Buyer paid but its not showing at my end; buyer threatening to sue

[krys888]

This board had quite a few of us concerned over buyers buying and paying for items that are not showing as bought and paid by the sellers over this past week. We were told that ebay is “working on it.” I have a buyer who just messaged me that they are about to sue ebay over this because apparently the item she says she bought from me that is still showing unpaid has yet to be resolved by ebay. And I’ve not seen on the board that this issue has been resolved. What are we supposed to do when it is obvious the buyer paid but isn’t showing paid at our end and ebay just keeps saying they’re “working on it.” There’s only so many times a buyer can hear that before they give up or blow up.

[hurryagain]

Since you are aware they they paid...I am assuming you have her payment in your account?  Can you just send her the item?  You may have to go online to USPS.com to print a label (unfortunately)...that is what  I would do just so she would not have to wait any longer...message her first and make sure that she still wants the item - given that she is so upset.

Sorry that you are going through this mess...I am so happy that I stopped selling temporarily...the boards have been a mess over several issues.  I will return to selling when I deem it reliable enough to do so.  Some rely on selling here more than me though...

[fern*wood]

The reps didn't really elaborate with their answer to this issue on the chat, but since they said to check paypal to confirm you were paid, I suppose that meant to go ahead and ship if you have the money.  If the item is still available to purchase among my listings, I would end it manually.  Labels are available to print in paypal. 

[krys888]

She (the buyer) had it happen on two of my items. I cancelled the one (it was an auction item with a BIN), but apparently at her end it is still showing as paid and not refunded. It never even showed that it was purchased at all at my end, but I cancelled the auction anyway, just in case. But now, the second item, is still showing unpaid at my end. She was so mad that I couldn’t quite understand all that she was dealing with at her end as the buyer, but it sounded pretty frustrating for her and I couldn’t visualize what she was describing. Apparently she used a debit card and is on a fixed income and I guess she had it happen with more sellers than just me because it has her account very screwed up. Anyway, I’m just surprised with this going on that ebay wasn’t more on top of it or at least communicative to us about it other than “we’re working on it.”

[fern*wood]

That's pure craziness.   Were you notified you had a payment , is so, was it in your paypal account?  I'm not sure I understand how you cancelled if it didn't show sold. Do you mean you ended the listing? 

[webwanna]

This problem is not showing up on the Ebay system status page.   Everything looks great there.   Are you sure they are working on it?

I had a similar problem months ago.  Paypal placed a temporary hold on my buyers funds (not out of necessity, just totally random which they claim they do from time to time) without notifying me.  It showed payment pending on Ebay's end. Then, when they released the funds, they didn't send notice to Ebay.  I assumed it was an e- check that was taking forever to clear.  The customer contacted me very upset.  My response didn't help which was basically.... "I will ship it out once payment has cleared."  They were so insistent that they paid, I finally called Paypal.  Seems like Paypal and Ebay are having communication issues.

Ebay had no ability to fix the problem.  I sent the item with Ebay still showing unpaid.  Ebay put a note in their system that the item was paid.

[myboardid]

I don't understand why you would cancel the auction that was won and paid for when you had proof in Paypal that the buyer had paid?  Did you refund her money?

[krys888]

No, I didn’t get a notification from either ebay or paypal. The customer was so aggravated and confused, I just cancelled it after seeing others having the same problem here on the board. Someone was afraid to do the refund for fear that after ebay got the problem fixed, it would trigger another refund and cancellations so I didn’t want to chance it and the customer was panicking. I’m at work now, but when I get home and can access my PayPal, I’ll be able to see if either of the two payments she says were made are there. I know she’s talked to CS several times.

[krys888]

It wasn’t won. She inadvertently bid the BIN price. She thought she was on the item she was wanting. She was the only bidder. So, I cancelled it and relisted it. But she says that the amount she bid was charged on her debit card, which, again, I wasn’t making sense out of a lot of what she was explaining so I just cancelled it, thinking that would be the end of it. But then she purchased the correct item and that’s the one that is still showing unpaid for me. Confusing, ugh.

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@krys888 wrote:

It wasn’t won. She inadvertently bid the BIN price. She thought she was on the item she was wanting. She was the only bidder. So, I cancelled it and relisted it. But she says that the amount she bid was charged on her debit card, which, again, I wasn’t making sense out of a lot of what she was explaining so I just cancelled it, thinking that would be the end of it. But then she purchased the correct item and that’s the one that is still showing unpaid for me. Confusing, ugh.

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This doesn't sound right and doesn't sound related the the glitch.  I'd say your buyer is either really confused or full of it hoping you just send money

[uniwarehousewares]

this kind of buyers always find shortcut by having small head just to think to sue someone, this is threatening and against ebay policy to threat, you should call cs and resolve this issue and block this buyer.such buyers are so high all the time they have no patience to understand there could be technical difficulty.

[krys888]

No, I’ve run into that before; I feel strongly that she’s legit. She has a lot of health issues and hasn’t asked me for a refund. She just wants her item at the price she agreed to pay, I think. I’ll know for sure after I get home and check my paypal.

[myangelandmyprincess]

she says she has a lot of health issues.  The fact you "know " that makes me trust her even less.  Sounds like she gave some sob story somewhere along the way which is a common scam tactic.  She says her debit card was charged just for bidding the buy it now price and the listing was still active.   Whether she believes that happened or is outright fibbing I just don't see that actually having happened 

[krys888]

I just got another message from her. The BIN problem isn’t a problem anymore, I think, thank goodness. So now, she says, her bank shows that the $18 + shipping has been deducted from her account (shows not paid on my end) and that her end shows that the item has already been shipped. I definitely have not shipped it. At this point, I feel like I can’t really do anything until I get home and check my paypal to see if her payment is there. Then I guess I’ll call CS again and ask why it’s showing unpaid. I don’t know what else to do at this point.

[myangelandmyprincess]

Yeah she sounds really confused since we now also have it showing shipped when it hasn't been shipped.