PayPal Chargeback

[garry745]

Has anyone sold something on eBay using PayPal to receive funds, then been involved in a chargeback procedure.

Reason for asking is that in November last year, my stepson sold an item, got paid, and thought everything was fine. Was a one-off transaction, so once he'd received his funds into his own bank account, he closed down his PayPal account.

Since then, he's heard of a chargeback being issued via the credit card company used in the transaction. All correspondence conducted via email, he provided PayPal with evidence of transaction, yet credit card company make final decision, and have subsequently ruled in favour of the buyer.

In essence, not a problem with that, despite it being me to bail out stepson for the large amount involved, but is it right or legal for PayPal to ask for reimbursement on pure hearsay. Not provided evidence of chargeback, nor any evidence of credit card company's decision and what affected their decision. Yet my stepson is still expected to reimburse the closed account at PayPal. PayPal even went so far as involving a recoveries agency, well within the time frame stated in their terms and conditions, who have equally acted inappropriately by making phone calls asking for the money and not even having the decency to write to us or again provide evidence that money is owed.

Has anyone else experienced this or similar?

[Ethel]

Was the chargeback because the goods were not received, were not as described, or because the credit card was stolen?

[garry745]

Hi Ethel. We're told that the credit card was used fraudulently. Goods were received and have proof of that.

[Ethel]

Ah - then PayPal has acted correctly.

The credit card company has had to refund the rightful owner of the card, and recovered the money from PayPal who recovered it from your stepson.

This would have been exactly the same outcome if the buyer had used a stolen cheque (can be recalled months after clearing).
Presumably the transaction did not qualify for 'seller protection' as set out in the lengthy terms and conditions.

I don't think PayPal have acted on hearsay. They would have had no choice but to refund the credit card company.

Neither PayPal nor the credit card company have found in favour of the buyer. The buyer is a thief. The credit card company have reacted in a proper manner to the credit card holder stated that the card had been used fraudulently.

I can understand your frustration and anger - has your stepson phoned PayPal?

If it is a large amount of money it may be worth considering reporting this to the police. Your step son must have some sort of address that the goods were sent to.

[garry745]

Thanks again Ethel. Think my original wording of things may be misleading. I don't think PayPal have acted upon hearsay, and dare say that there has been correspondence between them and the credit card company. My point is that they have not passed any of this correspondence on to us, so we really have nothing that substantiates their claim for reimbursement. This is where I think the process falls down, especially when involving recovery agencies. Basically, we have an organisation demanding money without a full and thorough explanation as to why it is owed. It's this that I don't think is correct, and is probably against some legal code of practice.

[Ethel]

There are some useful links here for you to take matters further:

http://tinyurl.com/374rzh

[garry745]

I can't thank you enough for that Ethel. Really was a great help, especially seeing how other people had dealt with similar situations.