posted on December 9, 2003 12:44:07 PM new
Thankfully, I have not mailed this item. I had someone use a BIN on an item today. Their feedback is just fine. Now, I just got this email from Paypal. What can I do? Do I have to wait to file for FVF with eBay? I'm more than a little sick of this crap. I'm also glad I did not leave feedback yet. Just wait until I do. I did email this buyer and told her I expect her to hold up her end of the deal. We'll see. Any advice out there?
Dear *********,
It has come to our attention that you may be the recipient of potentially
fraudulent funds. We have initiated an investigation into this event. In
the meantime, we have placed a pending reversal on the funds in question
until the investigation is complete. This pending reversal will show as a
deduction in your available balance. In the meantime, you are free to
continue transacting using your PayPal account.
posted on December 9, 2003 01:11:36 PM new
If you have not already shipped, don't. Then just sit back and wait to see what happens. Don't make any decisions until PayPal has cleared up the matter one way or another.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on December 9, 2003 01:18:02 PM new
I think that after the holidays I will no longer accept paypal. It's just not worth the hassle. This person bought another item today and my feeling is that she simply changed her mind. The other item was $350! What a load of crap.
posted on December 9, 2003 01:18:03 PM new
not good.there is a good chance your buyer is using a stolen card .
i will file ebay notices now.
-sig file -------The thrill is gone!!
posted on December 9, 2003 01:22:09 PM new
I take the $350 back. This person is bidding on about $4,000 worth of items that end today. Yup, betcha it's a stolen card. Mostly electronic items. Since I don't like to post links to other people's auctions, here's the one for mine. You can take it from there.
posted on December 9, 2003 02:01:50 PM new
Tangentally...
Due to an inordinate number of non-responses to my winning bidder notification (WBN), you must contact me within 3 days of auction close if you have a spam blocker that will prevent receipt of my WBN.
I understand and sympathize with the intent (oy, do I ever) but this requires the bidder to be aware they have a spam blocker. Since many ISPs impose one at the point where email enters their system, there are lots of unaware shmoes out there.
You wouldn't believe how many AOL users insist that AOL does not block their incoming mail in any way, shape or form. They just don't believe it.
As far as your miscreant goes, I think you just have to ride it out.
--
Coming soon to an Internet near you: fluffythewondercat.com
posted on December 9, 2003 02:25:11 PM new
starting filing your ebay notices now,ebay would not do anything,you have to go thru the steps to get your final value fee refunded.
your bidder is on a shopping spree,with other people's credit card (possible).
posted on December 9, 2003 02:27:39 PM new
I have a question? I just check this persons feedback, and it looks like they just did a BIN for a playstation ($350.00) today and the seller already left the feedback this buyer. Is it auction interference to point this guy (seller) to this thread and hope that he has not mailed it yet?
posted on December 9, 2003 02:40:45 PM new
How could it be auction interference if the auction is over? Some sellers still leave feedback as soon as they receive payment. Normally, I ship right away, too. This will sound odd, but I'm awaiting a root canal (next week) and the tooth started acting up today so I decided not to go anywhere. The odd part - what a break!
I know what you mean, fluffy, about AOL. I have had bidders email me after three days when they haven't heard from me. So, the clause does work from time-to-time.
Doesn't anyone work at Paypal? This many auctions in one day doesn't look suspicious to anyone there? This bidder won mine first thing in the morning I have a feeling eBay is going to be giving back a lot of fees on this one (including the Paypal fees).
Lifeizgood
Check his bidding history. More like almost $4,000 today!
posted on December 9, 2003 03:02:45 PM new
I have heard from one of the sellers that was scammed and invited him to join the discussion here. I've contacted eBay and Paypal. I'm wondering if I should contact the other sellers he won from to make sure they don't ship the items to him quite yet. Anyone have an opinion on that?
posted on December 9, 2003 03:04:46 PM new
Look who is back, It's Fluffy......
"Another plague upon the land, as devastating as the locusts God loosed on the Egyptians, is "Political Correctness.'" --Charlton Heston
posted on December 10, 2003 01:51:02 AM new
My 25th Ebay auction I sold a used Demarini baseball bat to a guy in South Carolina. He bought insurance as well. He received the bat and then wrote me complaining that it was not what he order. My auction had 10 pics in it to show the condition of the bat. I told him to return it and I would refund. He refused to return the bat. A few days later Paypal reversed the fees on me stating the auction had been paid for with a fraudulent CC. Unfortunately I had mailed it to an unconfirmed address.
I immediately sent Paypal a letter complaining about the reversal and provided them with the emails which confirmed he had received the bat and did not intend to pay me for the bat. I also contacted 5 other sellers who had sold him Demarinis. They too had been stiffed. Then I contacted the Sheriffs dept in his home town and filed a mail fraud complaint with the Post Office.
Long story short. Took 3 months but Paypal paid me. Don't know if Jerko in SC went to jail, but I bet he doesn't try to stiff someone on Ebay again.
posted on December 10, 2003 05:00:52 AM new
Cheryl, I think you'd really be doing a good service to alert the other sellers. If they dont trust you or whatever, then that is their choice to do what they want about it.
I dont think its breaking any rules at this point with all the info you have.
posted on December 10, 2003 05:46:51 AM new
hi Cheryl ... on the auctions that are ended, [that that guy won], I think it would be really nice of you to give the sellers a heads up. ... that really stinks!
[I think it's only 'auction interference' if you email sellers/buyers during an open auction]
Marcia AintRichYet, BUT we just got a $135 purchase out of our vendio store! ... Lord, those are few and far between!
posted on December 10, 2003 07:07:40 AM new
I did notify most of the sellers. It looks like this guy's eBay ID and Paypal account were stolen. He must not be a Vendio reader. I'm willing to bet he fell for one of the scams out there. Upon closer examination, the email addresses are not the same (eBay and Paypal). The real buyer is in CA and the fake buyer is in AL. If I could figure this out, why couldn't eBay or Paypal? One guy I talked to had already mailed the item won. The buyer showed up as unconfirmed on Paypal (user ID and shipping address). Good lesson - ship only to confirmed addresses! I'm not taking a chance anymore. I dodged a bullet on this one!
posted on December 10, 2003 12:52:42 PM new
This has nothing to do with credit cards. Paypal has this lovely policy. If Buyer A buys something from seller B and seller B doesn't ship, then seller B buys something from you and pays you with their paypal balance (not credit card), paypal will take the money away from YOU. They will call this "fraudulent funds." It doesnt help if you shipped to the confirmed address. There is no defense. There is also this really cute scam where buyer tells the post office to forward his package to another address. Even though delivery confirmation says "forwarded at the customer's request," Paypal uses this as an excuse to deny the protection.
read http://www.ccs-digital.com/paypal.asp for more details about the so-called "protection" plan
posted on December 10, 2003 01:42:02 PM new
I've never had a problem or had a payment reversal by accepting PayPal (knock on wood) but all these horror stories are making me uneasy. I too have shipped items to unconfirmed and unverified accounts. So is there any safe way to avoid any type of take-backs if you accept PayPal payments? Is it a sure thing if you ship to only verified or confirmed addresses? If this keeps up, nobody will trust using PayPal.
posted on December 10, 2003 02:15:57 PM new
cta:... in my case it was a "grandma-sort-of-ebay-ID-name" [nanasomething] and she only has 3 positive feedbacks since early november [and yeah, I'm one of her positive feedbacks ] and she is buying antique things, not a lot of them, just a few ... i think somebody got hold of nana's credit card and maybe is going to a lot of stores in town shopping? ...... she's not a super active ebayer yet [my buyer] ... I did send her an email to see if this can get cleared up ... but in this case, yes, i shipped to a confirmed address, several days AFTER receiving paypal payment with a confirmed address. --- but yeah, i ship to unconfirmed ones too, depending on the 'amount' of the transaction; big ticket things I go a couple extra confirmation steps to hope i'm dealing with the right person, along with using delivery confirmation and requiring a signature.
posted on December 10, 2003 02:46:41 PM new
cta,
if you are in business,there will always be risks and losses.the key is to be profitable enough to absorb some losses.
if you think there is a business which is 100% risk proof,i would like to come over and sing you a lyllbye while you sleep.
sorry cant spell lullybye??
even cash is not always safe,i was in china a few years ago,every store has a machine where they slide the chinese dollar bill in to check for counterfeit,even the street hawker they either use the one in the store or they use their judgment.
well,i went to a local hotel and the clerk took my bills and slide into the machine,they are okay.
so what did she do??she gave me counterfeit change.
posted on December 10, 2003 04:04:40 PM new
LOL stopwhinning that is why Vendio has a spell checker. Sorry couldn't resist....
This has happened to me many times and now I just have a habit of clicking the spellchecker. I even turned on my spellchecker on my email. I think I failed spelling in school. Dictionaries don't help. If you can't spell it how can you look it up.
posted on December 10, 2003 06:51:01 PM new
>>I've never had a problem or had a payment reversal by accepting PayPal (knock on wood) but all these horror stories are making me uneasy. I too have shipped items to unconfirmed and unverified accounts. So is there any safe way to avoid any type of take-backs if you accept PayPal payments? <<
There is no way to be 100% safe but if you
-accept only non credit card payments
-withdraw them immediately to a bank account that you use only for paypal
-transfer them to a different bank account so paypal can't reverse it
-are prepared to abandon paypal the second there is a problem (lots of sellers run many auctions all taking paypal. they don't have the option to stop in a second. this would only work if you only got occasional payments)
then you are pretty safe.
>>Is it a sure thing if you ship to only verified or confirmed addresses? <<
No. There is no protection if the item is over $250. There is no protection if the buyer has delivery forwarded to a different address. There is no protection on claims of "not as described."
>>If this keeps up, nobody will trust using PayPal.<<
I wish. Unfortunately there are still tens of millions of people who don't read the forums and have been brainwashed by paypal's viral marketing and false claims of protection to believe it is safe. You know what they say about a sucker born every minute. For every post about someone who got scammed, someone else comes along and says "well I've been using paypal and it never happened to me." And maybe it never will. But that still doesn't make it safe. I know folks who smoke and never got cancer, so I guess all those doctors must be wrong.
posted on December 10, 2003 06:55:25 PM new
>>if you are in business,there will always be risks and losses.the key is to be profitable enough to absorb some losses. <<
the key is also to know that you can expect some losses. the merchant accounts all warn you about charge backs. they don't pretend to offer protection.
>>if you think there is a business which is 100% risk proof,i would like to come over and sing you a lyllbye while you sleep. <<
and other than paypal, I don't know of any other business that sets themselves up as judge, jury and executioner with no appeal and is governed by no laws. Banks have laws. Even merchant accounts have laws. So far, paypal seems to be exempt. Can you imagine a bank that takes away your cash deposit and says "we know you got the case from someone else who is a crook?" Paypal has taken money from seller C, who received it from B, because B cheated A. I am waiting for one of these cases to come to court because I'm pretty certain that this would be considered theft by paypal. I believe the legal term may be latches.
posted on December 10, 2003 08:00:23 PM new
stopwhining...in response to your comment "cta,
if you are in business,there will always be risks and losses.the key is to be profitable enough to absorb some losses.
if you think there is a business which is 100% risk proof,i would like to come over and sing you a lyllbye while you sleep."
Actually I own a successful office supply company that has had many gains and only a few losses. I also have an antique shop located in the center of town. But I go about business in a different way - I don't rely on PayPal to keep my funds in my account. I typically deal with other reputable local businesses and I have them make out a Credit Application and also take a credit card to keep on file if payment isn't made within 30 days. I also have a collection agency I use if payment isn't made.
But again, I don't rely on PayPal to control my funds for my other business. It's like we're putting great stock in a company that is holding our funds, or taking it away. But I find that by offering it to eBay customers, it does drive up sales considerably. Guess it's all a gamble right? But my question is, is it really worth the gamble? I'm not sure.
] and she is buying antique things, not a lot of them, just a few ... i think somebody got hold of nana's credit card and maybe is going to a lot of stores in town shopping? ...... she's not a super active ebayer yet [my buyer] ... I did send her an email to see if this can get cleared up ... but in this case, yes, i shipped to a confirmed address, several days AFTER receiving paypal payment with a confirmed address. --- but yeah, i ship to unconfirmed ones too, depending on the 'amount' of the transaction; big ticket things I go a couple extra confirmation steps to hope i'm dealing with the right person, along with using delivery confirmation and requiring a signature.