Paypal Buyer's Note - Shipped to address provided

[jumpy-b-l]

Hello all,

I'm a very small-time seller. Been a member since 2003. Sell my own used computer parts and random little things now and then. Sold a video card recently. Buyer paid immediately on a buy it now listing of mine. Buyer has been a member since 2017. Buyer has 100% feedback. Paypal payment buyer's note instructed me to ship to a separate address, which I did and in hindsight I realize was a bad idea.  I thought nothing of at the time as I'm all about customer service. I've never had a bad experience on eBay and wanted to keep my 100% feedback.

The item is delivered to address provided a few days later.  A little over an hour after I see package has been delivered I get a message from the buyer stating the order was fraud and they've contacted the police and their bank. The buyer is supposedly from Kentucky but the message read as very Eastern European. I've had no requests for refund or any messages from Paypal or eBay regarding this sale being fraudulent. Nor has the buyer responded to my subsequent replies to his message.

I did contact PayPal to let them know something weird is going on but good lord the CSRs can't understand email correspondence at all. In my emails with CS I told them I'm the seller and they replied two times with copy-paste responses on how I as a buyer could seek restitution for my issue. I also reported buyer to eBay.

I go and look up this buyer's provided address and come to find that it's an international shipping agency in NJ. I called the shipping co. to request they hold on processing this package immediately after finding out who exactly I shipped to (package has only been in their possession for two hours at this point). Lady on phone has heavy Eastern Euro. accent and says they can't do anything about it as they serve their clients only.

Here's my question. If this sale turns out to be a result of identity theft/unauthorized account access am I to be held liable for the $$$ from the sale? I would think that to be wholly unfair as the victim can seek restitution from their bank, only having suffered the inconvenience of the whole process. Where would I, as a seller turn? I truly hope I'm not liable for a person's failure to adequately secure their online accounts. It makes me sick to my stomach to think I'm going to be out both the item and the payment. That's $1100 of value down the tubes, if so. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

If the address you shipped to was NOT the address on the Paypal payment, you are toast if the buyer files an Ebay or a Paypal case.

[jeannicho22]

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@jumpy-b-l wrote:

Hello all,

I'm a very small-time seller. Been a member since 2003. Sell my own used computer parts and random little things now and then. Sold a video card recently. Buyer paid immediately on a buy it now listing of mine. Buyer has been a member since 2017. Buyer has 100% feedback. Paypal payment buyer's note instructed me to ship to a separate address, which I did and in hindsight I realize was a bad idea.  I thought nothing of at the time as I'm all about customer service. I've never had a bad experience on eBay and wanted to keep my 100% feedback.

The item is delivered to address provided a few days later.  A little over an hour after I see package has been delivered I get a message from the buyer stating the order was fraud and they've contacted the police and their bank. The buyer is supposedly from Kentucky but the message read as very Eastern European. I've had no requests for refund or any messages from Paypal or eBay regarding this sale being fraudulent. Nor has the buyer responded to my subsequent replies to his message.

I did contact PayPal to let them know something weird is going on but good lord the CSRs can't understand email correspondence at all. In my emails with CS I told them I'm the seller and they replied two times with copy-paste responses on how I as a buyer could seek restitution for my issue. I also reported buyer to eBay.

I go and look up this buyer's provided address and come to find that it's an international shipping agency in NJ. I called the shipping co. to request they hold on processing this package immediately after finding out who exactly I shipped to (package has only been in their possession for two hours at this point). Lady on phone has heavy Eastern Euro. accent and says they can't do anything about it as they serve their clients only.

Here's my question. If this sale turns out to be a result of identity theft/unauthorized account access am I to be held liable for the $$$ from the sale? I would think that to be wholly unfair as the victim can seek restitution from their bank, only having suffered the inconvenience of the whole process. Where would I, as a seller turn? I truly hope I'm not liable for a person's failure to adequately secure their online accounts. It makes me sick to my stomach to think I'm going to be out both the item and the payment. That's $1100 of value down the tubes, if so. 

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OMG.... I think I'm going to sick to my stomach.

YES, you're on the hook for all the money.

[jumpy-b-l]

That's what I'm worried about. Ebay has gone to the dogs. In all my years selling on here I've never seen anything like this. Thank you for your reply.

[jeannicho22]

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@jumpy-b-l wrote:
That's what I'm worried about. Ebay has gone to the dogs. In all my years selling on here I've never seen anything like this. Thank you for your reply.

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This may not have happened to you before, and there may be more scammers abound, but the result would have been the same 5 or 10 years ago.  In fact, in the past eBay would only accept tracked as delivered to the address on file.  Now they SAY they will accept an address change if it is requested via eBay messaging.  PayPal will only accept delivery to the address on file.  As a matter of fact, an unauthorized use of card (or PayPal) is the easiest claim to win... Provided you ship to the address on file.

[jumpy-b-l]

Oh well. Lesson learned. Hopefully Paypal can take payment back via my credit card, rather than bank account. Thanks for replies.

[jeannicho22]

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@jumpy-b-l wrote:

Oh well. Lesson learned. Hopefully Paypal can take payment back via my credit card, rather than bank account. Thanks for replies.

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I am so very very sorry.

[mam98031]

While you are already aware from the other posters that you shouldn't have done what you did regarding the ship to address, all may not be lost.

This scammer may not be as smart as they think they are.  If your buyer files a claim, PLEASE come back here right away and tell us if they opened it in Ebay or if they opened it in PP.  Also tell us exactly what they say in the claim.  Please do this BEFORE your respond or take any action.  Allow us to try and help you so that just maybe we can help.

One thing that jumps out at me is this buyer notifying you shortly after the receipt of the item that it is a fraud.  My response to that email would have been to request they give me the Police Report Number and the name of the PD they filed the report with.  They of course won't be able to provide it because they didn't really do that, but it is kind of fun to watch them twist up their stories as to why they can't or won't give it to you.

But if this item was shipped to an alternate address just noted on the PP payment, are you saying it was just a request in the comment field of the PP payment notification??  This is VERY important.  

There are two reasons I ask this.  On a PP payment it has a specific filed that shows the Ship to address.  And that is ALWAYS the address you should ship to without exception.  Are you saying that they used the COMMENT field and told you to ship it to a different address than was stated in the Ship To Field?

If that is the case, then I'd send this joker an email and let them know that you have notified Ebay and PP that there has been fraud committed on their account on both sites.  First off if they put a different address in the comment field of the PP payment, that would mean that their PP account has been HACKED.   Calling PP and reporting this could be helpful.  PP can tell if the account was actually hacked.  And I don't know of any other way of the address notation on the payment to get their unless they were hacked or they gave their password to their PP account to someone else.  And if that is the case, this is fraud, it is stupidity.

Anyway, this may be more complicated than it seems and you may have some alternatives.

Did you ship via USPS?  Another thing you can do if you shipped via USPS is report them for Mail Fraud if they do anything to get their money back.  It is a FEDERAL crime to use USPS as part of a fraud committed on someone else such as you.