eBay

micja-6974 · ‎31-03-2025

I'm utterly puzzled at this bizarre situation and would really appreciate any thoughts advice and opinions, sorry its so long but it's an incredibly complex and confusing situation....

- 3/3/25 I sold an item on ebay for £200

- 6/3/25 Tracking info shows item delivered and the buyer leaves me positive feedback on ebay. All good

26/3/25 I receive a msg from ebay stating that the buyer has opened a dispute via their payment provider (paypal) as the "transaction isn't recognised"

26/3/25 I challenge the dispute with ebay and contact the buyer via ebay.

The buyer immediately replies saying he knows nothing at all about this dispute but on checking his PayPal account he sees that PayPal have indeed refunded him the £200.

The buyer then contacts PayPal and they've told him that I issued the refund the day after the sale BUT PayPal also tell him that they HAVEN'T raised a dispute with me?!!

I certainly didn't issue the refund and no money has (yet) left my bank or PayPal account.

The buyer has shown me numerous screenshots showing his PayPal account and the refund they've given him and screenshots of his ebay and PayPal pages showing no active disputes on either and yet ebay are telling me PayPal have opened a dispute on his behalf.

He has offered to pay me the £200 directly if ebay or PayPal do pursue me for it.

He seems genuine, given me his phone number, email address and LinkedIn in page.

Either this is one huge glitch in ebay and/PayPal's systems or this an ongoing, drawn out and very elaborate attempt at fraud by this buyer, possibly wanting to obtain my bank details as part of his offer to repay me??

papso22 · ‎31-03-2025

No idea what is going on here but as long as you have tracking showing delivery to the address the buyer used at checkout you have seller protection against a chargeback, including a paypal claim.

Ignore the buyer, let it take it's proper course.

red_magpie · ‎31-03-2025

BUT PayPal also tell him that they HAVEN'T raised a dispute with me?!!

PayPal can't open a dispute with you because buyers now pay eBay, not the seller. Consequently any PayPal dispute or credit card chargeback is also opened against eBay. The seller isn't even a party to the dispute, and has to accept whatever eBay decides.

It sounds horribly complicated, but the fact that the buyer's payment provider (paypal) describes the transaction as not recognised suggests that the buyer asked a credit or debit card company to issue a chargeback. This would have been issued against PayPal, which in turn made a claim from eBay.

eBay is supposed to indemnify sellers against supposedly unrecognised payments if the item was posted to the seller's address. I don't have time to look the exact wording up, but you will find it near to the end of eBay's money back guarantee policy - although this seems to be ever changing since the introduction of buyer protection fees and simple delivery.

In short, if you can show that the item was delivered and that under its user agreement eBay should have indemnified you from paying this refund you should be able to appeal. But only to eBay. One of the many unfairnesses is that the buyer can appeal to the financial ombudsman if they feel their case has not been correctly dealt with. But the seller can only appeal to eBay, against eBay's own decision. Good luck!

micja-6974 · ‎31-03-2025

Yes I now suspect it was the cc or bank that he's reported this to as "not recognised"

The details of the dispute don't actually name PayPal it just says the buyer's "payment provider"

A bit odd that he gave me positive feedback if his intention was to then pull off a scam claiming the "transaction isn't recognised" and get a charge back.