neglus
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posted on July 27, 2003 05:44:35 AM new
Back in June while I was playing in a Bridge tournament, my helpful Swiss Husband (German speaking) bid and won a lot of 5,000 postcards from a 0 feedback seller with the name of "pothead" or something like that (I think I already posted something about this here). He had no idea what "pothead" meant BTW.
I was fearful about this transaction from the "get go" but dutifully paid through PayPal. I indicated I wanted the payment put on my credit card but PP paid the first half with my balance and THEN went to my CC! Of course no merchandise arrived - seller went NARU almost immediately. I contacted another buyer who won a Michael Jordan rookie card the same weekend ($350) - he hadn't gotten his card either.
Seller finally answered my emails with "the postcards have been shipped - you should get them Wednesday" - nothing ever arrived and he didn't answer any more emails.
I filed a complaint with PP and they said seller gave them a doc tracking #...i tracked it and whatever it was, was shipped to someplace in Ohio - not delivered, and returned to seller's town in Ohio (I live in Minnesota and the other buyer lives in NYC). I pointed this out to PP. Yesterday I heard from PP that they determined seller was at fault but I was SOL because he had no $ in account.
SO...what can I do now? We know the guy's name and address...can we/should we contact the local authorities? Can I still make a claim against my Credit Card? I have not filed an eBay fraud report (how do you do that btw)- will they pay? Any suggestions appreciated!
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Twelvepole
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posted on July 27, 2003 05:52:17 AM new
yes you can still make a claim with your cc company, make sure to keep all your documentation.
You are probably screwed on the money taken from your bank account, but yes file a report with this person local police and maybe that will get you some action.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND... 
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stopwhining
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posted on July 27, 2003 05:53:05 AM new
how much did you pay??
ebay has insurance and covers up to 200,with a 20 dollars deductible.
it may have raised it,may be someone knows better.
as for paypal,your paypal balance is gone,but you can file chargeback with your credit card company for the rest.
make sure you know what can happen to your paypal account if you do that.
yes,you can also contact ebay fraud,but looks like someone has already done that.
-sig file -------They may have ginsu knife,but we have DING KING!!!!
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capolady
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posted on July 27, 2003 05:53:28 AM new
First of all an ebay fraud report is about as useless as tits on a bull.
Second, if the seller has a Premier account with PP, then PP has the ability to draft the sellers checking account for the funds.
Third, I would file a complaint and request for fund replacement with your cc company right away.
If PP told you they have no way of helping you then they are full of excrement from the aforementioned animal. They have the ability to get money from someone if they have been defrauded, they certainly should use some of their clout to assist you.
Staying out of a mental institution is a testament to my greatness!!!!
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stopwhining
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posted on July 27, 2003 05:59:03 AM new
capolady said-I would file a complaint and request for fund replacement with your cc company right away.
?????????????????????????????????????
i can see why good jobs go to india,they use cowdung as fuel,cheaper and cleaner than natural gas!!
-sig file -------They may have ginsu knife,but we have DING KING!!!!
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marcn
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posted on July 27, 2003 06:56:00 AM new
Neglus:
One year ago this month I had trouble with a $3000+ transaction I used a CC via Paypal with. I never received the merchandise and Paypal would not help. I filed a chargeback and got the money back that way. The big trouble was that I was selling about 100 items per week and the majority of my payments are via Paypal. My account got restricted and I could not get my payments.
Think twice about doing a chargeback as you are a seller.
Marc
[ edited by marcn on Jul 27, 2003 09:06 AM ]
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fluffythewondercat
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posted on July 27, 2003 08:03:41 AM new
Marc has a good point. Perhaps it would be a better practice to use different PayPal accounts for buying and selling.
That doesn't help neglus much, but maybe we can learn something from this distressing experience.
Yes, you should file a fraud report. I think you start with your local police, though. That's what I was told to do when a jerk passed two bad checks.
I am not a bathtub full of brightly-colored machine tools on Vendio.
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neglus
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posted on July 27, 2003 08:37:00 PM new
I AM SO MAD I HAVE TO TYPE IN CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I GOT THIS EMAIL FROM THE OTHER BUYER WHO GOT SCREWED BY THIS SELLER..I AM REAL HAPPY HE GOT HIS MONEY BACK..BUT WHY NOT ME??? Evidently Power Seller Silver Status is not worth a hoot!!! Coincidently that is the EXACT amount that was initially pended by PayPal and then released on 7-2 for MY claim!
"Hi Mary Ann. It's funny you contacted me today as Paypal emailed me stating that the seller 'pothead' was in the wrong and awarded me some of my money back. I didn't get the whole $372 back but I did get $240, which is ok I guess, I'm just glad I'm done dealing with that guy. I'm sorry you didn't get any of your money back, you seem like good people and it's sucks you got burned. "
[ edited by neglus on Jul 27, 2003 08:39 PM ]
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sparkz
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posted on July 27, 2003 09:12:11 PM new
Report it to the police departments in your town and his. You might get lucky if either department has an eager bever cybercrimebuster. In any event, with a username like pothead, I'm certain there's someone on his local P.D. that would like an excuse to meet him in person if they haven't already.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
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neglus
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posted on July 27, 2003 09:34:23 PM new
WEll..it seems that the contact info provided by eBay does not jive with the name and email address I paid when i connected with the auction link to PP. (if they are the same company, can't they make sure that they are one and the same??)
A check with the reverse directory on the telephone number provided by EBay shows that is a non-working number and a check with switchboard.com showed the only person in the whole US with the PayPal name lives in South Carolina and not Ohio...
In short, I don't think I can go the Police route because I don't really know who I am dealing with ( Melissa is the first name provided by eBay and Keith is the PayPAl person)AND the telephone number I have for Melissa is not a working number...
Does anyone know how PayPal handles this stuff? When I look at my now closed claim with PayPal it shows that $240.02 was reversed from Keith's account on July 2nd and then cancelled when they closed my claim. It now looks like that $240.02 was paid to the other buyer!
I can't even tell who I should contact at PayPal to discuss this since they have the MOST user unfriendly (2nd only to eBay) "contact us" system. A telephone call to PayPal won't even be an option because the account is in my HUSBAND's name (set up before I started selling) and even though the bank account is joint and I am the eBay seller (not my husband), they won't talk to ME. Husband is on business trip to Italy for another 10 days!
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mcjane
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posted on July 27, 2003 09:37:17 PM new
Too late for this now, but a good thing to do when making a large purchase or anything that your even slightly uneasy with....
Empty your PayPal account first & then put the entire amount on your credit card.
If a problem arises you can decide if you want to risk a charge back & getting kicked off paypal or getting your money back. At least you have a choice & some control.
neglus, It sounds like Paypal made a mistake & lets hope you can do something about it.
It seems strange that the exact amount of your claim was all that was in potheads account & it want to someone else.
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neglus
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posted on July 27, 2003 09:50:20 PM new
You have a good point Jane - i am thinking that perhaps the $240 was all that he had in his account and it showed on my claim as being reversed and maybe it showed on the other buyer's claim too...for some reason they decided it give ALL to the other guy and not split it up...maybe his claim was filed first. 
I am hesitant to do a credit card chargeback because i can't afford to have PayPal shut down my account access while I am running so many auctions. All in all I guess the money I am out isn't worth that..but it doesn't make me any less mad! After generating fee income for PayPal for 1000+ transactions you'd think I'd merit at least a decent handling of my one and only claim!
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stonecold613
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posted on July 27, 2003 10:04:58 PM new
Open a second account and use it for receiving payments only. That way, you can still receive payments. I have two accounts, one business and one personal. Works well.
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Libra63
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posted on July 27, 2003 10:22:48 PM new
neglus. What I have done is get 3 checking accounts. I have two user ID's they have 2 of the checking accounts and then my 3rd one is my main one. When I get money in my PayPal account I transfer immediately no matter how much is in there. When it reaches my bank I transfer it immediately to my main checking account. PayPal cannot collect money from my personal account as the 3 check accounts are not connected. They can only take from the checking account listed in PayPal and that account never has money. I bank out of LaCrosse, even though I live on the other side of the state, and it is a very nice bank with very good service.
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noh2
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posted on July 28, 2003 05:35:48 AM new
you are not perfect,so stop whining.
your paypal account belongs to your husband,you should have your own account,unless you are his double.
why should paypal talk to someone whose name is not on the account??
burgerflipper,you go first!!!!!
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stormypetr
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posted on July 28, 2003 02:19:23 PM new
Same thing happened to me. You have filed a complaint with Paypal. This is good. File a complaint with Ebay. They will say you were right. You can then file for insurance from Ebay. Ebay will give you $200 - $25 deductible. They require that you file a chargeback first. Since Paypal has agreed with your claim and said he has no money, you can file a chargeback with your credit card company. Paypal might restrict your acct but you can get it re-opened. As long as you filed the claim with PP before the chargeback (thereby following their TOS), they should not restrict your acct. They did mine but I contacted Damon and he got it re-opened.
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neroter12
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posted on July 28, 2003 02:26:03 PM new
Neglus, thats the good thing about Paypal, they will equally give you a run around when in a problem; whether you've had 1000 transactions or just 1.
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