eBay

jackliu1001 · ‎04-01-2021

Alright, leme get this straight.

About two months ago, I sold 2 GPUs to a buyer (he had over 200 ratings) for a total of 1075.05 dollars. The buyer sent the payment to the wrong address of PayPal (for some unknown reason), I decided to simply add that email to my Paypal account (and mailed the items to him since payment was on the way), however, the payment automatically canceled and the buyer refused to resent the payment. I have contacted Paypal multiple times and they were unable to reach the buyer as well.

This was my first time selling and I had a lot going on so I wasn't able to deal with this ASAP, but right now, I've decided to file a police report against him. Is this my fault or am I taking the right actions?

ittybitnot · ‎04-01-2021

and mailed the items to him since payment was on the way

@jackliu1001

Did you actually log in to your PayPal account and see that the funds were there? was there an OK to ship notice or some such designation?

OR

Were you corresponding via text or email with this "buyer" and perhaps responding to a phony payment notification email?

I ask since it is unusual for PayPal to "cancel" a payment in the manner you are outlining, and I never heard of them calling a buyer for them to pay up as you suggest.

monde8906 · ‎04-01-2021

Totally your fault

releasethekraken_1 · ‎04-01-2021

@jackliu1001 wrote:
The buyer sent the payment to the wrong address of PayPal (for some unknown reason)

Buyers don't have any control over where the payment goes. That's on you. You enter the PayPal email address in the Payments section when you create your listing. If you type it incorrectly, the payment doesn't go where you want it to. So the reason isn't "unknown", it's seller error.

If you waited too long to resolve the error, the payment is automatically reversed. The police aren't going to help you, because this is a civil matter, not a criminal one; you can try small claims court, but you have to file where the buyer lives.

vintage-car-magazines · ‎04-01-2021

You got scammed.

It happened because you allowed them to "pay" outside of eBay. If they pay by clicking the button on eBay, there's ZERO chance of the payment being sent to the wrong PayPal address. It was compounded when you shipped the item without getting paid first.

You mailed $1075 GPUs to a stranger on the internet based on their word. Consider it a tuition payment for a very expensive lesson.

ittybitnot · ‎04-01-2021

If they pay by clicking the button on eBay, there's ZERO chance of the payment being sent to the wrong PayPal address

@vintage-car-magazines

If the incorrect email was entered into the listing, there is 100% chance it will NOT arrive in the seller's account.

It is not clear to me from the OP if they corresponded with the typical "text me/email me" type scammer or not.

bobbiesemporium · ‎04-01-2021

Yeah paypal is a joke. The fact that they have the authority to make a decision if an item was delivered when the transaction occurred on a different site is why I don't trust paypal. A buyer can file a claim with paypal to have their money returned and ebay cant do anything about it because its one paypal. Kinda going through the same thing that you are except the buyer is making false claims about the item that was sent to her. I would continue to hound paypal and ebay. Ebay should protect their sellers before they run off to another platform.

vintage-car-magazines · ‎04-01-2021

@ittybitnot wrote:
If they pay by clicking the button on eBay, there's ZERO chance of the payment being sent to the wrong PayPal address

@vintage-car-magazines

If the incorrect email was entered into the listing, there is 100% chance it will NOT arrive in the seller's account.

It is not clear to me from the OP if they corresponded with the typical "text me/email me" type scammer or not.

You are correct, I hadn't considered that and stand corrected (on that part, lol). I guess we need the OP to clarify if they tried to complete the payment outside of eBay.

releasethekraken_1 · ‎04-01-2021

@vintage-car-magazines wrote:
It happened because you allowed them to "pay" outside of eBay.

I think you're assuming way too much here.

If they pay by clicking the button on eBay, there's ZERO chance of the payment being sent to the wrong PayPal address.

If only. There have been plenty of threads started by sellers who put an incorrect email address in the Payments section. When that happens, the payment goes to the wrong account, or it ends up in limbo.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎04-01-2021

You made multiple mistakes here. First, you listed an expensive item for sale without knowing what you are doing. Second, you added the errant PayPal address to your account instead of correcting the original email address for the transaction. That doesn't work as you discovered, and though remote, the added email might have already belonged to another account which could have complicated matters. Then you sent the items without verifying payment or having the "time to ship" ok from eBay. Then you waited two months to deal with the issue. With so many missteps on your part, what you actually did was give a very expensive gift to a stranger. While it is unethical for the buyer to keep your items, they have committed no crime since you willingly mailed the goods to them. So, no, you have not been scammed and this one is on you.

releasethekraken_1 · ‎04-02-2021

@fashunu4eeuh wrote:
That doesn't work as you discovered, and though remote, the added email might have already belonged to another account which could have complicated matters.

If the address already belonged to another PayPal account, the OP would not have been able to add it to theirs.

luckythewinner · ‎04-02-2021

Here is my take, based only on the Op's post.

The OP listed the item with an email address not associated with his PayPal account
The OP decided to ship the item and add the email to his PayPal account
In the meantime, the buyer canceled the payment (which is possible with an unclaimed payment)
The buyer has gone silent and has not paid or returned the item

Neither eBay not PayPal can help collect money from the buyer. They do not have the ability or the authority to do so.

The seller is the only one who could have prevented this, by refusing to ship until payment was confirmed in his account. The result was a very expensive tuition payment to the school of hard knocks.

vintage-car-magazines · ‎04-02-2021

@jackliu1001

Did you arrange payment to be sent to your PayPal account outside of eBay or did you enter your PayPal email address wrong in eBay?

jackliu1001 · ‎04-02-2021

To clarify a few things:

1. I triple checked the Paypal address, I even reset it to make sure it ends up in the intended address, which ultimately did not, how could this have happened, I have absolutely no clue.

2. There was an Ok to sent from eBay because it considered the payment was pending, so I decided to mail it