Need advice and a sanity check! Am I being scammed?

[InvaderZim]

First let me say as far as I can tell I meet all of the requirements for seller protection, but I am still concerned.  I'm just selling off some things I no longer have use for to US buyers online via ebay (I'm in the US).

So over a month ago I sold a $900 item on ebay.  The day after it was paid for I shipped the item, uploaded the tracking to ebay, etc.  I followed the tracking until the item was delivered.  A day after the item was delivered I sent the buyer a message via ebay thanking them for the purchase, asking them for feedback and let them know if they had any questions about the item to feel free to ask.  The buyer immediately (as in within minutes) responds they have no idea what I am talking about and did not purchase the item.  In a panic I immediately contact ebay, explain the situation to which they say there is possible fraud on their account and that I shouldn't worry because I will be covered under buyer protection.

So I think everything is resolved at that point.  Wrong!

So over a month goes by after that happens with me thinking everything is handled.  Then this past Thursday, on 9/1, I get an unauthorized transaction dispute from the buyer via PP and the funds are frozen in my PP account.  I immediately respond and supply the required information.  I also call PP and talk to a dispute specialist who sees I've supplied the information and informs me I will be covered under seller protection.  I also contacted ebay again and they tell me the buyer never contacted them or disputed anything with them which seemed a little suspect to me.  The next day I get an email from PP that the situation is resolved and the case is closed in my favor and my PP balance is restored.

So, again, I think everything is resolved at that point.  Nope.

Yesterday, on 9/8, I get another unauthorized transaction chargeback dispute from the buyer via PP and the funds are again frozen in my PP account.  So at this point I'm pretty upset.  It was bad enough going negative $900 last week when the funds where frozen the first time.  I thought the case was closed then.  Now I'm negative negative $900 again.  So I've done the same song and dance again; submitted the same information to dispute their chargeback claim and it is pending PP review.

I am assuming since I meet all of the conditions for seller protection under PP policies I will be OK again, but honestly I'm still scared of not only losing this $900 item, but having to pay another $900 back to PP if somehow they rule against me.

At this point I really feel like this guy is trying to scam me for several reasons.

- The guy responded right away when I originally messaged him after he received the item via ebay; I find it hard to believe, given the speed he responded to me, that he missed all the notifications about the item being bought and sold on his ebay account since he clearly got the message I sent him.

- The fact he responded right away (seriously, like minutes after I messaged him) illustrated he still had full control of his ebay account.

- He never took any action with ebay and from what they tell me, they never heard a peep from him about the transaction.

- He waited almost a month and a half before he disputed the transaction as unauthorized via PP, which seems odd considering he replied to my ebay message the day after the item was delivered to which he claimed it was unauthorized.  I don't know about you, but if I had a $900 unauthorized charge I would have taken immediate action.

- He lost the first unauthorized transaction dispute via PP and is now doing the chargeback dispute - maybe I'm missing something but if he had proof he did not make the purchase would it not have ended there?

- And the most damming of all; I did some research via public records on my own and discovered the name of person who is submitting these disputes, which was also the name of the person who purchased the item does indeed live at the address the item was shipped and delivered to.

So am I just being overly paranoid here, because this guy seems majorly suspect to me at this point and I'm worried even if I win the chargeback that still won't be the end of it.

[InvaderZim]

Thanks for the reply.

I checked the original email from PayPal, as you suggested, regarding the transaction and It does say:

Seller Protection

Eligible

Presumable I won the first PayPal unauthorized transaction dispute from him because I was covered.  For the first dispute last week I talked to a PayPal dispute specialist and they looked at my account and said I was covered under Seller Protection in that case.  I will say I started getting worried when I read the details about the signature bit; PayPal's policy there seems to say Proof of Delivery or Signature Confirmation - then it later seems to say anything over $750 needs a signature confirmation.  I appreciate you helping to clarify that.

Also as you suggest, I uploaded a PDF printout of the email on eBay where he admits to having the item and claims he is waiting for eBay to tell him what to do.  I also added two notes to the claim explaining the situation as well as elaborating on my conversations with the buyer, his claims and my conversations with eBay.

I've been very civil in my messages back and forth with this person so I haven't accused them of anything directly.  They seemed to be nervous in my recent exchange with them where they claim they are not trying to commit fraud - yet in the same breath lied to me about their interaction with eBay and admitted they have been in possession of the item this whole time.  I had previously asked them to confirm their address and asked if they were emphatically saying that was not their address to which it was shipped and that I have proof of delivery.  That is when I got the nervous response from them admitting they had the item and claimed the whole thing about eBay telling him to keep the item for now until eBay contacted him again and told him what to do with it.

To your point about calling him on the phone, at this point I feel I should wait for this chargeback claim to resolve first; my reasoning being this.  This guy is blatently lying about his interactions with eBay and says he is keeping the item until they tell him what to do with it.  The sale itself was no-refunds/no-returns.  I worked in computer security for over a decade so this guy could have easily gone to some public access wifi to make the purchase knowing eBay would flag it as suspect.  With that in mind, to your previous point, I think this guy has buyers remorse or is trying to pull a fast one and did this as a way to cover his tracks.  Also with the email exchanges I have proof of the interaction whereas I do not currently have a way to record voice conversations on the phone.

During my conversation with eBay this morning, they said if I lost the chargeback dispute that I could contact them again and they would instruct him to send the item back to me.  I took detailed pictures of the item and the contents of its package before shipping it out (including serial numbers) as well as how I packed it for shipping.  But at this point I’m worried if I lose and eBay tells him to send it back he could just send me back an empty box or broken item and it seems I would have little if any recourse.

The item itself is a latest generation computer graphics card - once you add my cost for the item, including tax, eBay fee and I paid shipping as well, I was in the hole for $835.  The guy also claimed to have no idea what the item was yet in the same breath he was acting like an expert on it claiming it only cost $600 on Amazon (which is complete BS) and seemed to suggest I was doing something fraudulent selling it for $900 and claimed that was part of the reason eBay flagged the purchase and notified him.

To be honest, I never originally planned on selling this item on eBay, but I managed to get a better version of the card and was past the return date with Amazon so I wanted to recoup my expenses and make some sort of profit on the item if possible so I took to selling it on eBay.  Personally I think this guy thinks I am some evil scalper or something and wanted to teach me a lesson as I see a lot of people talk that way in regards to this item and the people selling them at a markup on Amazon and eBay.  There is major demand for these cards and almost no supply available after 6 months of being on the market - they are hard to come buy for now.  I've seen this item go for over $1200+ in the past as well.  All in all I was willing to take a loss on the item if no one bought it, but I saw many completed transactions for $850-$900 on eBay and figured I had a shot to at least worst case break even given tax, eBay fees and shipping.  And after it being up for buy-it-now for about 2 weeks this guy purchased it.

Having my PayPal account go negative $900 twice in two weeks over this whole mess is making me feel like I should call anyone who purchases an item from me, record the conversation with them in order to verbally confirm the purchase before shipping it out.

Like I said I work in the computer industry, so I often sell older hardware I no longer have use for, but sometimes these items are still worth $200-$600 dollars and this whole ordeal has me rethinking how I should be using eBay and PayPal going forward.  I’m just an individual trying to make some money back for things I no longer have use for.

To top it all off, I was sent $400 for child-support money, which I get from a relative monthly and this guys chargeback claim and the freeze on my account took all of that money and drove me another $500 negative.  This guy is seriously causing me some stress and financial issues at this point.

[lancelotme]

@InvaderZim

The item itself is a latest generation computer graphics card - once you add my cost for the item, including tax, eBay fee and I paid shipping as well, I was in the hole for $835.  The guy also claimed to have no idea what the item was yet in the same breath he was acting like an expert on it claiming it only cost $600 on Amazon (which is complete BS) and seemed to suggest I was doing something fraudulent selling it for $900 and claimed that was part of the reason eBay flagged the purchase and notified him.

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It is not a good idea to call him now,I am just suggesting in some cases,talking to a real person is better than emailing back and forth.

But he accusing you of asking too much ($900) is  weak excuse,Ebay is a flea market,Ebay would never flag a buyer he is paying too much or too little   !

DONT TALk to him anymore,let Paypal handles it.

[InvaderZim]

@lancelotme

Indeed, I agree with what you are saying - I only sent him two messages; in his last response is when he admited to having the item in his possesion as well as made the other statements.  At that point I didn't reply further and I called eBay like I said and forwarded all of the information to PayPal.  I'll wait for things to come to conclusion with the chargeback in the following days and likely in the event they find in my favor I doubt I will interact with this person any further.  The eBay rep I talked to earlier said that they would be opening an investigation into his account based on what I reported to them.  So at this point unless the chargeback comes down in his favor he can sit and spin for all the trouble he's caused me.