Paypal, not buyer, opens case AND REVERSES!

[2jspawn]

Long story short we sell a laptop to a buyer locally. They ask if they can buy direct and we say no must follow eBay/Paypal rules on keeping the transaction on the the sites.

Buyer comes in checks out laptop, makes payment and sends us a message via ebay confirming pick up and off he goes.

Paypal decides they don't like the look of this transaction and open an unauthorized transaction. We respond to this case immediately and confirm this was a local pick up and there is no tracking. Paypal keeps the case in review until the 11th according to their case history log (really today the 13th when it's processed). They reversed it. THEY REVERSED A CASE THEY OPENED. Buyer did not even get contacted according to their history log.

We call today and basically get gaslighted about not responding. The first rep literally used the reason for reversal as us not responding to the case. I told her that we did and that we were checking the case daily, always in review. Nothing else for us to respond to. I also got the rep to admit they initiated the case and that the buyer DID NOT and wasn't even contacted. They told us we should ask the buyer to resubmit payment. I asked why should we be put in a vulnerable position they put us in. What if the buyer decided to use the opportunity to not pay up?

Asked for a supervisor and was basically told all the same things. I lose it after more gaslighting and stupid logic used on us.  Asked for someone else and got hung up on after being on hold for approx 10 minutes. Total time on call 1hr 34 minutes.

I can't believe Paypal thinks this an acceptable resolution to this case.

[goodluckselling]

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@2jspawn wrote:

our account was NOT SUSPENDED. We never mentioned / wrote the word suspended.

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Sorry about using the wrong words.

It is still a security issue that only You and Paypal will be able to resolve.  It does not seem like anyone else has experienced this same issue as you have described.

I hope you can work out the problem.

Good Luck Selling!

[juststuffisell]

It seems to me that your only option is to contact the buyer to have them rectify payment.

If the buyer says tough luck, not going to happen, or you are unable to get a response from them, this was obviously a local transaction. You should have the buyers address information in the receipts from paypal. I require a phone number at checkout, so I receive that as well.

File a police report for fraud/stolen merchandise with your local police/sheriff office. Provide this information to them. They will probably pay a visit to the buyers house. You should go to identify the criminal. If it is not them, you will pretty much be SOL unless you can track down the actual computer. If it is them, they are most likely going to be arrested 🙂

Use the documentation from Paypal & ebay as your supporting evidence.

If paypal initiated the this, it is their problem with the buyer. The buyer can sue paypal. The buyer, if they are the actual buyer and picked up the actual merchandise, is responsible for payment. The police will determine the details - i.e. who spoke with who, who may have perpetrated the crime, if there is even a crime, etc etc etc

That is not your job. As of now, it is a case of theft and fraud and that is how you have to treat it unfortunately. Send ebay a copy of the police report and the buyer account details - I suspect the buyers account will be suspended or terminated. Do the same with Paypal - provide them a copy of the police report so they may do whatever it is they need to do with the Paypal account.

I'm assuming you are a B&M store - hopefully you have security video of the transaction that took place within the store.

Hope my opinion on this is useful - and it is only my opinion on next steps. Good luck!

Cheers

[partz-n-carz]

I sold a item one time and the buyer paid half the cost with Pay nobody's Pal, Buyer wanted to pay the rest on pickup. He did cash. Paypal called me to find out how he paid. I told them none of your business, contact the buyer. Was not my job to talk about his $$$ and where and when and how he spends it. Hung up...………..

[southern*sweet*tea]

The buyer inspected the laptop, decided to buy it, logged in to Paypal from said laptop and made his payment, correct? There at your location, correct? Same IP address, assuming it was made over WiFi?

If so, there's your problem. It looks to Paypal like you bought your own laptop using another account.

[konidias]

You say no part of it was offsite... Yeah there was a major part that was offsite. The exchange of the item to the buyer.

You have zero proof the buyer actually received the item they paid for, other than your word. This is where you went wrong. You never *ever* do a local transaction and use paypal for it. Paypal has no way of knowing if the goods actually were received when you do this. They need tracking info. You don't have it... therefore any buyer can reverse any paypal charge and claim they didn't receive the item. Not saying the buyer did that in this case, but generally you have NO protection when you sell something through paypal and the sale is not tied to a tracking number. When you sell on ebay and ship out, then a tracking number is tied to the paypal payment... Paypal can look at a buyer's payment reversal and see that an item was actually delivered, and then paypal will not accept that reversal and the seller is safe.

[siayan]

Not sure if this was asked but

Did they pay through eBay or pay using your email address directly through PayPal?