Payment not received, buyer says they sent it

[AaronCSnow]

Buyer says they've sent payment, gotten confirmation from paypal, and checked their bank statement and by all accounts the payment should have been sent. However, I didn't recieve the payment or any emails about it.

I've already checked the archives here for similar problems and I am not dealing with ebay and have had the same email since I created this account.

Where did the money go?

[Pikaboicu · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

Unless it shows up in your PP account as received, it has not been received.

Please be very careful! I am not accusing your buyer, this could be a legitimate glitch BUT this is a very common scam.

How is confirmation of payment being made? Is there a letter from PP saying the payment was made? Because these are NOT legitimate nor are they from PP.

If it isn't in YOUR account as received, with PP telling you "Ok to ship"- then it is NOT received and NOT ok to ship.

If your buyer says it shows as sent in their PP account, have them contact PP customer service as that is an issue on THEIR end not and I repeat NOT your end..

Have them double check the email adress that the payment was sent to via their PP account and then call PP customer service to see why it hasn't gone through. A common problem is sending to an incorrect email address. 

PLEASE do NOT ship anything until you have confirmation on YOUR PP account, when you log into it. Don't rely on just an email from PP as these may look legitimate but they are not.

If the buyer persists, threatens etc.. Call PP customer service and let them reassure you of what I've said. If it doesn't say "ok to ship" via your PP account- then no payment has been received.

Cheers! 

[AaronCSnow]

It turns out the buyer just misspelled my email address, but thanks so much for your reply!

[Pikaboicu]

You're welcome, no worries. 

I'm so glad you got it sorted out.. 

[OmniPong]

A follow up on this issue, since the same thing just happened to me. Does PayPal really complete transactions that are made to invalid email addresses? Don't they verify that the address is really connected to a PayPal account first?

What happens in the case of a credit card transaction sent to an invalid email address. Does the card get charged? How does this situation get resolved?

Thanks for your help.

[AaronCSnow]

OmniPong,

The transaction isn't technically completed and the money just sits unclaimed until the person who sent it cancels it.

In the case of credit cards, I can't be much help. But, you can call paypal customer support and they can look up the transaction  for you. Good luck.

[ronbon8669]

I never received payment from buyer