Hello, My roomate recently sold a Vintage 30 year old McIntosh audio power amplifier in excelent condition for $2000. This items were shipped across town (New York City) about 13 miles. The amplifier was shipped in its orginal factory shipping crate. The buyer sent an email raving about how superb the amplifier sounded and how the descritpion was accurate that it would not be delivered DOA. He also mentioned the glass was broken on one of the meters. This was about a week after he took delivery. He asked in the eBay message that he be compenstated for the damage "by either the seller or eBay". He would not provide photos so we could file an insurance claim with UPS and didn't report damage to UPS when it was signed for at delivery. Prior to that he had tried ot open and item not delivered case for a full refund, but eBay stopped that since it was was way to early for him file such a case. Obviously, "something was up". My roomate responded to his message by saying he would get information on where he could purchase the replacement glass from the manufatcurer, how to fix it, how much it would cost. The next day the buyer opened a refund request, and within 4 days escalated it to a case. In the resolution center case the seller offered to give him a partial refund for $75 to pay for the replacement glass, gave the phone number of the parts department at McIntosh in upsate New York, and even checked if the glass was in stock. He also offered to give him a full refund if he returned the item. The only response to this was "I will not return the amplifier". The buyer dod not reply to case at all after that. The seller assumed he wanted the partial refund and sent the money to the buyer as a partial refund via PayPal. A month and a half later, the buyer opens a Unauthorized Transaction case on PayPal. He claimed his credit card was charged without his authorization, adding that the buyer (not PayPal) did this. In his complaint he also claimed his was billed twice for the same transaction on two differnt cards. PayPal found this claim baseless, that the charge was performed using his login and CCV for his card on his computer at his IP address and close the case. One month later he filed a chargeback for "item significantly not as described" with his CC company. It took over 80 days for the CC company to make a decision and of course the seller could not be involved directly in the arbitration. Of course, as is the case 80% of the time, the chargeback was found in favor of the buyer, he was not required to return the item, and the buyer is required to pay back negative balance on his PayPal account. All of this happened between October 24, 2014 through April 1st, 2015. After the first eBay dispute in November was closed and the money released in his PayPal account he transferred the money to bank account. And had not used PayPal since, so his balance was zero. When the chargeback was opened on Feb 13th 2015, PayPal required the account to be broght to a zero balance immiediately. My roomate is a retired NYPD officer who is on a pension and permanent disablily due to an injury during his duties. He is therefore on a fixed income, and not a very good one at that since his pension is not that high since he was young when he was injured. He normally sells things on eBay to suppliment his income, since he is not allowed to work as a result of his disablity insurance payments he receives. So it's not like he has $2000 sitting in a bank account, just in case someone decide to do a fraudulent chargeback on something he sold 5 months previously. So now, during the period of the chargeback dispute, he could not either genrate extra income since he could not use Paypal, nor could he pay the balance. So even before the dispute was ended, PayPal gave his account to a collection agency who instantly reported him to the credit bureau's for failure to pay a debt. This caused his credit card interest rates to double overnight, making even minunum payments more than his income could allow, plus he now had an addtional $2000 debt to PayPal. All for the privaledge of using PayPal instead of just selling the amplifier on the streets of NYC in front of his co-op residence. So now, few weeks after the chargeback decision came through he must file for bankruptcy since he cannot pay all his bills now since his intrest rates jupped up from 12% to 26% and his new debt to PayPal for $2000. Basically, he must now pay for the amplifier the buyer bought ... from him. So basically, if you want to get stuff for free, use PayPal and open an item not described chargeback. It is 80% likely you will be able to keep the item and get a full refund. PayPal cannot lose either way. If they win a chageback the money is returned to their bank account, if they lose the force the seller to pay them back. So that begs the question ... what is PayPal's incentive to win chargeback claims. EIther way they do not lose, and either way are going to lose one customer. And since a seller can in no way be informed of any details of the arbitration and must guess at what information could useful as a defense and cannot know any details about what PayPal "is doing on their behalf", how is it that they are the ones held finacialy responsible for the outcome? Answer ... it's in the user agreement. My mates only remedy is to try and file a civil case against the buyer, but first serving a supoena on PayPal in order to gather details on the two cases and the aribration on the chargeback.
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