My girlfriend, Katya, used to sell lots of things on Ebay. I’ve sold LOTS of things on Ebay. So has everyone on the freaking planet. It’s Ebay!
Anyway, a few months back, I knew that she was in the middle of a big mess with Ebay and PayPal and today I found out the resolution and it is just freaking bizarre.
She sold a book to a woman using Ebay. Her tranaction record was perfect. She had nothing but positive, glowing reviews. The book sold for more than $600 and had numerous bidders.
After the winning bidder received the book (she paid with PayPal), she said the book was missing pages. Katya asked for her to document the missing pages and the woman dodged her. After Katya told her that she believed the book was intact, the woman found the pages, miraculously. It became clear quickly that she was a scammer.
The buyer was told that because there was no guarantee that the book was in the good condition as when it was sold, she could not take it back.
A few weeks later, PayPal removed $600 from Katya’s bank account. Seriously.
The woman had disputed the charge with her credit card company saying she never recieved the book. The credit card company refunded the money to her card and informed PayPal who took the money back from Katya pending an investigation.
Ok, let’s just stop here first. So, a woman who claims that she didn’t get something gets her money back with no proof and the seller loses her money even though there was no determination by anyone what happened? Wow.
After speaking with PayPal, it became clear that Ebay was holding the money in escrow until it could be determined what had happened. The people at Ebay and at PayPal told Katya that because she did not have a signed delivery receipt, nothing could be done. They didn’t even ask to see the emails she received as part of the process!!!!
She asked them if she could submit the emails as evidence and they said that she could. After the submission, the credit card company and PayPal found insufficient evidence to re-instate the charge and Katya was not only out $600 but the book as well. In essence, they believe that she was the scam artist, not the buyer.
To make matters worse, Ebay demanded an explanation and suspended Katya’s account when she did not respond quickly enough. She has, essentially, been banned from Ebay for doing nothing more than being an honest person.
She doesn’t care as she says she will never do business through Ebay or PayPal again and I can’t blame her. It’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. I guess the seller should beware too.