eBay just took $1000+ from me because buyer didn't recognize the transaction. What can I do?

[eaby4life]

Hey all,

Hope you're having a great day. Mine has been less great. I'm feeling frustrated and devastated by a recent message I received from eBay.

eBay sent me a message today saying that they're taking $1,000+ from my account after resolving a dispute in the buyer's favor because the buyer didn't recognize the transaction.

The transaction and the messages that led to the transaction were conducted exclusively on eBay's platform, so from what I can surmise, one of two things must've happened, either:

1. Buyer is lying about about not recognizing the transaction, or

2. Buyer's account was compromised and someone else made the transaction.

In either case, the product I sold is now stolen from me. And eBay is taking away my money too.

I'm very confused how I'm to blame for this. Either the buyer is a thief (buyer's fault) or eBay accepted payment without doing due diligence on the payment method (eBay's fault).

I'm feeling very frustrated and devastated. I've already written eBay an email, but they say that they won't respond for another 24-48 hours. And I can't even find a phone number where I can talk to a human.

Is there anything I can do at this juncture?

Thanks for your advice,

e4l

[stephenmorgan]

---

@eaby4life wrote:

I'm sorry--I'm still confused.

eBay wants to act as middleman and collect payment information. They do not share that payment information with sellers, which means we cannot do our own due diligence.

This is a fine arrangement--but doesn't that mean eBay should be on the hook if they fail to check whether a credit card is being used by the authorized user?

I really don't understand how I'm the one to blame here. Again, it comes back to: either buyer is misrepresenting (buyer's fault) or eBay failed to complete due diligence when accepting payment (eBay's fault).

---

I agree with your assessment.

You did not authorize the charge, eBay did and they told you it was ok to ship the order. You have no idea who the credit card company or payment source is and are completely dependent on eBay to insure the payment is authorized and they should have resolved this for you. 

When eBay took away your ability to coordinate your own payments and instead they do it on your behalf then they should accept responsibility when their Managed Payments go astray.

eBay should have resolved this in your favor without ever having to notify you.

[rugerskick]

This is a good point to remember for higher priced items.  Adjust pricing/shipping to cover the extra costs for signature confirmation.

[rugerskick]

That is not true.

We have had selleres report that the authentication services have falsely labeled authentic items as fakes, and also that they have damaged seller items as well.

[eaby4life]

I only have a minor update at this juncture, but most recently, my conversation with eBay customer service has gone like this:

me: simple question

customer service rep: copy/pasted form mail that doesn’t answer the question.

me: that didn’t answer my question: let me ask again.

customer service rep ghosts me and has gone two days (and counting) without a response.

After two days without a response, I just sent another message asking this to be escalated to someone who can help.

I’ll keep you posted on what eBay says (or if they continue to ghost me).

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

Why has there been no mention of the item being returned? I would think that the buyer's bank would want to see tracking of it being returned.

[nocoolnamejane]

Did you respond to the original payment dispute notice?

Do you have delivery confirmation with signature?

[qualityrelics]

I hope you’ve been able to get your money back, but if not, you have to file an official appeal with eBay.
You can’t just talk to random telephone service reps.  An official appeal with a police report number is really your only option. 
Otherwise, if I was scammed out of over 1k, I’d gather all my information and file a small claims suit against the individual and request a virtual trial. 
You need to fight back here. You can’t accept that lazy saying “it’s just the risks of selling online”

You’re not only protecting yourself, but you’re protecting all other sellers.  
Fortunately,  I’ve only dealt with a handful of scammers on eBay in the last 5 years and eBay has always had my back. I’ve only had to file an appeal with them one time in a situation similar to yours. 
You may want to go into your account settings and block buyers with multiple strikes.  I think that’s still a feature.  At least it was the last time I checked my seller account settings.  This will mitigate  risk before it happens. 

[vintage_suite]

I agree...It appears the buyer opened a chargeback with their CC company. You should have received a notice of this. 1: confirm the address you shipped to and ask the buyer to confirm (do not give the address you have to confirm). You should be able to check this with eBay customer service. Make sure tracking shows delivered. In any dispute the tracking shows buyer received item (make sure to include tracking in any claim). If they "didn't recognize the transaction", they still received it. This will be your dispute and buyer must return the item at their cost. Make sure to contact eBay to get this decision reversed now! Good luck! 

[glasser]

This is an example of eBay's conflict of interest and why eBay is not just a venue. ebay is smack dab in the middle of this transaction. If they side with seller and lose to the CC company, they will have to pay the seller from their funds. If they raise their hands and say sorry seller, the seller eats loses the funds and the item.

This is not an INAD or INR dispute this is a claim of misuse of a CC. If the seller has proof that the item was shipped and delivered to the address on eBay, how could they not fight the claim with CC company unless they are too lazy or it is too expensive (out of eBay's pocket) to do so.  This is a battle between the CC and eBay on who eats the cost. Since eBay has a seller who has no way to contest the whole thing, it's easy to shift the cost to them. I am unclear how an unauthorized use of the CC could ever be a sellers fault since they are not party to the actual transaction in terms of handling the approval of funds.

eBay is a party to this transaction and that voids their claim of being a venue only. eBay is an equity owner of Adyen as well, so they are involved in this transaction at numerous levels. With all these conflicts, it is hard for eBay to make a fair judgement on behalf of its customer--the seller (buyers are not eBay customers).

Personally, I think the CC issuer is the liable party if in fact this was an unauthorized use. It's their card, their issued number, their customer who has the card. If that number was stolen in a data breach or obtained in another way, there is no way the eBay seller or eBay itself could be liable because the charge was approved. That implies that the CC was unaware of the compromise of the CC number and ultimately, fairly or not, that's on them.

You can try a complaint the Better Business Bureau BBB.org. At least that will be public and eBay will have to respond publicly 

[stephenmorgan]

---

@glasser wrote:

This is an example of eBay's conflict of interest and why eBay is not just a venue. ebay is smack dab in the middle of this transaction. If they side with seller and lose to the CC company, they will have to pay the seller from their funds. If they raise their hands and say sorry seller, the seller eats loses the funds and the item.

This is not an INAD or INR dispute this is a claim of misuse of a CC. If the seller has proof that the item was shipped and delivered to the address on eBay, how could they not fight the claim with CC company unless they are too lazy or it is too expensive (out of eBay's pocket) to do so.  This is a battle between the CC and eBay on who eats the cost. Since eBay has a seller who has no way to contest the whole thing, it's easy to shift the cost to them. I am unclear how an unauthorized use of the CC could ever be a sellers fault since they are not party to the actual transaction in terms of handling the approval of funds.

eBay is a party to this transaction and that voids their claim of being a venue only. eBay is an equity owner of Adyen as well, so they are involved in this transaction at numerous levels. With all these conflicts, it is hard for eBay to make a fair judgement on behalf of its customer--the seller (buyers are not eBay customers).

Personally, I think the CC issuer is the liable party if in fact this was an unauthorized use. It's their card, their issued number, their customer who has the card. If that number was stolen in a data breach or obtained in another way, there is no way the eBay seller or eBay itself could be liable because the charge was approved. That implies that the CC was unaware of the compromise of the CC number and ultimately, fairly or not, that's on them.

You can try a complaint the Better Business Bureau BBB.org. At least that will be public and eBay will have to respond publicly 

---

Very well stated!!!...  

You have very sound reasoning!!!...

[glasser]

Thanks.

The more I think about this more confused I am 🙂 the eBay seller should not have to prove anything in this case. If the use was unauthorized and the seller sent the item, then the seller is just as much an injured party as the person whose card was used and the CC issuing company. It doesn't even matter if the item was delivered. eBay, unless somehow the CC company seeks reimbursement from them, is actually barely a party to this transaction probably lost FVF is their potential liability. If they don't challenge this with CC company, then they really don't care.

[donsdetour]

Hmm was this item sent to a in country address that was not a freight forward??

If so at least on could open a case with law enforcement of fraud and theft;

Should be done even if out of country sale:

The unauthorized case may be real< stolen info used to purchase with. Happens all the time.

[stephenmorgan]

---

@donsdetour wrote:

The unauthorized case may be real< stolen info used to purchase with. Happens all the time.

 You are absolutely correct. 

I believe the main point is that the Seller does not accept the payment from buyer.  eBay accepted the payment from buyer, eBay kept their fees from that payment, eBay sent seller their portion and then eBay told seller it was ok to ship.

When there is a shipping issue (lost package), it has been said the seller is responsible for the lost item and it is their responsibility to reimburse buyer.  The reason being is that it is the sellers responsibility to deliver item to buyer.

It is the same with eBay accepting responsibility for receiving your payment.  They assured you that the method of payment is ok and tell you to ship your item.  If it is determined that the method of payment was not ok, then eBay needs to accept responsibility the same the seller does with a lost package.

If eBay did not take away they sellers ability to decide if a payment is ok  then I may think differently.

[donsdetour]

---

@stephenmorgan wrote:

---

@donsdetour wrote:

The unauthorized case may be real< stolen info used to purchase with. Happens all the time.

 You are absolutely correct. 

I believe the main point is that the Seller does not accept the payment from buyer.  eBay accepted the payment from buyer, eBay kept their fees from that payment, eBay sent seller their portion and then eBay told seller it was ok to ship.

When there is a shipping issue (lost package), it has been said the seller is responsible for the lost item and it is their responsibility to reimburse buyer.  The reason being is that it is the sellers responsibility to deliver item to buyer.

It is the same with eBay accepting responsibility for receiving your payment.  They assured you that the method of payment is ok and tell you to ship your item.  If it is determined that the method of payment was not ok, then eBay needs to accept responsibility the same the seller does with a lost package.

If eBay did not take away they sellers ability to decide if a payment is ok  then I may think differently.

---

Were as I agree with you;

eBay and its payment system do not: their ball park and there rules and regs.

Part of this is to many payment system through eBay's: how could one be sure a payment was valid this day and age.

Ah them great old days of send a check or MO.... If you had your own CC system that also could be used: and not paying out all that money for an online payment system that no is not even floated to you as immediate payment.... Oh well thing change and corporations and governments needs their share eh.......

[stephenmorgan]

I never had a problem with them great old days (70's, 80's, 90's) of send a check or MO.  

But you are correct, things change.  Now, even if I received a Money Order I would not ship for two weeks to make sure it was not fake.