September 19th last year, sold a camera on eBay for $66. January 5th this year Paypal advise me of a chargeback citing 'unauthorized use of card.' Luckily - or so I thought at the time - I have a message exchange with the buyer telling him the camera is on its way, TO WHICH HE RESPONDED, and a note that the camera was delivered on September 23rd.
So I call Paypal to let them know that I have a message exchange proving that the transaction was not unauthorized, and I'm told not to worry because they have the tracking info. Which actually proves something different but oh well, I'll believe they know what works.
Then I get another message telling me that my account has been debited $66 plus a chargeback fee of $20 due to an invalid tracking number. Yes, in the time between Jan 5th and their final decision USPS has recycled the tracking number and the delivery information is no longer there. I reply and protest that the case was never about receipt/non-receipt, it was about being authorized and that I had already offered proof that the transaction was not unauthorized, and no interest was shown in that proof. Their reply basically says 'tough.' So I respond with a politely phrased piece of my mind, and this time they provide an email address to which I can forward the message exchange with the buyer.
And then, as you can guess from the title, Paypal responds that they have been charged back by the credit card company used by the buyer and there's nothing they can do about it, suggesting that I should try and work it out with the buyer! Yeah, I'm sure that's going to work.
Effectively I've been robbed by Paypal, where is the Seller Protection in all of this? Does anybody see any way I can get unrobbed?
