brandsigle0 - 3 paypal chargebacks after positive feedback

[silverdawn]

Just a quick heads up to any ebay sellers out there, you may want to put brandsigle0 on your blocklist.  She bought 3 ponies from me over the last few weeks (not my MOC's) then did paypal chargebacks on all of them last night.  This is after she'd left me positive feedback on all 3 items. 

This buyer was a little worrisome from the get go as she was asking why she didn't have her items the day after she sent payment... among other things.

I contacted her other sellers and she also did this to two other sellers who've responded to me so far.  If anyone would like more information, please let me know.

[flying_narwhal]

What a headache... I am terribly sorry you are dealing with this. Thank you for giving other sellers a heads up!

I have had this happen several times in the past and it is really frustrating. I am guessing you know how to handle this since you didn't ask for advice but I'll mention some things I have done in these instances in the past in case anyone else needs help. Since they have left you feedback (and if you left feedback as well), I would recommend writing a follow-up comment letting others know that she has filed a chargeback for the transaction so others can be aware of this pattern of behavior. Always a good idea to report and block them on eBay too. I also taken screenshots of the feedback left by buyers who later file chargebacks and uploaded them to the case file on Paypal as evidence. If you shipped to the confirmed address, Paypal should cover you. I have had to call them in the past and remind them of this though to get the funds released since they can sometimes drag their feet reviewing the case (I have had cases take anywhere from 2 days to a month to get resolved).

Hopefully you will be able to resolve this issue quickly!

[01mlplover]

I feel like an idiot but what's a paypal chargeback? I've been using eBay and PayPal for years and have no idea what it is....

[flying_narwhal]

I feel like an idiot but what's a paypal chargeback? I've been using eBay and PayPal for years and have no idea what it is....

As best as I understand, it is when someone pays through Paypal using their credit card, then contacts their credit card company to file a chargeback, under the pretense that the transaction was fraudulent/not authorized by the card holder. From Paypal's website: "A chargeback isn’t the same as a PayPal claim. The chargeback process is initiated outside of PayPal, between the card issuer and their cardholder. In a dispute over a chargeback, the decision is ultimately made by the card issuer and we don't decide the outcome." Unfortunately, it has become a fairly common scam.

The problem is that Paypal then freezes the amount of the transaction in the seller's account. If Paypal feels you are not covered under their "seller protection" the seller also get hits with paying the chargeback fee from the credit card company as well (which isn't cheap!).

[silverdawn]

So far so good.  I called paypal, since what she'd done didn't have anything to do with ebay from what I could tell. I think because the dollar amounts were low, paypal had no problems. They just released the funds back to me and told me not to worry about it. I'm assuming they're going to eat the loss, but probably lock up the buyer's paypal account.

[Ringlets]

wow not good     thanks for the heads up!   
I'm glad that Paypal sorted it out for you and gave your money back  

[Thunderwing]

If you can do any research in this matter, forward it on to paypal. It will help their fraud department.

I had the same thing happen to me, different buyer. I also contacted the other sellers, and the buyer had filed chargebacks on them too. Claiming the card had been used without their consent.

So I did a google search for the buyer's name and address. And found it. Then I did a search of records to find out who owned the house.  The address had the same last name, but different first name as the buyer. It turned out (I think, anyway) that a family member had snuck the card out of a parent/aunt's purse and used it to buy items. So they filed it as 'fraud' to get out of paying for the items (which were all delivered). All the items purchased were expensive vintage toys, and when I google mapped the house there were 'kid' toys like trampolines and bicycles all around a rather nice looking house.

I let paypal know this information, names, address, other sellers, phone numbers. Hopefully they were able to fight the chargeback or press charges for fraud with the credit card company.

[northstar3184]

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