Buyer files chargeback for "item not as described" on stolen package to avoid seller protection HELP

[SR8989]

I sold a pair of Beats By Dre headphones on eBay ($203.00 sale). I used the eBay shipping label so that the tracking would automatically be uploaded and emailed to the buyer by eBay when the item was shipped. The item ships, and is delivered two days later. I get a message from the buyer saying she looked up the tracking for the item and it said it was delivered to her doorstep while she was out of town on vacation, and she came home days later, it wasn't on her doorstep (presumably it was stolen, she lives in an apartment complex).

She claims eBay never sent her the tracking email (but then how did she look up the tracking for the item to see it was delivered?) and she opened up claims with eBay and Paypal, both of which ruled in my favor because the tracking showed the item was delivered. FOUR MONTHS LATER, she then filed a chargeback with her financial institution, for an "item not as described".

I have all of the messages from the buyer confirming that she never received the item. Even after the chargeback was filed, I messaged her and asked why she filed as "item not as described", when she never received it. She said "That is incorrect. I said that I never received the item." Again, this is AFTER the chargeback was filed, so either she's lying to me about what she said to the financial institution, or the financial institution took it upon themselves to file as an "item not as described", knowing that the seller (me) would not be protected under the seller protection policy, that way the financial institution would keep THEIR customer (the buyer) happy.

Paypal told me that I am not covered under the seller protection policy, because they only cover sellers if it's an "item not received". WHICH IT IS, I have messages from the buyer CONFIRMING that that's what it is. The buyer ignored the tracking and went out of town on vacation when the item was delivered, and presumably the item was stole off her doorstep (she lives in an apartment complex). But because the buyer, or the financial institution, whoever, filed as "item not as described", paypal won't cover me. The buyer hasn't had to show any proof of it being an item not as described, and I have ALL the proof that it's an item not received, but paypal said it only goes by what the chargeback was officially filed as.

Paypal won't tell me the financial institution, and the woman hasn't responded to the message I sent her on eBay asking her about it again. What are my options here? Is this fraud or what? I want to talk to the financial institution myself but I can't get anyone to tell me who the financial institution is, they're complete ghosts. This is utterly insane. I have debt collectors sending me letters when I'm the last person on the face of the Earth who should be responsible for this. 

[Ryan30302]

I am curious as to what the final resolution was for this situation, as I am currently experiencing something nearly identical.  Am I **bleep**, or did the buyer's financial institution stick with their initial assessment and not reverse the charge?  

[stever898989]

The resolution is that I'm still sitting here like an idiot with a -$200 PayPal balance that I will never ever, ever pay ever in a million years ever and if I ever reach any level of fame or notoriety where I have a public platform of any kind I am going to air out what a terrorist organization PayPal is. Absolutely ridiculous that I can have all of the proof in the world that this person is lying and filed their chargeback under false pretenses, but PayPal just shrugs their shoulders saying there's nothing they can do because it's all about what the person filed it as. So I guess I can just buy anything I want with PayPal, claim the item was stolen off my doorstep, file a chargeback saying the item isn't as described, get my money back, and when the seller messages me to get their item back, I can just ignore it and keep both the item and the money and there's nothing PayPal will do about it. Good to know. Anyone selling any really expensive items right now that they want to sell to me?

[Teslafan101]

Ebay buyer can check tracking number from her My Ebay,purchase history,look up the order,if you have shipped with tracking,it would show up in order detail.

She filed for item not described instead of item not received,it could be that if she filed item not received,she would lose as tracking showed it was delivered.

So she filed item not as described,her cc issuer would ask her to return the item with tracking,then refund her in full.

Since she never receive the item,she has nothing to return,but she could just return an empty box with tracking.

Paypal seller protection covers item not received if yu have tracking,not item not as described as it has never seen the item,it is between you and your buyer,the fair thing to do for most middleman is to ask the buyer to return the item.  

[stever898989]

She absolutely filed as item not described on purpose, knowing that I wouldn't be covered under seller protection. I surmise that she had someone tell her to do this, because I was able to do detective work and find her Facebook and she's a soccer mom who looks like she has never used the internet in her life. It was her first time using Ebay and I think she genuinely thought I was at fault, and because the chargeback didn't happen until 5 months later, she must have had someone advise her to do this to get her money back. 

I did ask the buyer to return the item (even though she already had said to me that she never received it because it was stolen off her doorstep), and she claimed she filed as an "item not received" when she of course didn't, because otherwise I would've gotten my money back. When I said "I know you didn't file as "item not received" because I talked to PayPal and they told me you filed as item not as described and that's why they're not re-imbursing me, she stopped responding. This is outrageous and borderline criminal for PayPal to allow this to happen, when I have ALL the screenshots proving her saying the item was stolen and she never received it.

[Teslafan101]

when  a buyer filed a chargeback,you would be notified by Paypal and it will ask you to submit documents supporting your argument and it will forward them to her cc issuer who decides the case.

You have t o understand how chargeback and credit card work,Paypal is the one which has a merchant account to accept credit card,we are subaccounts ,when someone files a chargeback,it hits Paypal ,Paypal will forward your documents to her cc issuer who will review both sides  and make a decision,if you lose,you will be fined $20 fee for their time.

if I were you,I will tell the truth,I will show the order detail,tracking history showing it was delivered,but she was out of town.

and her email to you that she never received the item,so how can she say it is not as described?

She is being deceitful and her cc issuer should close the case in your favor.

(since Paypal owns the merchant account,not you,it would do you no good calling them as they dont deal with you,they deal with Paypal) 

Good luck.

not much you can do,if you have insured the package,the insurance co would not pay your claim as tracking shows delivered.

If she lives in an apt complex,do they have an office which holds her package?,   

[stever898989]

I did that. I provided all of the screenshots of her saying the item was stolen off her doorstep while she was on vacation, that she never received it (despite filing as an item not as described). I provided screenshots of the tracking showing it was delivered, everything. Her CC issuer decided in her favor anyway because she's their customer and they didn't want to upset her. 

It doesn't matter, PayPal was able to minus MY PayPal account to -$200 because of their arbitrary "We don't cover item not as described". Yet they have nothing stopping someone from filing falsely as that instead of item not received, the person doesn't have to provide any proof and they don't have to send back the item. Now I have debt collectors calling me for the $200, I will burn myself alive before they ever see a dime of that, I don't care. How about they look at the screenshots and minus HER account the $200, since she it WAS in fact an item not received (due to her own stupidity of not looking at the tracking and going on vacation when the item was scheduled to be delivered).

if I were you,I will tell the truth,I will show the order detail,tracking history showing it was delivered,but she was out of town.

and her email to you that she never received the item,so how can she say it is not as described?

I showed them ALL of that. I have EVERY screenshot of everything, I sent it all to PayPal and the CC issuer still decided in her favor so as not to upset their customer. It's criminal that PayPal allows this. 

They told me "You are free to take her to small claims court". But that would mean I have to travel to her state, which would end up costing me more than the $200 in the first place. 

She lives an apartment complex and they apparently dropped it off at her doorstep, not a management office, and it was stolen off the doorstep since she was out of town and is a MORON who didn't look at the tracking. It was delivered right on schedule, when she was out of town for Thanksgiving. If she said to me "Hey I'm going out of town for Thanksgiving, do you mind delaying the shipment a week?" I of course would've obliged.

This whole thing is so infuriating. 

[Teslafan101]

DID her cc issuer ask her to return the item?

Have you tried contacting Ebay since she lost the case on Ebay,or report her to Ebay,if she keeps doing this,she could be banned from buying on Ebay?

[stever898989]

DID her cc issuer ask her to return the item?

I don't know if her cc issuer asked her to return the item. I'm assuming not. Not like that affects them at all anyway. For all I know they are the ones who told her to file under false pretenses, knowing PayPal would just shrug their shoulders and go "well ok then".

Have you tried contacting Ebay since she lost the case on Ebay,or report her to Ebay,if she keeps doing this,she could be banned from buying on Ebay?

Yeah I talked to Ebay about it and they told me that if she had just come to them the first time and explained what happened, they would've just reimbursed both of us the $200. But since the chargeback wasn't filed until like 5 months later, they said they couldn't honor it. When she filed her claim with Ebay, she said I was a scammer because I refused to send another pair of headphones. I'm serious. 

She then left bad feedback on my eBay page saying I was a scammer and she never got her item. I asked Ebay to remove it since that obviously isn't true, but because 30 (I forget the exact number) had passed since she left the feedback, they were apparently powerless to remove the feedback (from their OWN site), despite completely agreeing with me that it was BS and obviously not true. They're another site ran by complete morons. Ridiculous.

[electricplug]

paypal seller protection doesnt exist. unauthorized access cases should never be in fault of the seller. its not our fault that some random customer has used a stolen paypal, its completely out of our control. PayPal needs to stop making the sellers lose money over this and fix their security system or just simply they take the loss on unauthorized cases!  If they had blocked the transaction we wouldnt have lost our money and product!!!!