Buyer Threatening Credit Card Chargeback After Refusing To Return

[DARRENLUEPTOW]

Greetings dear eBay friend's.

I recently sold three pieces of 14k gold items and I sold them at a very good price below melt value. I tested them and one brooch in particular even had tested diamonds/rubies. Unfortunately, my attempt at giving someone a good deal has turned into a nightmare.

Here is the ebay item #: 171561426377

After receiving the items, the buyer claimed the brooch was from the $1 store, made in China, and not 14k gold. I explained that the item was tested, it is an older piece not from China, and I even gave an example of a similar items on eBay for sale showing it is 14k gold with diamonds/rubies. 

Here is that item #: 221626282249

I also offered to issue a full refund upon receiving all the items back in my possession. I did mention the items would need to be sent with insurance/signature confirmation due to the value.

He counteracts that this items is also not real and says it is heavily gold-plated which is simply not true. Then he starts saying he does not trust me and refuses to return the items. Next, he leaves me a negative feedback.

I reported him to eBay for the intimidation and refusal to return the items but eBay would not remove the negative feedback. I have found this to be the case when other buyers have attempted similar refusal to return and left me neutral/negative feedback which is to be expected I suppose because I did not allow them to rip me off.

Well, this guy goes further and starts harassing me with links to brooches he claims are like the one I sold which are obvious costume pieces not even close to being the same:

Item #: 231416864758

Item #: 171574796955

He then says he's going to contact his credit card company with this "evidence" for a chargeback despite never even attempting to return the items. It is blatantly an attempt of theft by deception.

I did reply to him stating that doing so constitutes credit card chargeback fraud due to him not returning the items to me and I will file criminal charges against him if he receives compensation without returning the items. of course, this guy doesn't seem to take the law seriously because he's likely gotten away with it before.

So now I'm just waiting until the day he does the chargeback paypal starts a hold on the funds. I do hope with all of this evidence showing the buyers refusal to return the items Paypal will protect me. However, from my understanding, Paypal does not protect sellers from "not as described" chargebacks according to their terms.

This is my first time having a buyer blatantly threaten to steal from me with a chargeback and it is quite worrisome.

I was just wondering if anyone has had anything similar happen to them and what was the outcome?

[vikingvintage]

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.

[kimprock]

Sorry to hear about this! I sold a bedding set to a buyer...one of my first sales and the woman opened a claim stating she did not receive the item. I checked on USPS and she received it the very day she opened a dispute.  The next day I went on vacation and missed the emails from paypal, since I am NEW I didn't know. I just thought they would hve the tracking number. They went in her favor and she got to keep the bedding and got refunded $180!!! I tried to contact paypal and express my situation. They just sent me an auto response!!! I was infuriated! She then proceeded to leave me negative feedback.  Complete theft and paypal did not protect me!