Not that this should be a big surprise. Ebay protects buyers to the ends of the earth but for the sellers - good luck. Speaking of luck, with any, we'll recoup our funds this time as the merchandise is long gone. Here's what happened. Some of you may remember when we ran into the large collection of World Paper Money at work. Much of it went on ebay and some did very well. One guy bought three of the notes. Total price over $500. He used Paypal via his credit card. Notes were shipped REGISTERED. Then he reversed his credit card charges through the credit card company. Paypal came in and took the funds from our account. At the time it originally happened we had "swept" the Paypal account. In other words it was transferred and our Paypal account was at zero. Well, the boss had a hot deal cooking and the buyer paid with Paypal. What could we tell the guy? We didn't want the money? The minute his funds hit, Paypal yanked the money from us to cover the scammer. The boss and I just heard of this today. The sale was in October. Scott (my coworker) has been trying to hash it out that long. As I mentioned it was sent REGISTERED. We have the signed delivery confirmation and a copy has been forwarded to Paypal/Ebay. Has Paypal cheerfully refunded us? Of course not. They are now battling the credit card company involved. Maybe my thinking is a bit messed up here but considering that we have given proof that the notes were received it should no longer be OUR problem. Paypals baby now. I might add that the buyer has been kicked off of ebay and we are one of THREE that we know of that he did this with. One of those folks actually contacted Scott about it. Hmm... a pattern here? Maybe the sellers are telling the truth? Seems you gotta protect those buyers (and they should) but sellers need a bit more consideration as well. How many legit sellers that have been in business since before the internet existed have gotten burned? I really wonder. Monday Scott is going to take it a step further. He's going to the post office to see what we have to do to file mail fraud charges (if it's possible). Maybe that will wake this piece of garbage bidder up. Thoughts, opinions and advice are welcomed here.
As I suggested in a previous post, contact your local post master general at your main mail facility and formalize a complaint.
I have never played this game from either side. My guess would be that you have a shot at mail fraud. You did not mention it, so I will. My first thought would be to contact the credit card company. They are supposed to have some kind of resolution arbitration, I believe.
Bummer Lather. Hope it works out for you. That will happen Monday. Fortunately the post office is two buildings away. They know us VERY well. Since it went through Paypal I don't know if we're privy to that information. I will mention it on Monday though.
