posted on March 25, 2002 07:53:33 PM new
Hi ppl,
I won a ebay auction on Oct 16, 2001 and paid $900US to the seller on Oct 18, 2002. Later I found out the seller don't have any laptop for sell so I filed a complain at Paypal and Ebay. On Nov 19, 2001, Paypal said the seller is at fraud but they can't recover any money from the seller's account. Since I paid $349.37US from my Paypal balance and $550.63US from my credit card, so I filed a charge-back with my credit card issuer and got the $550.63US back. I also filed an insurance claim with ebay on the same day (Nov 19, 2001) and they approved my claim on Feb 1, 2002. As of today, March 25, 2002, I still have not receive the insurance cheque from ebay. I email them many times and on Feb 21, 2002 they said due to the year end balancing, there are delay with issuring cheques. On March 19, 2002, they email me and said the Claims Administration Supervisor will contact me and ebay will directly deposit he insurance claim money $175US to my bank account. The time now is 10:53PM EDT March 25, 2002, I still didn't get any call or email from ebay.
Is anyone filed the insurance claim with ebay before and can you tell me how long you wait for the insurance money arrived?
posted on March 26, 2002 07:04:20 AM new
i believe the fund comes from the insurance co,not ebay and there is such thing called FLOATS,corporate treasurer takes pride in playing the game well.
you will get it in due time.
If they care, I think they will email me and give me the money as soon as possible. One of the Claim office Alaric told me he will contact me this Tuesday but now (Thursday) I still have not receive his email. Do you think call them can solve my claim faster? Do you have their phone number?
posted on April 12, 2002 08:35:21 AM new
What these folks don't realize is that not everyone can afford to wait 5 months on a refund. Some sellers have gone out of business waiting. Not me, thank God, but I've felt bad for those who have.
lurking is not an option
posted on May 8, 2002 09:27:56 PM new
Hi, maple 125. Glad everything worked out for you.
"Since I paid $349.37US from my Paypal balance and $550.63US from my credit card, so I filed a charge-back with my credit card issuer and got the $550.63US back."
What credit card do you have? I was in the same situation as you were: defrauded by a seller, filed a complaint with Paypal which was a complete waste of time, also gave me their generic excuse: we found the seller to be at fault but too bad too sad, we can't retrieve your money, yada, yada, yada... I filed a chargeback with my 7 year old relationship with Citibank and was told by Citibank that since Paypal only served as medium, they have no solution to my dispute, I have to take responsibility and deal with the seller directly.
I have already transferred all my direct deposit and my daily charges out of Citibank to a temporary credit card I rarely use: I have kept it for emergencies, didn't realized I would use it for a sitaution like this.
Anyways, would really appreciate the information if you please.
posted on May 8, 2002 09:40:02 PM new
Hi Press4Luck,
I filed a charge-back with my MBNA master card and they credited my account 2 days after I faxed them all the require documents. I have a CitiBank master card too, luckily I didn't use it. When did you pay the seller? I think CitiBank should allow you to file a charge-back within 60 days since you didn't receive the item from the seller.
posted on May 8, 2002 09:42:16 PM new
One more thing, I got the Paypal insurance 3 days after I faxed all the documents to them, but less the service charge Paypal charged me when I used my master card to pay the seller (about $15US).
posted on May 8, 2002 10:51:34 PM new
This happened in Feb 2002. Not having received item from seller after 2 weeks of payment, I contacted the seller several times with no response and started contacting several other buyers from this seller and the other buyers have also told me that they haven't received their merchandise so I started filing Paypal Fraud Investigation. Approximately 3 weeks from the time payment was made via Paypal with Citibank Visa, I started disputing the 2 amounts (bought 2 items from the same seller, paid the items seperately) from Citibank so it is within the 60 day timeframe.
When Paypal could/would not retrieve my monies, I was very confident that I would have no problems disputing the amount with Citibank for I have been with them for over 7 years, charging $1,000-$3,000+ monthly, have been quite happy with the service provided up until now. Citibank sent me forms and I filled out that merchandise never received (I wonder if I filed the correct dispute? Other choices I could remember was amount was not authorized, and a couple more other choices to pick from but can't really remember).
Citibank did credit the amount back while they were investigating but after the investigation, they charged the amount back and was told, they have "no
available options to assist me."
I called Citibank and was directed to a
very rude representative from Billing Dispute Department. I explained my situation and was accused of being an
irresponsible customer. Customer representative compared their Citibank to Western Union, I am
still trying to figure out how a credit card company would be similar to a money ordering company, for I certainly can't go to an
online store and charge the amount immediately to Western Union. I asked to be transferred to a higher departmental
supervisor and was told that she is the only one: there is no one else to be transferred to.
I have already filed and mailed Ebay Insurance Claims, have just recently received confirmation that they have received my mailed insurance claims. Guess it will be awhile before I hear or see the insurance check if they approve my claim...
You also mention filing the Paypal insurance claim. I had the understanding that you would have to file Ebay Insurance Claims first, then if you were approved of the claim, then Paypal will serve as a secondary insurance: they will pay the remaining balance of what Ebay doesn't pay. Theoretically, if you are approved for Ebay Insurance Claim of $300, then the max that Ebay insurance will pay you is $200. Paypal will then pick up the remaining $100.
Thank you so much for your quick response.
My spouse does have the MBNA Mastercard, might have to just get a card that way and be extra cautious with Ebay transactions.
posted on May 8, 2002 11:26:03 PM new
Hi Press4Luck,
Can you tell me the ebay auction number and the email address you sent the Paypal payment to? What reason did you wrote on the charge-back form?
I waited more than 5 months since I filed the insurance claim with ebay. Paypal insurance is pretty fast but they never told me the insurance was credited to my Paypal account directly and never reply to my question regarding how they calculate the insurance amount.
posted on May 8, 2002 11:51:38 PM new
This seller had several auctions going on at the time, I copied almost all of the seller's auctions #, buyer's User ID for reference and for possible contact in the future( hope you can still pull this out on Ebay for these auctions ended in Feb, 2002):
1330867772
1330923862
1331209189
1331209955
1330924807
1330928999
1331206888
1330926975
1330927792
1331207492
1330929485
1331134936
1331171399
1331138464 (I was able to contact this buyer and really feel bad for her.)
1331171823
1331174162
1331205759
1331208057
1331208682
1331210669
1331211204
The seller's account has been closed by Ebay.
I explained on Citibank's dispute form that I never received the merchandise from the merchant. I know this sounds inappropriate but among the choices on the form, this was the most suitable one.
How did you go about the Paypal Insurance? After filing the Paypal Fraud Investigation, they e-mailed me back after a week, said that they have finished investigation, found the seller to be at fault but money could not be retrieved. I did not pursue this with Paypal anymore, for I thought that there was nothing else they could do for me.
Was I correct in understanding that Ebay Insurance is the primary payer(of course, I had to send Ebay a copy of Citibank's denial for the disputed amount) and Paypal Insurance as secondary payer?
posted on May 9, 2002 12:10:09 AM new
Hi Press4Luck,
I just checked the seller's feedback and he/she has (-2) feedback. How much did you pay him?
For the ebay insurance, you have to file the claim with them first (as you told me you have already filed with ebay), then wait until they send you the insurance cheque. After you receive the insurance cheque (the max. coverage from ebay is $200, less $25 fee, so you will get up to $175US insurance from ebay), fax the ebay insurance cheque, the letter/email showing the claim result is in your favor, your name, your primary Paypal email address, the seller's Paypal account email address you sent the money to, the amount you sent and the date to 1-402-537-5760. Put the fax to
the attention of "Complaint Resolution- Ebay Claim". They should credit the insurance money to your account 3 days after you faxed all the require documents. If you didn't get the insurance then you can email them to confirm they have received your fax.
posted on May 9, 2002 12:19:58 AM new
One amounted to about $100 and the other one to $200 so I would be getting $75.00 and $175 respectively from Ebay upon approval.
Thank you for the info regarding Paypal.
Now, are you saying that Paypal would become the primary payer if Ebay denies your claim? I thought that if Ebay denies your insurance claims, then Paypal insurance would also not cover your claim.
You mentioned that Ebay have already approved your claim but have not send their check yet. What forms or documentations did you have to mail or fax to Paypal? You have received your Paypal insurance money, right?
By the way, when you disputed the amount to your MBNA Mastercard, how did you explain your dispute to them?
posted on May 9, 2002 12:38:33 AM new
Hi Press4Luck,
I got the ebay insurance cheque on April 25, 2002 and I faxed all the documents to Paypal and it takes 3 days for the insurance deposited to my Paypal account.
I filed the claim with ebay on November 18, 2002 and ebay approved my claim on February 1, 2002.
If ebay denies your claim (if the seller is at fault, ebay won't deny your claim), then Paypal won't cover you either.
Please check my previous reply for the documents you need to fax to Paypal.
posted on May 10, 2002 06:13:43 AM new
I also charged back to my MBNA card. The investigator said something about Paypal tries to deny responsiblity but he still felt they were responsible. It is always in the credit card companies best interest to side with their customer as long as their customer did nothing wrong. Had they not approved my claim, I would have paid the rest of my bill, closed my account and refused to pay the part to Paypal. Then the cc company would have lost a good customer and they would be the ones losing the money. By charging it back to Paypal, they keep their good customer and they keep their money. Makes good business sense.
I also filed a dispute based on the fact that I did not receive the merchandise. I did add the fact that I contacted Paypal the next business day after sending the payment to notify them I suspected fraud but they chose to do nothing for 30 days. Paypal filed an appeal but all I had to do was send another letter stating I had not received the item or money back and the chargeback stayed.
posted on May 10, 2002 08:55:15 AM new
If possible, I would try to persue your chargeback through Citibank further. Unless your cardmember agreement states you can not charge back payments made with 3rd party payment services, you should be able to get your money back. Explain that PayPal can recover from the seller and that just beacuse you used a 3rd party payment service doesn't mean you forfit your rights. (If citibank changes their minds you would cancel the insurance claims). If all else fails at least the money you lost fell within the insurance claim limits from EBay and PayPal.
posted on May 11, 2002 03:22:27 AM new
Thank you very much for all the information I received here.
Seems like credit card companies take this situation on a case to case basis. In my case, I suppose being a Citibank member for the last 7 years, charging $1,000-$3,000 per month, yearly increasing my credit limit ( over $30,000 now), pays the bill in time and in full (maybe this is where I lost points!) must not be qualifications they consider top priority in keeping cardmembers. I emphasized this to the customer representative when I discussed my problem and was told matter of fact: they do not treat a new cardmember any differently from a 7-year old cardmember. Well, I sure would like to see them give a $30,000 credit limit to a new cardmember!!!
I was very confident I would have no problems disputing the charges. In all the 7 years of being a Citibank cardmember, I believe I've only disputed 2-3 charges billed to me with other merchants (this is the first time I've disputed charges to Paypal). I wrote Citibank a letter about the poor customer service I received and the dissappointment over their decision, discussing that as soon as I transfer my direct charges through another credit card, I would close my account. After a couple of weeks, they sent me a notice mail with the regular opening: We hate to lose you.... sign here and mail or call 1800... to completely close your account. Guess they couldn't care anymore or less as long as they don't have to pay the $300+ disputed amount.
I guess this is a hard and painful lesson I've learned...my last and only hope is Ebay's insurance claims.
Thanks again, everyone!
