Hi guys,
I'm having a big issue with a Paypal chargeback case and I have no idea what the next step is. It's quite a unique situation I think, and so I can't find any help online or on Paypal's help pages. Therefore I'm turning to the community in the hope that someone might be able to give me some advice.
The situation is as follows:
In April I sold a dress to a customer on Ebay from my vintage clothing store, called Saturday Sister Vintage. All was fine and she left me great feedback. Brilliant.
But then in June I got an email from Paypal to say that the buyer had opened a chargeback case against me with her card issuer, that Paypal were going to look in to it and that the money (£28) would be held from me until a decision was made. Totally confused I contacted both Paypal and the buyer. The buyer got back to me straight away saying she knew nothing of this, and then explained that she'd had major problems with another transaction from a vintage store around the same time as her purchase from me. We both came to the conclusion that her card issuer must have lacked attention to detail and whilst looking for the transaction in question simply picked out the first one they saw with 'vintage' in the title. She apologised and told me that she'd contact her bank and Paypal asap to explain and sort out the mix up.
In the meantime I phoned Paypal and they were seriously unhelpful - all they could say was that until the bank had reached a decision they couldn't do anything. Even though I explained, in detail, the situation and the buyer who opened the case had also contacted them to explain! I understand they have their procedures and they were waiting to hear from the bank, but seriously, when both parties are telling them there has been a mistake and to cancel the case, why could they not do that?
A couple of weeks later I got an email from Paypal saying the money they were holding from me was being made available again whilst they worked through the evidence - I took this as a good sign. BUT tonight I got an email from them saying the following:
''Dear Camilla,
The below case has been decided in the buyer's favour by their financial institution.
Case details:
•Payment date: 30 April 2016
•Payment amount: £28.00 GBP
•Disputed amount: £28.00 GBP
The disputed amount has been debited from your PayPal account for the following reason(s):
•This chargeback type was not covered under Seller Protection.
In addition, a £14.00 GBP chargeback fee has been debited from your PayPal account.
We understand that you may not have been expecting this case. If this has caused your PayPal account balance to show an amount owing to us, please restore your balance.
Thank you for your patience.
Yours sincerely,
PayPal''
So... I've been charged the original £28 for the dress AND £14 'chargeback fee'. I literally have no idea where to go from here, my Paypal account is now -£42 which has been taken from me, and all because the buyers' bank made an error.
Please help! I feel utterly powerless and I don't believe that Paypal will now help me at all, especially after their useless communication last time I phoned them. Is there any way of disputing the decision? Threatening legal intervention? I feel like I won't be listened to otherwise, and although £42 may not be a huge fortune, it's the unfairness of it all that really really bothers me... I did nothing wrong here.
And advice much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Camilla
