I have been attempting to resolve two cases related to Paypal and Ebay which go back to September. I'm at my wit's end and pondering if there are grounds to contact the FTC. Here's my brief story. Two transactions are involved, both using a Paypal account I operated while living in Japan, using a Japanese credit card. In one case, the buyer and I had a dispute over the condition of the received (and insured) item. It turned out that insurance is irrelevant and the item was returned, refunded. Note that final value fees were charged. There was some complication owing to the fact that I was leaving the country and the credit card address would no longer be valid even if the card was/is, as was/is the bank on which it drew. Around the same time, a purchase I had made for some film went poorly as the seller never shipped. I followed proceedure on this and stayed within Ebay timelines. By the time I had returned to USA, it became clear that the seller of the unreceived item had cancelled his account and ebay decided to close the case for no apparent reason. Thus bagan about 5 hours of periodic calls to paypal and ebay in USA and in Japan. Prior to tady, I felt resolved on the issue as my final call had them indicating that the buyer protection for the film had been held up only by the inability to access the paypal account, which they had closed because of final value fee charges for an item which was not sold. Not being able to access my account (it was locked), I requested that they simply take what fees they think I owe regardless of the reality of that, and repatriate my remaining funds to my japanese credit card. They agreed. Sounds resolved. The money never came. The money for the film, that is. They had successfully returned funds from my paypal account to my bank (it appears) but not the $170 for the film. So, I contacted paypal and ebay in USA again today. It turns out that the account is now considered in hoc and to be handled by collections. One hand did not speak to the other regarding the refund of final value fees, but they did return the $50 or so that was in the account, thereby putting it in the red. So locked, they took no innitiative on the matter of the $170 buyer protection matter. I am content to pay money I should not owe. I just want this to be done. I'd like my money back, but the loming thread of credit issues dwarfs the idiocy I have experienced to this point. That begs the question of when / if they intended to actually let me know that they felt I was in hoc to them, but that's another story. Just absurd.
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