November 15, 2012 – J.K. pressed charges November 6, 2012 to the Criminal Investigation inspection in her hometown.* On sale in eBay she placed an offer of a gold coin set, which a customer purchased via the “Buy It Now Option”. The deal appeared trustworthy. After a short time only the amount due arrived on the PayPal account of the salesperson.
After that she received a mail informing her not to ship the goods to the address deposited by PayPal, but instead to a packing department in Stuttgart. J.K. was getting suspicious of this information. Only a week ago exactly the same happened to another eBay trader. She had shipped the goods to a packing department in Stuttgart. The goods were collected and the money received on the PayPal account was drawn back. PayPal did not offer any help with this problem. The customer was not able to provide proof of receipt of the goods from the buyer. Sadly the first customer lost not only the money but also the goods!
Therefore J.K. decided not to dispatch at all and perhaps saved herself a bitter disappointment.
It is advisable to deliver only to the address which is deposited with PayPal when purchasing via PayPal. Please do not accept without questioning, if the buyer asks for a different or anonymous shipping address.
PayPal itself did not give any statement on that problem after being approached.
*A copy of that complaint lies with the editor.
More information from our readers:
This so-called new scam with Paypal is not new. It’s been used ever since paypal has existed with the rule “prove it’s been received or they get their money back”. This is the biggest problem with ebay and paypal. In order to protect myself, I have to block every buyer who claims non-rec’t …
Lee Quast
I want to add to the article on fraudulent Paypal transactions that it is absolutely unnecessary for a crook to change shipping address. In many East European countries they have partnership agreement with a mailman that delivers them their package without getting their signature. They have their ways of doing that. Once they get the goods they put a claim that the goods were not delivered and without their signature Paypal immediately refunds their money. Today most dealers are bombarded with e-mails asking if they have bullion gold for sale and are offered to be paid with a credit card. Those requests are also ALWAYS fraudulent. Most dealers in US do not sell gold bullion coins to out of country purchasers if the forms of payment are Paypal or Credit Card. Paypal never does anything to support the seller and it is owned by eBay. Both examples in your story are amateurs and if they believe eBay that they are qualified to trade on real marketplace, perhaps they should consider their losses as educational expenses. When go to a flea-market, watch out for pick-pockets.
Alex Basok
Actually, if you use PayPal through EBay, EBay even refunds buyers when proof of posting is provided and a mailing trail through UPS can be established and verified independently.
This is one of the reasons that I have significantly reduced my selling activities through Ebay. I have had a batting average of 100% consumer satisfaction, have been with Ebay for over ten years but I still had to accept loss of time and money for item and registered postage and to add insult to injury extremely negative feedback!
It is not a coincidence that there are many “I hate Ebay” or “I hate PayPal” websites on the web which can easily be found using any search engine.
Paul Neumann