Paypal cancelled payment after I shipped

[SusieJ]

Paypal advised on 8/20/17 that payment had been received from my eBay buyer. I, in turn, shipped the item by my shipping deadline of midnight, 8/21.

Then….on 8/23, Paypal sent an email to me that I should NOT ship the item because the payment had failed. But, of course, I had already shipped.

I called Paypal. The man told me that the buyer's credit card had been declined so they had to cancel the transaction. He said that sometimes they know right away if the credit card is declined—but sometimes it can take a few days, depending on which card it is.

Why doesn't Paypal make payments "pending" until they KNOW that the credit card went through okay? When they declare that payment is received—eBay expects me to ship by my shipping deadline.

So, now I don't have the item or payment. I asked the Paypal rep if Paypal contacts the buyer about their credit card being declined. He said "No" – he said they simply cancel the transaction.

In the end, he told me that I should call eBay about this problem. He said that eBay should never have sent me the email telling me that my item was paid for and that I should now ship it. He said in the future, when I receive these emails from eBay that my item has been paid---I should always check my Paypal account to make sure that's TRUE and I should hold my shipments until I see the payment in Paypal. (I can't hold shipments, of course, or I'll get penalties from eBay). He said if I had checked my Paypal account at the time of this payment, I would have seen that it wasn't there.

I have a feeling that what he told me isn't true. I think if I had checked my Paypal account at that time, the payment would have been there. In fact, it is still there NOW---it is just crossed out and says "Canceled – Payment Received."  

I did, however, call eBay and they told me to open an "unpaid item case" and said they would investigate it further.

I would think this happens a lot….credit cards being declined. I can't imagine that Paypal doesn't have a solution for this.

Is there anything I can do to protect myself from this happening again?

[Linc1957]

@SusieJ  Hogwash ... there are two places to check to make sure you have received payment ... one is on the eBay Sold item page and the other is in your PayPal account.  On the eBay sold item if the $ sign is a sold black and there is check mark to the left of it that is an indication that eBay received payment from the Buyer.  If the $ sign is 1/2 black OR is an hour glass that means a payment is pending.  For PayPal they will show you have received funds in the account ... I would call PayPal back because what the rep told does NOT sound right at all.  PayPal is all about making sure they get their money too and credit cards are either accepted or declined at the point of purchase ... NO WAY does any vendor have to wait a few days for make sure the charge goes through ... can you imagine waiting in line at WalMart for 2 days to make sure you credit card charge went through ... or the gas station.  Call PayPal back and speak to someone else ...

One other question ... are you absolutely sure the email you received was from eBay?  There are scammers who send messages via email saying an item is paid for and it is okay to ship when in fact it is not.  When a Buyer places an order a certain amount of YOUR info becomes available to them ... just like you get to see their eamil address in the PayPal file.  Buyers can make emails look official when in fact they are not.

[Whac-A-Mole]

It is true some credit cards  are not that easy to verify,obscure ones issued by some local organisation which do not have enough members to enter the data on the data base where you can check expiration date,credit limite,address and of course if it is reported stolen,cards issued by  foreign banks and entitie,the data entered on the data base may not be current.

but these are rare cases.

you can try intercepting the package ,doing it online or go to your post office,there is a fee though 

[SusieJ]

I checked the tracking information. I sent this first class and it arrived in 2 days (from Chicago to Texas). I don't think I've ever seen first class get there so fast. Oddly enough, it was delivered on the same day that Paypal sent me the email that the payment had failed.

[SusieJ]

Thanks for your reply. I don't know the area you are talking about in eBay with a black $ or a 1/2-black $. I can go into my "orders" and see the amounts, the "date sold" and "date paid." But I never noticed the $ being only half-black. I don't know where that is.

I've always gone by the emails that I get from eBay. They say: 

Congratulations, your item sold and it’s been paid for.

Hi Susan, It's time to pack up your item and ship it out. Make sure you send it within 1 day, the handling option you selected in your listing.

eBay DID ask me to forward the email to them at "spoof" so they could verify that it WAS from them.

I didn't check my Paypal account on the day this was paid. I just looked at eBay. So, I don't know if Paypal showed the funds in my account or not. Right now, my Paypal account shows the funds with a strikethrough and a note that says, "Canceled – Payment Received."  Paypal DID send me that email, telling me the payment failed….but that was 2 days after my shipping deadline.

I'm going to take your advice and call Paypal again. You're right---now that I think about it again, it shouldn't take a few days to find out the card has been declined. And I guess, from now on, I need to check my Paypal account when eBay tells me an item is paid. I'm sure there is nothing I can do this time since I don't have what everything looked like on that day---I only know what my account looks like NOW. I just never thought to check Paypal before—I only went by what eBay told me.

Thanks again for your reply. I AM going to call Paypal again. I did send them an email, but haven't heard from them yet.

[Linc1957]

@SusieJ

---

@SusieJ wrote:

Thanks for your reply. I don't know the area you are talking about in eBay with a black $ or a 1/2-black $. I can go into my "orders" and see the amounts, the "date sold" and "date paid." But I never noticed the $ being only half-black. I don't know where that is.

I've always gone by the emails that I get from eBay. They say: 

Congratulations, your item sold and it’s been paid for.

Hi Susan, It's time to pack up your item and ship it out. Make sure you send it within 1 day, the handling option you selected in your listing.

eBay DID ask me to forward the email to them at "spoof" so they could verify that it WAS from them.

I didn't check my Paypal account on the day this was paid. I just looked at eBay. So, I don't know if Paypal showed the funds in my account or not. Right now, my Paypal account shows the funds with a strikethrough and a note that says, "Canceled – Payment Received."  Paypal DID send me that email, telling me the payment failed….but that was 2 days after my shipping deadline.

I'm going to take your advice and call Paypal again. You're right---now that I think about it again, it shouldn't take a few days to find out the card has been declined. And I guess, from now on, I need to check my Paypal account when eBay tells me an item is paid. I'm sure there is nothing I can do this time since I don't have what everything looked like on that day---I only know what my account looks like NOW. I just never thought to check Paypal before—I only went by what eBay told me.

Thanks again for your reply. I AM going to call Paypal again. I did send them an email, but haven't heard from them yet.

---

LOL, I am the oppostite ... I have NEVER gone by any emails generated by either eBay or PayPal ... on your Sold list (Classic view) over on the right is where the $ sign, check mark, envelope for shipped, pencil for Feedback left, etc.  Pic below.

[kasperkes02]

WOW!,That is horrible! I do wish you luck on the next! I agree you should call paypal back and get a better answer! They shold make the buyer account in debt to them instead of expcting you to be in debt and with out your item. Regardless. As for me, I do get and see the emails and I always make sure that I get them when an item sells, but I do go to ebay first and se that the item has sold there in my seller account first. this way I know it did sell! I always have a tab with my email up and one for ebay and another for paypal so I just click over through each to see that all is in place, then I print the label through ebay (for the little discount) cause they will tell you not to ship if a payment hasn't been made. Pay pal shouldn't hold you to the debt. They really should hold the person who used the bad card responsible for it. I mean heck, they do have all of that persons info and could take the proper legal actions on them for it. That is really sad.

[SusieJ]

Thank everyone for your replies. I did call Paypal back and they were very accommodating. They took care of everything. Also, we discovered that there was a problem with my account that I was not getting the PayPal emails when a payment comes in. I just thought they didn't send them…but they said my account was set up to receive the emails, but wasn't working right. So, their technical guys are fixing this for me, too.

And thanks for the pic, Linc1957. I didn't even know I could go back to classic view. :0)

I learned a lot from the replies…so I do appreciate that there are people out there who will help!

Thanks!!

[Linc1957]

@SusieJ  YOU are MORE than welcome!  And thank you for bringing your question to the PayPal Community!  many members here ready and willing to help.  Really glad it worked out and the cash is flowing for you.  You have our very best wishes for Selling Success!

[BayAreaJoe]

The same thing happened to me when I sold my cell phone. EBay and PayPal told me to ship the product so I did. Then 2 Days Later eBay emails me and tells me that they suspect fraud from the buyer and they were canceling the listing. I called PayPal and they not only acted as if they didn't care they had no solution for me. How is it that I'm out the money when I followed all the instructions I was given from eBay and PayPal including attempting to intercept the package while it was being shipped? It seems to me that if they can't resolve these types of issues than there really is no point in PayPal existing. If they don't resolve this issue, and I feel that they probably won't, I will cancel my PayPal account and make sure to tell every single person I come in contact with what they did, or rather didn't do, for me. They cannot be trusted and they do not provide any type of service worth anything.