Thread: %^&*(^&*)() buyer

Originally Posted by xaulleo

Grrrr okay, Paypal have closed the dispute and returned the money to the buyer! WTF is that all about? I have emailed them to ask why.

It's not that bad, it was a jumper that was just sitting in a bag doing nothing, but I forked out £1.50 odd for postage and it;s the principle of the thing. I don't understand!

I've just gone through a similar thing.

A buyer in France bought an item which I sent next day and even refunded part of the postage because it weighed less than I estimated.

Anyway, I bought the postage via Paypal, all communications were done through eBay so no 'uncontrolled' emails were sent, and the item was posted.

A week later I get an email, "did you send it, it isn't here yet was there a tracking number?" to which I replied, "Yeah, I sent it the day later and I told you as such and no there is no tracking because you declined to pay for it". I then get an email, "No, I didn't receive it I just returned to work after a few days off and it isn't here" Now, I'm getting a little bit livid so I replied, "What do you mean returned to work? Had I known I was sending it to an open office AND you wouldn't be there, I would have held onto it until you were" and then she replies "My address is my work address because post was stolen from my home address, my colleagues say there was no box for me while I was away"

10 minutes later I had a PayPal dispute which I provided all the PayPal id numbers for the payment, the postage, and the partial refund. Then explained in rather great detail how I felt the buyer was responsible for this "missing" item and provided copies of all emails including the one that said she was on holiday and that her home post is stolen.

Anyway, long story made less long... Paypal took nearly 20 days to come back with their decision:

After careful consideration of the evidence provided by you and the buyer in this case, we have concluded our investigation of the claim detailed below and decided in favour of the buyer.

According to PayPal's User Agreement, the buyer is due a refund from you for the amount of 27.00 GBP.

We have attempted to deduct the amount of the transaction from your PayPal account, but your account had insufficient funds. As a result, your account may be limited, and none of your subsequent eBay listings will carry the PayPal Buyer Protection seal.

Logging into my account, I refused to fund the account to pay a negative balance (from previoius horror stories, I always withdraw any funds rather than let them sit there) so I sent this email to them instead:

Subject: There's no such thing as seller protection.
customer message:
in regards to dispute PP-511-456-152, I can only think that PayPal cares not about the seller and only about the buyer. I followed all the rules including purchasing the postage via PayPal, yet a fraudulent claim by the buyer was enough to deduct the transaction from my account.

There are too many other payment options available to continue to be abused in this manner from PayPal. I will be closing my account here, and
possibly eBay. I know it won't matter to you at all as I'm a "little" guy,
but I'm a "little" guy who put a fair amount of fees into PayPal's kitty.
That won't be happening any longer.

Thanks for nothing PayPal, and I hope that your "reputation" with the buyer was worth losing a long time account holder.'

10 minutes later:

Thank you for contacting PayPal in relation to case ID PP-511-456-152

I have reviewed your account Mr. Thomas and I can advise you that this claim was closed because the tracking you provided was not valid. The reason that it was not valid is that it was not an online tracking number.

If you purchase royal mail postage through PayPal you have to ask for the tracking number from the postal service when you give them the parcel to send.

However as a courtesy gesture to you as you were not aware that the tracking has to be visible online I have requested a credit, be made to your account for £27.00. This should be visible in the next 3 to 5 days.

If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reply to this email and let us know.

First off, I didn't provide a tracking number, the buyer did. 2ndly, I know that I'd have to obtain a tracking number from the PO, but the buyer didn't purchase tracking. 3rdly, I don't care if they think I'm simple and don't know how the post works... Me, a "little guy" managed to have a 1/2 victory from PayPal when so many others don't!

Moral to the story? Don't give up. Fight and blag and posture... There is a reason why Americans usually get what they want, because we fight for it... You Brits and your stiff upper lips!

Well done! Although I have had a response from Paypal and it's possibly fraud on their (the buyer's) part. I am going to contact them via Ebid and ask for a cheque and see what happens....

Wow Sabian. I know paypal always protects the buyer. My dad was stung by them some time ago because a buyer didn't read description properly and was diappointed with what he got. Basically my dad sold an old coin. I think the seller thought it was one that hadn't been circulated but it had. As such it wasn't in immaculate condition. It was in the condition you'd expect of an old coin. He took dispute with paypal and won despite the fact he hadn't read the listing properly. He also left negative feedback.

He was American BTW For some reason as well, Americans keep sending my dad cash payments when it's a small amount like $2 or $3. My dad just lets it go but doesn't bother cashing them in. Doesn't seem worth it.

I think the problem is, as a buyer, when you pay for something and it doesn't arrive, someone needs to be responsible for that and why should it be the buyer? Ideally it should be the fault of Royal Mail but ugh. I ordered a pump that didn't arrive. Great communication with seller but he was adamant he had sent it. He told me to ring my local sorting office, so I did but no luck. I then spoke to the post lady that came to my door and she had a look for me and after a couple of days put a note through my door that she'd found it and I could go and collect it.

I went to sorting office, explained I didn't have a card as non was left and I had no idea the parcel was there etc etc and the woman was horrified and said that's never happened before. I Said well it happens a lot in other places because people always say on ebay to check sorting offices as postmen don't always leave cards.

Anyway as a result we were both happy. Selelr was willing to send me out another one though but was going to write to my local sorting office telling them to look out for it.