Buyer filed unauthorized transaction dispute after receving PS5

[6ixstyles]

Hi All,

Last week I sold a brand new PS5 to a buyer who paid via PayPal. Prior to shipping it out, I messaged the buyer and asked them to confirm their address. It matched the confirmed address which was provided in the e-mail from PayPal, so I shipped it to that address via tracked shipping + signature required. The package was signed by the buyer on 3/31, however earlier today I received an email from PayPal stating the buyer opened a dispute claiming it was an unauthorized purchase.

Can anyone provide any insight into what might happen here? Will I be out the money I sold it for, even though I shipped it to the confirmed PayPal address + they signed for it? I also have a negative PayPal balance right now so what should I do in that case? Will I need to send the person a pre-paid label to ship the PS5 back to me possibly? What happens if they ship me back a used unit or even a bag of rocks instead? What recourse would I have?

Appreciate any feedback.

Thank You!

[duncanvr]

How much money is this PS5? This is why I won't sell pricey items online to many scammers trying to steal items for free. Make sure you upload your POD tracking to the PayPal case. Then call PayPal and make sure a rep views the dispute. If you can get the hard signature POD photo from carrier add that in to. If you have a negative PayPal balance assume PayPal will look at taking the funds from your bank account if you lose the case. Make sure you fight the case upload the tracking as mentioned and call PayPal. Be very careful selling any pricey goods online. I think cheaper stuff is less likely to attract scammers.

[luckythewinner]

Have you read this page? 

https://www.paypal.com/us/brc/article/seller-protection

It should answer most of the questions you asked. 

If your transaction is eligible for seller protection and you meet the requirements for seller protection, you will probably be protected. If not, you probably won't. But we do not have all the information that you have, so you are in the best position to figure that out. 

The most important thing to pay attention to is that seller protection is not not "passive". You need to proactively provide PayPal with the information they request within the timeframe they specify. 

[48hrs-clothing]

First of all you have my sympathy and support as I would hate being in this situation.

Noted that you have an "Unauthorised payment" case on Pay pal.

This means the holder of the card that was used to make the payment has advised Pay pal that they do not recognise this particular transaction. This could be a simple error or something else.

I would recommend that you send a message to your buyer advising then that an unauthorised case for the amount $  ( Put in the amount) is opened on Pay pal and this may have been an error Please advise.

I would also respond to the case on Pay pal by uploading tracking number and a copy of label used to send the item if available having made sure that address on label matches buyers address on Pay Pal and status on track& trace website.  This should meet your requirements of seller protection on Pay pal.

Now to answer your questions.

Q) Will I be out the money I sold it for, even though I shipped it to the confirmed PayPal address + they signed for it?

ANS) No one can guarantee this either way. Charge back is from the card holder who may or may not be the person who bought and you sent the item to.

Q) I also have a negative PayPal balance right now so what should I do in that case?

ANS) Your Pay Pal account is linked to your credit card or your Bank account and if case goes against you then Pay pal will draw down from your card or Bank account. Nothing to worry about at this stage.

Q) Will I need to send the person a pre-paid label to ship the PS5 back to me possibly?

ANS) No as this is not a item not as described or item not working case. There is no item coming back to you.

Q) What happens if they ship me back a used unit or even a bag of rocks instead?

ANS) Same answer as question above this.

Q) What recourse would I have?

ANS) In the unlikely event that Pay Pal case goes against you and for some reason Pay pals seller protection fails which is highly unlikely but not impossible and in that case your only recourse is to go to your local police station and file a cyber crime report ( Print an invoice from eBay order that shows name, address, email address, telephone number etc of your buyer ) along with your postage information label, tracking etc, copy of Pay Pal transaction, Copy of messages between your buyer and you and any identifying numbers ( Serial number or similar) of your PS5.

Your buyer may to their surprise get a knock on their door from Police and you getb your item back and they get a record.

When you have filed your report ask for a copy and contact eBay and advise them that you wish to appeal the case and upload the police report.

At this stage I would hope that Pay pal will return your funds to you.

I hope you don't mind if I give you the following personal advice. 

Please try not to worry about events that are outside of your control. All the worrying in the world is not going to change anything. Please allow events to unfold as they will and in my experience chances of success are much more than 50/50.

I accept that it is very easy for me to give you this advice but I am not facing this situation and you are. 

[6ixstyles]

 Thank you @48hrs-clothing @luckythewinner @duncanvr for your replies! Appreciate your feedback on this matter.

The PS5 was $975CAD. I've sold high value electronics before on eBay without any issues, and since the buyer provided the same confirmed shipping address that was in the PayPal e-mail, I did not think there would be any issues with this sale.

I uploaded the POD/signature confirmation file to the PayPal case and contacted an agent who said the buyer has filed a claim directly with their credit card company, not PayPal. PayPal will forward the POD info and try to get the claim denied. I am not sure about timelines for resolution however...

I also messaged the buyer and asked them if they might have any idea of what is going on, but I don't expect a response from them.

On another note, I was able to find out details about the buyer through social media, so worst case if I do have to go to the police, I think it should be easy to track them down, however this type of case would most likely be low priority for most police forces, so I am hoping it can get resolved in my favour.

Will update here once I have heard back from PayPal.

[duncanvr]

Was he a brand new member to ebay zero feedback? That is sure signs of a scammer. I doubt he will reply to your asking him if it was a mistake on the charge back. Although one time I had a buyer who was totally satisfied with a pricey item he bought from me. I'd gone out of my way to help the guy. He thanked me in messages for it. A month later came a charge back from him! I did the same thing I asked him if he did it in error, he admitted he forgot what the charge was for. In my case the buyer spoke to his bank but my $1000 was still tied up for like 7 days or more before PayPal released it back to me. In your case it seems to soon for the buyer to be opening a charge back. But I think now you have spoken to ebay and uploaded tracking you should win the case. If not do report him to the cops and also you could try small claims court. These cyber thieves need to be held accountable for their actions. The more sellers reporting the bad scammers scamming for free items the better. That is in cases if the seller looses the item and the money. 

[6ixstyles]

Hi All,

Just wanted to provide an update on my case. The good news is I was covered by PayPal's seller protection policy so I was fully covered for the transaction amount! The negative balance in my account was cleared which is a huge relief.

The whole process took 18 days from start to finish. There were no updates to my case in PayPal within this time, so I reached out to them a few times and was told they were working on it and to hang tight. Glad to have this resolved as I was expecting the worst to be honest.

Thanks @duncanvr @48hrs-clothing @luckythewinner for taking the time to provide your advice above!

[48hrs-clothing]

Delighted to learn that you have not lost out.

Happy to help.

Good luck and stay safe.