Hey Guys. So recently I listed an item on a clothing website called Grailed for sale - but then I sold it elsewhere. After selling them, i forgot to remove the listing from Grailed and someone had purchased. After I had informed them of this, I sent back the payment (due to Grailed fees, I was unable to send back the full amount so I decided to send back the amount not through PayPal's refunding thing) but i had just made the PayPal with the sole intent of selling this item. As it was a new PayPal, I was unable to send back the payment in full and had to send it back in lots of $50 (PayPal gifting). I got in contact with the buyer and everything was sweet. A few months later, I receive a credit-card chargeback from a PayPal account that shares the same e-mail as the buyer yet the buyer claims to not know anything about it. This has left me in $1000+AUD debt, I'm only 16. The addresses on the PayPal is fake and I no longer have access to the e-mail associated with it. ayPal obviously think i'm a scammer. I know debt collectors will get involved and I am very worried. What do I do? Do I prove to a debt collector when they inevitably contact me that I refunded the buyer?
Since you're 16 you're not allowed to open a Paypal account, therefore it was illegal in first place. If the phone number in the account is correct debt collectors will start calling you, I suggest you tell them you are 16 and you have no idea what they're talking about.
You are 16 You are sloppy in the way you do business (because you are a child) Even though you fucked up you expected the innocent party to pay the PayPal fees You used a fake email on the PayPal yet somehow they still know how to contact you Honestly, you've ended up in a completely predictable position. You should've used regular PayPal processes to repay the buyer and then PayPal would be able to see that you did it and the chargeback wouldn't have teeth. There is a reason why you aren't legally an adult until you are 18 and it's for your own protection. What to do Tell your parents, they'll be furious but once they calm down they'll help you do the right thing to get out of trouble. After all, they failed you when they didn't teach you how to trade safely online. If they didn't know, they should have found out before they ever let you list an item (let alone a high value item) online. In NZ we have the "Citizens Advice Bureau", you'll no doubt have something similar in Australia. Talk to them about how to access the right kind of legal advice if your family doesn't already have a lawyer who can help. Accept that you are going to be seriously out of pocket. This is a "learning experience" and if you man-up now and sort it out you'll be better off in the long run. If a creditor (ie PayPal) decides to play hardball they can seriously hamper your future ability to borrow money. One day you'll want a student loan, a car loan, a mortgage to buy a house. Every time you fill in an application form they'll do a credit check and see that you lied about your age and were sued by a financial institution and they're going to say "no thank you" to the opportunity to do business with you. I recently changed my vodafone mobile plan and they did a credit check. Imagine having to have a prepaid phone for the rest of your life because of you screwed up at 16? Imagine wanting to buy a house with the love of your life but not being able to because they will lend TLOYL money but not you - and because your income isn't counted into all the financial equations you can only borrow half as much so you either buy somewhere grotty or rent for the rest of your life. You might get luck, PayPal might not pursue you, but if they do the consequences will be worse than if you preempt them and get it sorted first. So, are you feeling lucky? Ignore unprofessional and irresponsible answers like this. FWIW this is now forever on @HomeBlogger's record and people wanting to do business with this user will think twice.
I meant debit card & bank account. I only had it linked shortly. Even then, wouldn't they do a background check on my account to find out that I am only 16 and drop the case? I've read plenty of threads about 16 year olds not being chased for debt. I recently called my bank to see if PayPal had reached out to them at all, they said no and would let me know if they were to. I doubt my credit score will be affected. Thanks for your reply though. Will keep that in mind.
How is it irresponsible and unprofessional, when you give the buyer his money back minus the fees (Which it would be something like $30), and they decide to chargeback the transaction and end up with $1000 easy scammed money? There is no doubt OP could have dealt with the situation better by simply asking the buyer to open a dispute and he can accept to refund the transaction, and the fees will be refunded aswell. But the buyer is not that innocent either. I used to be an online seller and service provider, Paypal never protected me, I had to deal with similar situations coming from "adults". Conclusion is Paypal is shit, and as long as they do not protect online sellers, they can't just expect everyone to lose their money because they have a negative balance. You could have went easy on him by giving advice and teaching him something new about online business, which I'm sure he learned something from this experience, but you just focused on how stupid he is by being 16. Age is not as important as it was, we are in 2017, and there are many clever kids out there, and this situation could have happened to anyone including you.
That's called fraud. I can imagine a situation like this. I buy something and pay via paypal I discover the sale has fallen through Seller repays via odd little transactions Seller expects me to be responsible for the paypal fees but I'm really not sure why I fume for a couple of weeks over the unfairness of it all I'm at the pub and venting and a mate says "you should have just done a chargeback and you would have got all your money" Back home, I log in and do that chargeback because I'm still so f'ed off about the paypal fees Now, it's possible the buyer always intended to do a chargeback, but that doesn't excuse the OP's behaviour. I really feel that this kid's parents have dropped the ball completely - they obviously haven't built up the kind of relationship where their children can turn to them for advice about how to do business or the kind of relationship where you turn to your parents before you ask complete strangers for advice. It's sad, really and a much bigger problem than this (assuming he does the right thing).
Hey mate can you be more helpful besides just using the fact that my parents didn't advise me of anything?
Send me your parent's phone number (we get free calls to Oz) and I'll walk them through what they need to do. You don't seem to want my advice but they might. What have you done over the last few days to make things right?
I know you're some wizard at all this, but I am just gonna wait until i am contacted and explain the situation and offer to pay off in small amounts
We're not wizards, we've just seen good people burnt because they let small problems escalate and become big problems. Whatever you do or don't do, tell your parents. They're your legal guardians have ultimate responsibility for this. Make sure they understand the financial decisions you are making on their behalf.