That was interesting.
A word to the fraudsters. If you're going to hack into somebody's eBay account to fraudulently buy stuff, your crime will not pay if you provide an invalid shipping address for your spoils....
I sold a paperback book on November 1 to somebody I'll call "John Doe." As I received instant payment for the item via PayPal, I printed the shipping label and sent the package out the next day.
On November 15 I was notified by PayPal that someone named "Jane Bo-Peep" was disputing the payment to me as "not authorized." (Her name appeared unrelated to the buyer's name, but that's not unusual; people often use a friend or relative's account and it's perfectly okay.) I replied to PayPal with all of the documentation, the eBay order number and the name and address of the person the item was shipped to ("Joe Fraudster"), and the fact that the tracking information did not yet show the item having been delivered. PayPal resolved the case in my favor, put the money back in my account, and closed the case.
On November 29 I got a notice from the post office that I had a returned parcel and postage was due. The package I picked up, with the original shipping label still affixed, was marked "no such number."
Fully intending to open a case on the buyer, to see if I could get reimbursed for the return postage cost (my return policy is returns accepted but buyer pays postage), I hesitated when I saw that the name of the buyer was not the same name as the person I shipped to, and neither of those was the same name as the one on the PayPal account. The one that disputed the transaction as unauthorized.
The alleged buyer also has a 100% positive feedback rating on eBay, which raised my suspicions even more. People who perpetrate weird shenanigans on sellers usually have at least one bad rating... right?
So I called eBay and explained the situation. The person I talked to told me that the address of record on the buyer's account was several states away from the (invalid) address I had shipped the order to. She also hinted that they already knew the buyer's account had been compromised. So I'm glad I called before knee-jerk giving a bad report to the alleged buyer, who was most likely an innocent victim in this whole scenario.
And she told me that I should talk to PayPal and see if they would refund me the shipping charges I originally paid, because obviously the post office isn't going to refund me the postage due I paid them today.... So rather than sit on hold for an hour and a half, I asked for PayPal to call me back. We shall see how that goes.
So the score as of now: I was paid for the item. I now have the item back in my hands, but I paid twice to ship the item, once outgoing and once incoming. So at the moment, I'm a couple of dollars short on the deal. To make things completely square, PayPal would need to refund me the difference between what I was paid for the item (since I have it back in my possession and can theoretically sell it again) and the double shipping charges. I wonder if they do that sort of thing....
If anyone is intereted, I'll post a followup when I've heard back from PayPal.
So, all you would-be Joe Fraudsters out there. A bit of free advice (which is worth exactly what you paid for it). If you're going to perpetrate fraud, at least have the merch sent to a valid address, so you can enjoy your ill-gotten gains!
On a side note... something similar happened to me several years ago when my credit card was compromised. The crook neglected to change the shipping address, so I got his order in my mailbox. How do I know it was a he? Because the items were, um, male enhancement vitamins and supplements. The comic value of the experience was not quite enough to override the incredible hassles I had to go through to get the charges reversed.
