Why Am I Being Sent to Collections??

[vangons-0]

Hi everyone. I had some difficult issues with a buyer the beginning of the year. She falsely claimed to not have received an item and I won the appeal. The issue went back and forth and she eventually filed a chargeback. I filed a claim with my bank and they protected me from the chargeback. Fast forward to today, eBay has sent me a few emails regarding a balance I have to pay to Global Collections. I’ve ignored them as I know I did nothing wrong in this situation and I am a victim to fraud. I’ve just received a email that they will progress the situation and send it to a debt collector. At this point, I have no idea what there is left do. Is there any contact information or a routine process  that I should go about? I’ve won every appeal and my bank has protected me but yet they want to send me to collections rather than the fraudulent buyer. Any advice or contact information would be extremely appreciated. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@vangons-0 wrote:

Yes except I filed a claim afterwards which granted me the money back. This is why I’m so confused why I would still owe the fees if I was able to win the case

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You didn't win the case with the buyers credit card.

[kensgiftshop]

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@farmalljr wrote:

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

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@vangons-0 wrote:

I understand that but they lost all appeals due to fraudulent behavior and decided to take it to her bank rather than accepting the ebay appeal decision. Why should I have to make it right for a fraudulent buyer considering the decision was ruled in my favor 

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The INR with Ebay was found in your favor.

The INAD with the buyers bank was found in the buyers favor.

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Nope. Buyer opened an INR case and lost, then opened an INAD case with eBay and lost. THEN they filed a chargeback with their bank, which means eBay is responsible for the refund. Don't know why any seller here would want to take on eBay's debt? They make the rules, they should be well aware of what they are responsible for. 

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According to their post last month, the OP was no longer covered by seller protection according to the email they received from Ebay..

"Now, months and months later, the same buyer has somehow managed to chargeback this transaction. The initial email I received said the buyers institute sided with my buyer and I was no longer protected under the seller protection rules even despite the fact that I’ve already won the original appeals. Now eBay is saying I will be charged for the full purchase. "

[luckythewinner]

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@vangons-0 wrote:

Somehow their bank appealed their request for a chargeback, which is when I visited my bank and they protected me from this fraudulent claim. 

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The chargeback was made against the buyer's payment to eBay, not against your bank.

When eBay lost that chargeback and had to refund the buyer, under the terms of your user agreement with eBay, eBay tried to collect the amount from you and you managed to get your bank to block eBay from collecting.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi @farmalljr 

Don’t have first-hand experience with this matter of chargebacks myself, but here is the link to the policy covering eBay’s payment dispute process for those interested.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/payment-dispute-seller-protections?id=5293

The following is stated in the policy:

”The final outcome of the dispute is decided by the payment institution. If the payment institution determines that the buyer is owed a refund, eBay will refund the buyer and will then seek reimbursement from the seller for the refunded amount.”

The policy goes on to say the seller may be covered by certain protections outlined therein. So there are disclaimers and qualifiers regarding who will be held financially accountable. It is likely the burden will fall on the seller more often than not.

Other sellers may not have recommended arbitration because it may not apply. Arbitration normally takes the place of court actions. See link below for more info.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-agreement?id=4259#section19

Section 19 covers Legal Disputes.

[1786davycrockett]

@vangons-0 

Your least worry at this point is for eBay closing your account.

Your biggest worry is (and should be) ruining your personal credit history for the next seven years, since you admit to being a college student:  if you plan on receiving more student loans, forget about it.  Or a car.  Or a house or apartment.  And some jobs now require that you reveal your credit bureau history.

If, up to this time, you have failed to contact Global Collections about this case, do it NOW, before you begin receiving an avalanche of dunning letters, as well as dunning phone calls to your home and workplace.  And some of the very aggressive collections agents can be very abusive and annoying.

If the sum in question is significantly large, you should hire a lawyer that is experienced in debt collections -- but they are NOT cheap.  Once they take your case, the law firm can send "cease and desist" letters to the collection agency, which at least will stop the letters and phone calls -- but it does NOT stop the collections process.

Unfortunately, as has been pointed out several times, even though you had won two appeals through eBay, you definitively lost to the buyer's charge account carrier, which represents the buyer and thus will only take the buyer's side in any arguments.  So the buyer's charge account carrier reversed the charge back to eBay, and eBay is attempting to claw it back from you, which is their legal right, according to the eBay contract to which you had agreed at the time that you had signed up with eBay.

The bottom line is -- you will lose.  At this point, you need to choose how much you choose to lose, as you may be able to offer a settlement to eBay.

(Just as a side note:  Amongst my many jobs over the past 60 years, were 6 years spent in 3 different law offices that were 100% dedicated to debt collections.  Many of the individuals with whom I spoke were planning to be stubborn and ignore the debt collection letters and phone calls -- until they needed a loan for a car or house.  And, by that time, their CBR (credit bureau report) had become a disaster, costing them thousands of dollars to dig their way out.  The short version?  Don't ignore those dunning notices!)

[mam98031]

Well as you have sadly found out ignoring a bill doesn't make it go away.  The first time you got the bill, you should have investigated it and gotten to the bottom of the issue.

How much is the bill?  You need to settle this as you know this will affect your credit score.

On each Ebay page there is a link to contact Customer Service at the top of the page and again at the bottom of the page.

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/ebay

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[inhawaii]

I read your title only.

I am 99% sure that you are being taken to collections because you owe someone money. That's usually the case.

[powell-collectibles]

I don’t understand the advice of getting an expensive lawyer when the OP can just pay what is owed. And, absolutely no need to have a lawyer. Send a letter asking them to stop sending letters or calling for their debt collection. Anyone can do this.

[farmalljr]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Hi @farmalljr 

Don’t have first-hand experience with this matter of chargebacks myself, but here is the link to the policy covering eBay’s payment dispute process for those interested.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/payment-dispute-seller-protections?id=5293

The following is stated in the policy:

”The final outcome of the dispute is decided by the payment institution. If the payment institution determines that the buyer is owed a refund, eBay will refund the buyer and will then seek reimbursement from the seller for the refunded amount.”

The policy goes on to say the seller may be covered by certain protections outlined therein. So there are disclaimers and qualifiers regarding who will be held financially accountable. It is likely the burden will fall on the seller more often than not.

Other sellers may not have recommended arbitration because it may not apply. Arbitration normally takes the place of court actions. See link below for more info.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-agreement?id=4259#section19

Section 19 covers Legal Disputes.

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eBay's policy is, if a buyer files a case with eBay and eBay sides with the seller, they will cover any charge backs that come from the sale later on. The buyer filed two cases in eBay to attempt a refund. eBay sided with the seller in both cases. The seller has no responsibility to cover the charge back in this case, under eBay's own policies. 

Again, THIS is a case and point, why sellers should be filing an arbitration case. People suggesting to "just pay it" are the same people that I would have no pity for when eBay walks all over them. eBay has rules, it's not just buyers and seller those rules apply to. eBay has some responsibilities too. The seller did what they were supposed to, and covering them was contractually eBay's responsibility. Had they not won the cases or the buyer went straight to a charge back, then that would be a different situation. 

[1786davycrockett]

@powell-collectibles 

"I don’t understand the advice of getting an expensive lawyer when the OP can just pay what is owed. And, absolutely no need to have a lawyer. Send a letter asking them to stop sending letters or calling for their debt collection. Anyone can do this."

Depending upon the OP's financial status, hiring an attorney with collections experience is an option which has been used by millions of debtors.  It was suggested simply as another option.

And sending a letter to the collections agency does not stop the status of the collections process -- in fact, it only accelerates the process to the next stage, which may culminate in court action against the OP.

And I agree 100% -- at this point, the OP should simply pay the bill directly to eBay, rather than "hang tough" and allow the account to go to collections, which can only harm the OP's credit bureau history.

[1786davycrockett]

@farmalljr 

Did you not understand what @fashunu4eeuh has quoted from  eBay policy?

--  ”The final outcome of the dispute is decided by the payment institution. If the payment institution determines that the buyer is owed a refund, eBay will refund the buyer and will then seek reimbursement from the seller for the refunded amount.”

Despite the OP having prevailed in two previous eBay cases, "the final outcome of the dispute" was made by the buyer's payment institution; and eBay has no option now but to attempt a clawback from the OP.

While arbitration remains a possibility, it is probably useless, as the arbitration firm is chosen by eBay, and thus beholden to eBay.

Before this case finally is sent to a collections agency, the OP should attempt to argue their case via eBay Facebook for Business, and request a one-time reprieve from paying the charge, since the OP had previously won 2 cases against the buyer regarding this purchase.

Time is the enemy at this point -- once the account has been turned over to a collections agency, alternative options through eBay are slim to none.

[mam98031]

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@vangons-0 wrote:

I’m honestly not worried about them closing my account. Dealing with a fraudulent buyer can completely ruined my experience on ebay. I understand ignoring the notices isn’t the best course of action but ebay isn’t necessarily the best when it comes to contacting someone for help. I hope you’re right and that it is scare ware 

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@vangons-0 

Closing your account will not solve anything.  You haven't told us yet how much is this bill and exactly what is it for?  A bit of important information to accurately advise you.  

Ignoring the notices was the worse course of action you could take.  

"ebay isn’t necessarily the best when it comes to contacting someone for help."  It isn't up to Ebay to contact you to resolve this issue, it is you than needs to respond instead of ignore.  Ebay is VERY easy to get in contact with.  

***********************************************

On each Ebay page there is a link to contact Customer Service at the top of the page and again at the bottom of the page.

I would suggest that you contact Ebay for Business on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for the better trained CSRs.

Here are your options for contacting Ebay Customer Service. Please be aware that for social media CS, you send them a Private Message and briefly explain what your problem or issue is. Feel free to leave your Name, address, phone number and/or your email address in this message. It is private and secure and it may help to speed up the response for you.

https://twitter.com/askebay

https://www.facebook.com/ebay

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

Your options will be on the left. If you use the link below you can only get to the Automated Assistant or Chat box type AGENT in the box and hit enter. You will then get more options. Not all options are available 24/7. It will depend on staffing available. So sometimes you can request a call back and sometimes you can't. Sometimes you have the Chat option available and other times it won't me. If it is important to you to use one of those options, just try back later.

If you use a cell phone or other mobile device, you may need to turn off your Spam filter so that Ebay can call you.

If you are a seller outside of the US or Canada, you will need to use the Chat Option.

https://www.ebay.com/help/eua?id=5275&mkevt=1&mkpid

https://www.ebay.com/help/home

[albertabrightalberta]

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@vangons-0 wrote:

YES!! The original claim was INR which I won.

I understand that. You had tracking showing delivery so you would win INR. 

The second claim was Item not matching description which I also won.

This is the part I don't understand. Sellers NEVER (well, 99.999% of the time) win NAD (not as described) claims. 

I had complete protection and had a good experience with ebay up until this. I’m assuming the buyer was unhappy with the decisions of the appeals and escalated it to their bank. Somehow their bank appealed their request for a chargeback, which is when I visited my bank and they protected me from this fraudulent claim. EBay has the history of the appeals and their customer service even assured me that this would not happen. At this point, I’m not sure where to go or who to reach out to since their customer service isn’t the best 

This is why you owe the money. Ebay didn't rule in your favor; your bank did. Ebay found against you (as they always do against sellers) so your claim was with your bank. 

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See my comments within the post above. 

[mam98031]

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@vangons-0 wrote:

I understand that but they lost all appeals due to fraudulent behavior and decided to take it to her bank rather than accepting the ebay appeal decision. Why should I have to make it right for a fraudulent buyer considering the decision was ruled in my favor 

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Because it is YOUR credit rating on the line here and YOUR money.  You need to contact Ebay and work this out.  It may just be a mistake on their part, but that isn't anything you or them can know until you call and discuss what has transpired.  This is a YOU issue that is going to take some of your time to resolve.  Procrastinating on taking care of this only hurts YOU.

[mam98031]

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@vangons-0 wrote:

I’m honestly not worried about them closing my account. Dealing with a fraudulent buyer can completely ruined my experience on ebay. I understand ignoring the notices isn’t the best course of action but ebay isn’t necessarily the best when it comes to contacting someone for help. I hope you’re right and that it is scare ware 

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If you think if they close your account, then this bill will just fade off into the sunset, you are incorrect.  They will still pursue you for payment until you reach out and try to resolve this with them.  But if you don't care about your credit rating, then doing nothing may be OK for you.