A buyer sent money unsolicited directly to my paypal. Did I handle it right?

[andrew547]

A buyer had trouble with an item they ordered. It wasn't my fault, but I issued a partial refund anyway because it seemed like the right thing to do in this case.

A few days later the buyer sent money directly to my paypal account with a note that said it was for the refund (she was returning that to me because the problem wasn't my fault), but also for another order.

I returned all of the money today, explaining that I can't solicit or accept offers to conduct business outside of ebay.

Is this enough? In the last week I also had a user send me their facebook contact details unsolicited, asking me to get in touch because they wanted to do some business, but I ignored it. Seems to me that's the end of my obligation to ebay, but I don't know for sure. I wonder if I ever ran afoul of some ebay policy or another, would I know, or would I just be penalized?

Would love to hear from anyone with experience in this.

[mam98031]

You didn't have to do that.  But I understand why you did.

Sure nice to deal with another person like that.  I always enjoy it when I come across them.

[fashunu4eeuh]

You did good. And handled everything appropriately. The person sending you their personal info is against the rules, so I am glad you did not respond to them. (It was likely a scam attempt.) And if the buyer wants another of your items, she must purchase it through your listing. Dealing outside of eBay is a really big no-no in the eBay universe. So all the way around, you fulfilled eBay's requirements. I wouldn't worry about it further.

[chapeau-noir]

Can this be just a simple mistake rather than a scam?

[asdbsir_0]

---

@chapeau-noir wrote:

Can this be just a simple mistake rather than a scam?

---

No telling so we have to treat them all as if it were a mistake so we don't accuse the wrong person.

[mam98031]

---

@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

You did good. And handled everything appropriately. The person sending you their personal info is against the rules, so I am glad you did not respond to them. (It was likely a scam attempt.) And if the buyer wants another of your items, she must purchase it through your listing. Dealing outside of eBay is a really big no-no in the eBay universe. So all the way around, you fulfilled eBay's requirements. I wouldn't worry about it further.

---

How could it be a scam when the buyer sent the seller money to REPAY a refund the seller sent them that they felt they didn't deserve from the seller.  Don't get too jaded here my friend.  LOL  There are lots of good people out in the world.

By sending money directly to their PP account, Ebay wasn't involved so the buyer couldn't do anything within Ebay to harm the seller.  This isn't the same as dealing outside of Ebay.  This is a seller getting refunded by an honest buyer.  Ebay would likely never even know about it.  But if by some stretch of the imagination Ebay did find out about it, Ebay would have to also have some proof that the seller sought to sell something to the buyer off Ebay.  I would think that the OP has emails to back up what they have described here.

I don't think Ebay would have done a darn thing if the OP had of kept the money.

But yes, if the buyer wants more items, a normal Ebay purchase is the right way to go for sure.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@asdbsir_0 wrote:

---

@chapeau-noir wrote:

Can this be just a simple mistake rather than a scam?

---

No telling so we have to treat them all as if it were a mistake so we don't accuse the wrong person.

---

Exactly.