Total Blank

It's not that I don't have anything to post about.... I'd just rather post about not having anything to post about.

So I have this big ass headache with PayPal going on. Basically what happened is that I sold my tv on ebay... and someone paid for it with "buy it now" only a few hours after I posted the auction. He then messaged me and stated the TV was for a birthday and if I could overnight it to him. I was just so happy that I sold the tv (that's a whole other blog post) that I really didn't think things through at first. I told the guy that overnighting something like a big-ass plasma tv was expensive, but I gave him a quote anyway. This tv I was selling was just discontinued and the newer model is not as desirable as the older model I was selling (they are going on ebay for a premium as we speak).

So the guy sends the additional amount and I ship the tv on a Saturday afternoon via FedEx. I then message him with his tracking info and that's that... (or so I thought).

Like I do with all money in PayPal, I transferred all of the money out of PayPal into my checking account. If you read PayPal's TOS you will see that basically they can freeze your account at any moment for nearly any reason they deem reasonable and hold it for up to 180 days. For this reason and this reason alone I never kept a large balance in my paypal account.

So I talk with a friend of mine the next morning who happens to be doing a lot of sales through ebay and paypal. He tells me of this scam he heard about while shipping items at the post office, a scam involving ebay, paypal and the buy basically reversing the charges then keeping the item. I tell him this isn't happening to me... well more like telling myself this and keeping myself positive about it.

That night the more I thought about it the more this transaction fit the profile. Guy with zero feedback buys big ticket item with "buy it now". Guy asks for it to be overnighted (to avoid charge reversal before he has the item) and also asks for item to be held at the FedEx facility instead of being delivered to the address attached to the credit card. It all made sense and I looked online, found out that paypal phone help was available 7 days a week so I gave them a call.

I asked them that I suspected a fraudulent purchase of my item I sold on ebay and asked if I should contact FedEx and have them hold the item until I figure this out. I was then put on hold by PayPal and after about 5 mins the lady came back on the line and told me not to do anything. To let the transaction complete as I didn't have any proof of any foul play (besides my instinct and common sense). She also tells me not to worry and that I am protected 100%. I say ok, and thank you and hope that I'm wrong.

3 days later I get an email from PayPal saying there was a credit reversal and that my account is frozen until I take care of my negative balance. I immediately get on the phone with paypal to see what the next course of action should be. The guy tells me that there is an investigation starting and I will get an email with a few days outlining the steps in the dispute process. I also tell this guy I called earlier in the week before the item was delivered and another PayPal agent told me to let the transaction complete. And that if in any way PayPal expected me to be on the hook for this after telling me I was 100% covered that they were sorely mistaken. I'm as polite as I can be for being raging mad and we end our call.

Luckily I had all of my money in the bank before the chargeback took place. PayPal cannot just dip into your bank account to retrieve the funds, and even if they did break the law and do that you can dispute the charges with your bank - get the money back and block PayPal from any further transaction attempts.

I uploaded all of my receipts, airbill, all correspondence with the "buyer" and all proof that I am in the right and as much a victim as the guy who's credit card was stolen. While they told me I was 100% protected it turns out that she was shoveling a lot of crap. The seller in most cases of a chargeback is not covered by any guarantee... all it takes is a asshat buyer to know how to use the system to get a free item AND sock the seller with losing both the item and the money for the item. Gladly I was not THAT naive to think I was actually protected and left my money in there. I have found a great resource on what to do in my situation called paypalsucks.com. Their forums are filled with people in my same situation and their stories and how they went about getting their money back and stopping the collection calls/harrasment.

It turns out what I do is NOTHING. I have my money... PayPal is the one out of money here since techincally they charged the stolen credit card, not me. PayPal touts their advanced "fraud detection" but that's such a joke. If your protections are so advanced how did you let this happen? What is the purpopse of even using PayPal then?

If you use PayPal alot please read around on this website to educate yourself on what PayPal says it can do with your account in their Terms Of Service you are forced to agree with just to have an account with them. paypalsucks.com has a great page where they take the whole TOS and break it down and explain what it means.

PayPal is not a bank or financial instiution and even if they take me to collections it cannot impact my credit report since they do not have my social security number. I'm just glad I was looking out for myself and have all my bases covered. And most importantly, PayPal dosen't have a penny from me!

http://www.paypalsucks.com/forums/