Issuing refund on payment that has not cleared

[mtlkat]

So the story is, i sold a tv for 550 to a lady and agreed that paypal was fine for payment. Before she paid, she asked me why i was selling the tv and i told her that i needed a new catalytic converter for my car and didnt need 3 tv's. To me this obviously implies that i have no money. She then proceeds to transfer $1550. This is $550 for the tv obviously and then $1000 for courier fees as she cant pick it up herself.

Now the problem is that paypal wont release the funds until i have paid the $1000 courier fees and emailed them with the amount paid and transaction ID, but i need the money to be cleared to be able to pay the courier fees. I did not know she was going to be tranferring the courier fees and then expecting me to fork out the $1000 dollars initially. If i hadve known i wouldve told her to do a bank deposit instead.

I have spoken to her and her only response was for me to take out a loan (which i am unable to do due to being in debt) or borrow the money which i do not see why i should have to do that.

Is there anyway of getting the money refunded to her as she says she is unable to do it from her end and i cant do it as the money hasnt cleared into my account?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@mtlkat 

SCAM.

They encourage you to accept a 'direct' Paypal payment.
No funds or activity of the transaction shows in your Paypal account and any emails 'may' go into your junk/spam folders.

They don't quibble on cost and may also say they can't view the item as they are disabled or working abroad etc etc but they will arrange a shipping agent to collect it.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't because they don't actually have a Paypal account and have no intention of paying you.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.

The 'fake' paypal email will tell you that the buyer has paid for the item + shipping costs but you must send those shipping costs to the courier/ shipping agent via anther payment processor than Paypal OR via providing some vouchers or tokens before the funds are released to you.
They are not interested in the item, they just want that couriers/shipping funds and you will never see money in your paypal balance.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal NEVER expect you to use a rival money transfer service eg Moneygram or Western Union or pay a courier fee.
Also their is no seller protection on paypal for any type of item that is collected by the buyer.

Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[mtlkat]

thank you for the prompt reply.

The email i received from the 'courier' actually asked me to deposit the amount to an email address via paypal (this email did not go into my spam folder). I did speak with paypal on the phone and they advised that that was how it was done now and once i sent the transaction details to them they would release the funds to me.

Even tho the funds havent cleared, should they still show up in my balance?

I will admit all the emails regarding the payment being made did go into my spam folder so i guess they where trying to scam me. It was also a bit suss that they advised that they where unable to cancel the payments when i requested they do so.

I must admit they have done their homework as there is actually a real courier company in sydney with that name. Problem is when i look it up it is in a different suburb than they mention. Plus the email has no actual contact details or anything on it.

What is the best way to advise Paypal of this and to have them look into the payment address i was given?

Thank you again