Hello, I sold a virtual item on an ebay auction for quite a bit of money (or i wouldnt be writing this). Now i received the payment, the person got the information they needed and were happy with it. Left positive feedback and all. This buyer had (42 positive comments) or so and 0 negatives for about over a year. Today i checked my email and I got an email from the paypal account saying they never authorized the payment. (huh? he left it at that, that it was an unauthorized payment). I still dont know wether it was someoen related ot him or maybe he is gonna claim he got hacked, w/e He said he wants his money back that he has filed a paypal claim and contact ebay... Now my question is, is paypal just gonna take my money... I do not have the item i sold anymore... the ebay buyer left postivie feedback ( i havent left feedback yet). Any advice? Am I screwed out of half a grand? PS.- this is really scary, i shouldnt be responsible for someone losing their password. PPS.- Paypal or ebay havent contacted me about it yet... at all, i didnt receive any claim notices either...
I was in a similar situation a little while ago, but on the other end. I had an ACH transaction against my account for $20-30 or so, and I contacted the supposed 'seller'. Apparently, someone had hacked into my account and paid the seller with my funds. I complained to Paypal, who eventually reversed it-- before that, I contacted my bank, and had them reverse the ACH transaction, so it kinda forced Paypal's hand to do so... I'm not sure whatever happened to the 'seller' or the 'buyer', but to me, I was just an innocent bystander... Could this have happened in your situation? -- Derek
Ive got no idea but its much more serious than $40 :/ wish that was it. Im waiting for the paypal user to explain to me how exactly was this unauthorized... ive had a $200 chargeback before i pretty much got screwed, but that wasnt for an ebay transaction. Now that paypal is owned by ebay and ebay sees that i even have a positive feedback left for the transaction... i wonder what they are going to do... :/ -- How can your paypal account be hacked anyway... i guess some people have passwords like "firstlastname"
I think there's a strong chance you're screwed. Paypal have no seller protection when dealing with these kinds of claims. However as it was an eBay transaction, you may be eligible for the Seller Protection Policy (SPP). You'll only be entitled to this if the buyer provided a Confirmed Delivery Address, and I have never used it so I wouldn't know what the outcome could be. What I think happened: Buyer used a hacked Paypal and possibly the Ebay account. Paypal investigates these as soon as the hacked account owner notices and informs Paypal (or Paypal have limits for unusual activity/Eastern European login IPs). The problem is that most of the time it's useless because the seller has already sent the item. What you can do: Firstly, I'd phone Paypal and ask them what the hell's going on. Secondly, tell me what kind of thing you sold (was it virtual game currency? if so, what game?) and lastly, you will want to check out www.paypalsucks.com for further advice on these matters. There's also a class action lawsuit against Paypal for these kinds of claims, there's several legal steps you could take as it sounds like you've lost alot of money. Goodluck and update the post with your progress. -- By the way, I'm 99% sure Paypal will disregard your eBay account, your feedback and if feedback was left for the transaction, they don't work like that. Paypal accounts are hacked all the time, mostly from phishing scams, they're then traded over IRC, people can trade 10 Paypals for 20 Credit Cards for example, the internet can be a scary place.
It was my g/fs virtual game account for Anarchy Online. Got her to sell it in order to buy a plane ticket :/ Isnt paypal owned by Ebay? shouldnt they therefore check the ebay transaction? Shouldnt they contact me about it? I havent received any email from them and nothing appears on the resolution center on paypal... I dont think a lawsuit for $500 would do anything anyway, so if im screwed then im screwed i guess.... ill just pray they dont take my money i guess. ---- oh btw i find it hard to believe there is people who actually fall for those fake emails.... sigh if they arent educated enough to know thats an attempt of robbery they shouldnt be making their online accounts.
Ok. Have you tried getting in contact with the buyer? What kind of email does he have? If it's @hotmail, add to MSN Messenger. Do a UK Information Request on the buyer, that would give you the phone number, then ring them up. (Search eBay help for 'Information Request'). If that fails, or they hang up, then try recovery techniques for the Anarchy Online account. I've never played that game, but most games have secret passwords/information which you can use to recover your account incase it gets hacked or you forget your password. If they don't have a secret word or you sold that with the account go to the official Anarchy Online website, and contact their support, say to them something like: "I was recently hacked, the hacker seems to have found my secret word (as I keep it in a notepad file), but I have all the information to prove I am the owner of the account including a digital picture of my CD-Key, my credit card statements of monthly fees and any other information required" I think you would have a much better chance of getting your account back than your money, as Paypal will stick to guidelines and won't bend rules for anyone. They don't care too much about the eBay transaction, imagine if your Paypal was hacked and funds were used, you would probably want the funds back I would try everything you can.
Ok ill do that asap i just hope they didnt strip all the items off the account... etc. Do you think it is also a good idea to use my debit card from paypal and take all my funds off it just in case? --- the buyer hasnt replied yet ---- ive sent a email to anarchy online
Did you call PayPal yet? If they sent you the e-mail saying the payment was not authorized they would be asking you to forward them any information you have on the transaction. They will turn in your information to the issuing bank for the credit card. Unfortunately if the item was not sent to the card holders address PayPal has a deal that they will not fight a chargeback in that case. I have no idea how this plays into it with a virtual item, but I would be on the phone asking PayPal how it works. Carol
Paypal won't take funds from your Credit Card or Bank Account. There's been some incidences in US where Paypal have taken money from peoples checking accounts, but not in the UK. Your balance will just show as -$500, and if you don't make it positive within 3 months or something you'll be limited or something. By the way, did you do anything with the funds? If you tried to bank transfer them, I think Paypal will probably stop the bank transfer as it takes 3-5 days. I think telephoning the buyer is always the best way. That way, you scare the fraudster who will realise he's not invincible and hopefully he'll do the right thing. But it's best not jump to conclusions, there could be a number of things which have gone wrong, I've known this stuff to happen because Paypal simply didn't trust someone who paid me with a Dubai IP address.
Well im not in the uk... my gf is, the money was for her plane ticket here next month... long time gf btw. So i am in the US... and that makes me even more of a victim? wow I have all my money in my paypal, i pretty much use it for everything.. about 20 subscriptions on it, and yeah.... i sent her the money through western union so her money is gone but mines still in there... Im gonna take all my money out of it tomorrow with my debit card and in case they do the chargeback ill just cancel all subscriptions and open a merchant account --- The buyer has been a member since 02 and 100% feedback... when i saw that i tought i could trust them more than the last higher bidder with 1 feedback ;/ Member since: Jun-10-02 Location: United States ---- i got her phone number, will call as soon as im off college or maybe before next class. Lets see how that goes... can you please reply if its wise to empty the funds on my paypal account? --- update: i took 80% off my money from paypal by ATM to prevent of losing my hard earned money... I called the ebay account holder she seemed eager to help me, but said she never purchased anything like that after she logged in her ebay account. So now it seems the person who did all this had someones paypal and someones ebay information.... Any advice from this point Ill gladly take. Thanks
Can anyone give me some advice on how to find the IP from which the email originates? The hacker did email me before the auction so perhaps his IP is included in those emails... Thanks. --- oh by the way paypal already took all the money from my account, that was quick. The funny part is the resolve console only has options that say *refund buyer full amount* and no option for me to explain what happened, i had to look for an email for abotu 10 minutes so i could contact them.