Double Refunded Buyer

[dskoglund]

Hello,

I've recently had a headache with an ebay transaction. I had a buyer open up a case and request a refund, and I refunded them with my debit card, and the payment didn't clear until after the case deadline.  Therefore, the case was automatically awarded to the buyer and was refunded out of my checking account AND my card was still charged.  I refunded the buyer twice.

After the debit cleared, I called ebay and asked them to reverse this double-refund since it was clear that I had refunded the buyer myself and ebay automatically refunded him.  They overturned the case in my favor and gave me back the second refund once they saw that I had already refunded the buyer myself.

This buyer has now opened a case against me disputing the refund that was made to me from his account. I have a feeling this party is being intentionally dishonest and attempting to get me to refund him twice.

However, I was concerned, so I called PayPal, and they told me that my checking refund had been cancelled (which is interesting since it had already cleared) and posted to my paypal account, AND the refund eBay automatically issued had been refunded to my smart connect.  In any case, I transferred this money in my PayPal balance to my bank account apparently not realizing eBay had cancelled both refunds? (I’m not sure about the validity of this because of the language/comprehension barriers I was having with PayPal customer service. In addition, I’m not sure I trust their assessment). In addition, I am having no luck with the buyer. They have 0 feedback, and are not returning any of my messages.

In any case, since this buyer has opened up this claim, my account now has a negative balance. Does PayPal automatically debit your account if a buyer disputes a transaction? Is it likely they are disputing this because they have now received 0 refunds? In any case, why is my account negative? I called PayPal, and they told me that I need to respond to the case, but here is the kicker…

I received an email from PayPal that stated they would resolve it with the buyer’s financial institution and no other action was needed on my part, but when I log into PayPal, the case says it needs my attention. In addition, my account has been debited the refund amount and I am in the red. I will attach that email at the bottom of this post.

Lastly, if I were to refund the buyer through the resolution center, would my account be credited the money they have already taken from me in the red, or will I refund and STILL be in the red? Also, if I do this, will it close the case immediately so it will lift other holds on transactions and sales I’m trying to make? I’m so confused. Thanks for any help.

Dear *******,

We are writing to let you know one of your buyers opened a case for this transaction. The buyer stated that they do not recognize this transaction.

Here are the case details:

Buyer's name: REDACTED

Buyer's email: REDACTED

Buyer's transaction ID: REDACTED

Your transaction ID: REDACTED

Transaction date: November 17, 2017

Transaction amount: $170.00 USD

Disputed amount: $170.00 USD

As the buyer has already been refunded, we will dispute this case with the buyer’s financial institution.

No further action is needed at this time. We'll let you know if we need any further information.

Thank you for your patience during this process. We appreciate your business.

You can find additional information and tips about buying and selling safely on our Business Resource Center. After you log in to your PayPal account, click Tools, and then click Business Resource Center under "Grow your business."

Sincerely,

PayPal