Caveat Emptor or “Buyer Beware” is known in the retail world, however little is known about the pitfalls of sellers. This blog post and situation is relevant for ALL SELLERS so please read on and forward links to this post to as many as you can.
Here’s the story: I recently sold 2 handbags on Ebay for £820. The buyer had several positive feedback comments and their account had been open for several years. The story so far:
- The buyer called to arrange collection from my flat and explained a) his sister would be collecting the bags and b) payment was via PayPal. I expressed disdain as a £28 commission was charged (which could have been avoided with cash on collection, which is the norm). The buyer apologised and offered to reimburse the £28.
- The buyer’s ‘sister’ arrived and collected the bags. She didn’t have the £28 but called her ‘brother’ who said it was also transferred via PayPal. I checked my account and all the funds were there. She left with the bags.
- The next morning at 8 a.m. I noticed a positive feedback “Thanks for the nice bags” and I initiated a transfer of the funds from PayPal to my bank account.
Thus far, a fairly normal transaction. Then it went pear-shaped…
- I received emails saying that the buyer had reversed the transactions. I felt sick to my stomach at the mere thought that this was possible and that I would have been robbed.
- I tried to contact PayPal and eventually reached someone by phone who explained that in this situation only a “postage receipt” would qualify as proof of receipt and that these people were probably requesting a reversal on the grounds that someone else collected the goods (or hacked into the account to buy the goods).
- The £28 was soon reversed to the buyer and the remaining funds were held for about 2 weeks. In that time I:
o Uploaded evidence of proof of receipt i.e. the positive feedback
o Wrote feedback on the buyer warning other sellers – 2 others immediately approached me. One was a PowerSeller who had been defrauded the same day of £500, the other had almost been defrauded however the buyer became aggressive when they refused the PayPal payment (as they had been victim to a similar fraud already).
o Reached out to my network who sent my case directly to the head of Customer Service at Paypal
o Contacted the London Police about the case
- The PowerSeller alerted Ebay who immediately suspended the buyer’s account
At this point, I actually felt confident that anyone and everyone could see that this was a case of a fraudulent scam involving criminals. Ebay’s suspension of the account and other witnesses were proof enough. However, then the impossible happened:
- PayPal sent me a standard template email informing that as a result of their “investigation” they had decided to return the funds to this buyer!!
- Then Eay invoiced me for commission fees for a further £77!
It’s one thing to be robbed by criminals, but its an entirely different matter when a large company does not “plug” a loophole and amend their policy and/or software to protect innocent people and their company image as “safe” and “reliable”. I had suggested in my email that:
- PayPal released my remaining funds back to me
- Amend their software not allowing PayPal payments where the seller has indicated cash on collection
- Amend their software to warn sellers of the extra precautions needed in these circumstances
To my knowledge, none of these changes have been made and this loophole continues to exist.
I am also working with a detective at the London Metropolitan Police to investigate this case further and take possible civil action.
Finally, I am collaborating with the other victim of the same person to alert as many people as possible via PR and social media circles. So please let your friends and colleagues know about this occurrence and most importantly….
CAVEAT VENDITOR!
p.s. I have since found out I am not alone. Check out: www.paypalsucks.com or do a twitter search for PayPal
