Help Needed - $350 Stolen from Me With PayPal's Assistance

[Deb]

I need help getting $350 back from an individual that PayPal erroneously sent my funds to!

I collect dolls. On 8/6/09 I bought a doll from a seller on a doll forum called Plastic Paradise for $212 total (by debit from my checking account).

Two days later, on 8/8/09, I bought another doll from a different seller for $350 total. I logged onto PayPal, "pasted" in the seller's email address like I always do, and chose to pay $350 using my Visa card. Just as I hit the Send button I saw the payee flash by as the user ID I paid on 8/6/09. Somehow PayPal had reverted back to the last entered payee and sent the money through to the wrong person. I immediately tried to back it out, but PayPal said it couldn't do anything on this type of transaction (which I assumed meant non-eBay). So I went ahead and sent a second payment for $350 to the correct seller for the purchase of the doll.

When I finished on PayPal I emailed the person who received my money through PayPal's error. It took several days of leaving messages on forums and numerous daily emails, but she finally responded on 8/11/09 stating:

"I will absolutely take care of that large tip you gave me. ... I just wanted to let you know I stand behind my word. Thanks and I'll be back later this afternoon to take care of that tip."

A week later I hadn't received my money or any further contact, so I started my round of PM's on forums and emails again. On 8/17/09 (the last time I heard from her) she emailed and said:

"Oh no!!! ... See as i mentioned I share the paypal acct with my cousin. After you mentioned that the money was accidentally transferred I immediately told here to please return the money. She said she would. I normaally have no reason to question her. So I just asked her what the hell was going on and why didn't she refund the money. She said she freaked out because ebay deducted her fees . She said that she has a e check that's clearing monday and it's for 440.00 and she has auctions that are ending this weekend. And she will refund all of the money then if that's okay. If by that time it's not refunded I will absolutely take care of it myself and then she'll just owe me. I would do it right this minute but I don't have that much cash myself. After helping my mother out with the car I have 100. to last me for the week. Please you have my word, that if she doesn't take care of the refund this weekend I will take care of it myself. I'm not like that and neither is she. I think she just freaked out because no sooner did I tell her and ebay hit her up for the fees. I know this sucks but I hope that you can trust me on this. ... So I'm glad you contacted me here [email deleted]. Trust me I will be on her butt about the auctions this weekend. I'm so sorry and so embarrassed."

I spent months trying to get her to contact me again, to work it out ourselves. She's never responded, and in September I filed a claim with my Visa card. In October they told me it wasn't something they would get involved in. I finally filed a PayPal "unauthorized use of account" claim last week. Today (11/8/09) I received an email stating it was NOT an unauthorized use, and my claim was closed. It said I could open a "disputed item" claim -- but the system won't allow me to. It says there was already a claim against that transaction and I need to review Open Claims. I have NO open claims, PayPal closed it.

I'm so frustrated trying to get any assistance with this. This person is a very active seller on eBay and has listings all the time, with a constant stream of income through her PayPal account. Is the problem maybe that PayPal doesn't want to lose her fees?? I don't know what to do to get some help with this.

[btm66]

No expert here but... I would like to suggest that you contact the Clark_Howard radio show.  He takes calls from people and is very knowledgable about a lot of topics.  I've heard paypal/ebay questions on there before.  He seems to dislike ebay/paypal's setup.  He could probably tell you what recourse you have legally with an attorney. 

Or, maybe just contact an attorney concerning filing in small claims court.

[btm66]

BTW, can you tell me how you made a payment to an ebay buyer using your credit card.  I've been trying to find that out for the last few days in another post, but no one seems to know.  Or, just doesn't understand my question.

Paypal took my acct funds to pay a non-ebay bill that I wanted charged to my credit card.  Now I don't have funds to refund an ebay buyer.  So, I wanted to send the refund using my credit card, but I dont' know how to do that.  That's seems like what you did with your refund in question.

[madasheck123]

Hi there-did you ever get any help? I hope so, but if not...I had something similar happen to me.  I paid with my VISA credit card, and when they would not reverse the charges for $300 worth of counterfeit items I bought on Ioffer, I started calling VISA and finally got what I needed. I spoke to a supervisor, got everyone's names etc...along the way, and after some effort and frustration, got "the right" person to reverse it all for me. I think it takes some emailing, patience, even if you are mad as heck, and making your story short and leaving out all the back and forth and personal accustaions. I know it is hard to do that, but big companies do not care what happended, just wheather they can write it off or not. Good luck.

[Deb]

Actually no - the outcome was quite disappointing. I did manage to get PayPal to reopen the claim and escalate it to a dispute, after going through much of what you describe (hours on the phone). As they always do, they sent the deadbeat a notice and gave her 7 days to respond. As before, she totally ignored it. So they closed the dispute. I was dumbfounded when I received a notice that although they ruled in my favor (yes, she did owe me the money) there were no funds in her account so ... sorry, you lose.

This person is still QUITE active in large sales on eBay. It's obvious that she has opened an alternate account to collect her eBay sales and I believe this was done for the sole purpose of not having to repay me the funds she owes me. I pointed this out to PayPal but they really don't care. All I got was the standard "we understand your frustration" blah blah blah. I feel I have seen the real "support" PayPal spouts off about.

I appreciate your comments about the Visa card. I did not follow through with that avenue and press them further. I have absolutely no problem with making a pest of myself if I think it will get me somewhere, so I will likely reopen that option. But I have to ask myself how much time I'm willing to put into this just to get my money back; when you look at it on an hourly fee basis, I'm already in the hole. That's the thing that really burns me. I've had to work my butt off to try to get my OWN money back. But I'm very much a believer in the  "principal of the thing" and this has really eaten away at me. So who knows ... I may just pick it up again and get even more determined.

Thanks again for the tips!