. 

As I stated, I tried to Challenge the Dispute, but the page does not work & the Submit button does not work. I did report this flaw to eBay, for what it's worth. 

While it may not be a lot of money involved, it's the principle of the matter and I will escalate this as high as I need to go until it is resolved.