Scam Buyer

[SergioCB]

I have sold a sweater to an individual buyer a couple weeks ago. He sent me the money the which was in hold until I input a the tracking number of the shipped sweater, the which I did and got accepted. 

The money was received, and all was good. Until a couple days later I received a notification that he submitted a dispute saying that he did not receive the good and that he wants a full refund. I had a chance to respond. Then I saw that the adress on his paypal account was different to the one he provided me with.

I responded, with screenshots of the coversation with him where he provides me his address and confirms it, as well as the shipping receipt and also a screen shot of the package being delivered and signed from Royal Mail's website. Then the case was in my favour.

BUT, some days after I receive a notification that the case is on the buyer's side and that the case is CLOSED, so I could not further respond and provide even more proof that I was being scammed. 

So now I have a negative balance of £550 because someone gave me another shipping address, and hence scammed me.

I thoroughly doubt paypal's seller protection in this case.

[sharpiemarker]

@SergioCB

Seller protection is limited, it is not 100% guarantee. It was discovered that you shipped to an address not on the payment so therefore you are not covered. That is very clear in the Seller Protection Policy which PayPal followed. Emails and screenshots may not be sufficient as they can be altered. PayPal is third party and not there witnessing the transaction. If a customer asks you to ship to a different address, refund the payment and have them change their address during checkout. For that much money, I would never taken a chance to go by the word of the customer and shipped to the address on the payment or just refunded and move on.

You can certainly contact customer service and plead your case again:

Click "Help" at the top menu, then scroll down and click "Contact Us" and then select the phone option.

[SergioCB]

It was the first time using PayPal towards another user, I was naive. And that naiveness costed me a lot of money

[sharpiemarker]

@SergioCB

I see. Sorry for your bad experience but PayPal has been around a long time and a great deal of scammers have discovered the ins and outs of PayPal protections and know how to play the game so you have to be careful these days and inform yourself. It's not that PayPal is not safe its just that it's the internet, you do not know who's on the other end and high value items are likely to draw unscrupulous scammers. PayPal has certain parameters you have to keep to in order to be protected, if deviated from, there won't be protection. Everyone is hustling to make money, no matter how they can do it.  You can try and contact customer service and speak with a dispute specialist to have them reconsider.  Click "Help" at the top menu, then scroll down and click "Contact Us" and then select the phone option.

[SergioCB]

Great point, and I undertsand that.

I have contacted the support centre 5 times by now and they told me there is nothing I can do about it anymore.