Question Re: Failed payment. in Member To Member Support DO NOT DELETE

Failed payment.

gemmcheetha-0 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:34:15 GMT

Hi I'm having a problem with a failed payment for an item which was sold on 18th December 2019. The payment was made by the buyer, but wad put on hold by eBay for 3 weeks as I had not sold anything before. I was i formed by eBay to post the item then I would receive the payment I have recorded transcripts of the advice to post it. However, eBay returned the payment to the seller as it had not been claimed by me. I could not claim the payment because EBay had held my payment . I contacted eBay who advised me to contact the seller, who replied saying they would pay. Despite contacting them 5 times over 2 weeks I have not had payment. I live chatted eBay who said they would help as it was their fault that they advised me wrongly to post the item. Following another live chat 4 days ago, and after being transfered to 3 separate departments, eBay advised me to inform the police ( I have the chat recorded on transctipt). So I haven't received my £100, and eBay have been next to useless in helping me. Any advice? Thanks

Re: Failed payment.

john1297576 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:45:34 GMT

I think the mistake you made was dealing with ebay. Ebay does not handle the money, it is paid to and held by Paypal. If you had spoken to them then I am sure it would have been sorted out long ago.

It is paypal who tell you to post out as you have to post to the the address given on the Paypal Payment. This is very important, as it may not be the same as the Ebay address, and not posting to the paypal address loses you any ebay protection under their money Back Guarantee.

You should try sending a Paypal Request for payment to the buyer, they might pay up, otherwise I doubt there is much you can do you recover your money.

Re: Failed payment.

gemmcheetha-0 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:00:59 GMT

Sincere thanks. I wonder if a small claims court claim might be the way forward. Itsv£25 to start the claims process is it worth it?

Re: Failed payment.

plum993 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:08:52 GMT

Unfortunately you don't appear to have used a signed for postal service when posting the £100 jacket so can not prove it was delivered either.1st class post only covers upto £20 if the item get damaged or lost in the post.Ebay require a tracked/signed for service to prove delivery in the event a buyer opens a case of not received

Very naieve of you not to get to know how ebay works and selling before listing.You can send a paypal money request/invoice, and facilitate a small claims but it won't guarantee you get paid.

As your continuing to sell,best add that buyer to your blocked bidder list here so they can't bid/buy from you again,https://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?bidderblocklogin&hc=1&hm=uk%600d72f%2Bd433

Also read up on selling on ebay and seller protection.

https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/private/how-to-sell

https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/private/seller-protection

@gemmcheetha-0

Re: Failed payment.

red_magpie — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:27:53 GMT

eBay have been next to useless in helping me

That's hardly surprising, as payments have nothing to do with eBay.

The problem is that you haven't learned the basics of selling here.

It isn't eBay that holds payments, it's PayPal. For all new sellers, they hold them for 21 days as a security precaution in case buyers don't receive their items. The hold can be released early when you provide tracking evidence of delivery. You seem to have been trying to ask advice from eBay, when you should have asked PayPal.

Have you actually checked your PayPal account? If you were paid, you should have received a message informing you of the above. As a new seller, you may also need to claim the payment. If you didn't, this will be why it's been returned to the buyer.

If so, and the buyer now has both the item and the returned payment, you will need to try to sort it out with the buyer, and through PayPal customer support. The buyer may now owe you the payment again, but this is not a police matter. It's possible you could take it to the small claims court, but now that you understand more clearly what's happened it can hopefully be resolved with the buyer.

Re: Failed payment.

*vyolla* — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:25:58 GMT

@gemmcheetha-0

eBay CS are based in the Phillipines, and are not too hot on eBay policy. They don't deal with payments at all, that's Paypal's department. Sounds like some wires got crossed in your conversation with eBay CS and they thought that you'd checked to see that there was apayment in PayPal, but that it was just being held for 21 days, as normal for a new seller, so advised you to send the item out.

eBay CS would not be able to see into your PayPal account, so would not know that you hadn't claimed the payment.

When you receive a payment you must log into PayPal and make sure that there's a completed payment there before sending the item out.

Do you have a tracking number showing that the item was delivered to your buyer?

You are reliant on their goodwill here.

Re: Failed payment.

gemmcheetha-0 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 12:53:02 GMT

Hi. I sent the item Royal Mail signed for. I've made a mistake I know, new to selling but inexperienced, not naive. I wish eBay would have adviced me better. They didn't even advise me to contact PayPal

Re: Failed payment.

corred — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 13:42:22 GMT

@gemmcheetha-0

Who do you think you would claim against ??

Not eBay as they never handle the payment

Not the buyer as they paid & had the payment returned by Paypal

Not Paypal as even with held payments you may have to claim the first one

Re: Failed payment.

captain*obvious — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 14:16:21 GMT

''That's hardly surprising, as payments have nothing to do with eBay.

The problem is that you haven't learned the basics of selling here.''

In their rush to admonish you the poster has failed to grasp what caused your problem. The fact is, your problem was caused by eBay.

eBay regularly amend the payments will go to email address when you place a listing, changing it to your eBay registered email. When you have a different PayPal email address to your eBay address then your payment shows as received, but pending.

In your case, you've misunderstood why it was pending because you were expecting it to be pending as eBay ask PayPal to hold payments to new or infrequent sellers.

Go to the listing in question, click relist, scroll down to payments will go to, you'll see the email address shown there isn't your PayPal email. We could have helped you claim that payment had you posted for advice earlier, however, as you were thinking it had been held under the 21 day hold policy, 30 days passed without you claiming it so the money was sent back to your buyer.

There are things you could have done to avoid this happening - none of them are really things you should reasonably have to expect to do.

The only way to get paid for that item is to ask the buyer to pay you again - if they don't, and it was a lot of money, you can try civil recovery.

To prevent it happening in future, either add your eBay registered email address to your PayPal account or check which email address is showing in the payments will go to section before submitting each listing.

This is the only site I've ever known that thinks it's okay to amend a payment address - that's an eBay problem, not a you problem, and anybody who says otherwise is being an apologist for a site that continually fixes things that aren't broken, but does nothing to fix problems they create.

Re: Failed payment.

gemmcheetha-0 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 15:43:01 GMT

Sincere thanks. This is the most supportive reply I've received! I did feel as though the advice I've from this forum was a bit harsh. I obviously made a mistake...

Re: Failed payment.

plum993 — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 15:54:26 GMT

Sorry if any posts gave the harsh impression,we were simply trying to inform you,and look after your interests. 🙂

@gemmcheetha-0